Find Fluffy with Woz
Just the other day I was a scrounging around the backyard of a nearby house looking for one of our cats. He had not returned home in hours, and because we recently moved into the area, I was concerned he was lost. After searching and calling for nearly half an hour - his orange head popped up from behind a stack of lumber. He seemed a little confused, and quite hungry, as I picked him up and carried him back home.
Thinking later about the situation, it dawned on me -- why couldn't I obtain a wireless 802.11 "node," or small transmitter chip of some kind, attach it to the cat's collar, and have it periodically ping the wireless network in my home? Then all I would need would be an application on my Mac that could pinpoint the location of the device and draw the pet's location on a radius map (like an air-traffic controller).
But then I remembered the unfortunate technological reality - I could barely get a stable wireless connection on my PowerBook sitting on the back porch. So unless one of our pets were just outside the back door, the idea wouldn't work.
Or so I thought.
While looking for something completely unrelated in the New York Times this morning, I stumbled across this article about Woznet - a new wireless system created by none-other-than Steve Wozniak.
Mr. Wozniak described WozNet as a simple and inexpensive wireless network that uses radio signals and global positioning satellite data to keep track of a cluster of inexpensive tags within a one- or two-mile radius of each base station. WozNet, he said, will include a home-base station that has the ability to track the location of dozens or even hundreds of small wireless devices that can be attached to people, pets or property. The tags -- expected to cost less than $25 each to produce -- will be able to generate alerts, notifying the owner by phone or e-mail message when a child arrives at school, a dog leaves the yard or a car leaves the parking lot.
I'll take two.
Comments
I'll take twenty - that's how many cats we have! - oh, and a few more for the dogs and goose.
Posted by: Lorraine at July 26, 2003 2:38 PM
Reminds me of the name of the dog in this article by Shauny.
(the name of the dog is "I AM MICROCHIPPED" how brilliant.)
Posted by: Witold Riedel at July 26, 2003 9:47 PM
What I have also heard is that each tag also becomes a node in the network and can relay information to other nodes. So I suppose the network is extendable.
Also there is encryption for security so no one other than you can track your children! ;-)
What is also cool is the name of the company. It is called "Wheels of Zeus" or simply WOZ!
Posted by: Sunny at July 27, 2003 12:53 AM
Couldn't you do this before by just triangulating the strength of a single based upon multiple sources? Not the easiest method, but achieveable.
Posted by: Chris at July 27, 2003 1:42 AM
Woz, as usual, is brilliant...
I'm reading Smart Mobs by Howard Rheingold...this is the stuff he's talking about...and more. Get the book and check it out for info on the wireless future.
Posted by: Paul at July 27, 2003 3:03 AM
Reading about this on Slashdot, somebody mentioned stalking you with this nice piece of technology. Stalker sees you leaving your car, puts the tag somewhere hidden on your car, you come back to your car and they find out where you live... Scares me.
Posted by: Tom at July 27, 2003 12:53 PM
This was a technologie waiting to happen, and now it has. There is no real need for such a technologie but there is a use for it. I can imagine fire departments, the police and paramedics enabling their personnel to maximize their safety and also helping others. How about bike messengers? Service personnel. Football players, cyclists in the tour de france. Outdoor sports in general, a golf ball even. How about subscription cards for commuters using the subway, rail or the bus? Kids looking for their parents at Disneyland, they do tend to wander off. And on a topical note, soldiers in a fast moving war... eh, sorry... armed conflict.
But let us first start by drawing the line, hands up who doesn't want to be tracked by their parents, employer and our government? Maybe I'm paranoid but I've got my hand up, how about you?
Posted by: Dutchcelt at July 27, 2003 7:30 PM
Whenever I lose something, I always wish that I had some magic device that would tell me where it was. Looks like this magic device has arrived!
Posted by: Adam Polselli at July 28, 2003 11:04 AM
Does this mean that, at the end of the day, I am going to have to plug in the cats to recharge? A slick add-on device would be a cat docking station. Are cat's hot swappable? Are they plug-n-play?
I currently have a pretty good tracking system for one of my cats, Eliot. It is his pathetic, whiney meow. I can hear him 200ft away.
I am sure someone will write a script that converts the data generated by the cats to a map overlay of their meanderings during the day.
Ridiculous but oh so cool.
Posted by: Jonathan at July 28, 2003 3:58 PM
they already make these kind of things in bracelet/watch form for kids. They operate over the cell/pager networks and are meant to help find lost kids and discourage potential abductors. I've even seen some that can sense water and send an alarm if a kid falls in the pool.
No reason why this couldn't work for a pet.
Posted by: Michael Conger at July 28, 2003 6:00 PM
just a quick note... will this wozzy invention support IPv6?
Posted by: Dutchcelt at July 28, 2003 9:12 PM
Sounds a good idea... wonder if it would coem with software for Windows?
Posted by: Stew at July 29, 2003 11:46 AM
They should implant these in sex offenders and have an alarm go off if they go near schools or playgrounds, etc. for any length of time longer than to just pass by.
Posted by: Lauri at July 29, 2003 8:02 PM
This will only work for dogs if the range can be increased to 10s of miles as apposed to just a few. Now in the city, dogs are required to be leashed at all times (which is good) but country dogs or those in small towns tend to be allowed to wander and studies show that dogs have huge territory ranges. Daily, a single dog can cover massive distances and based on this device all you would know is when your dog left and when it returned into range.
The same can be said for paramedics, messengers and other professionals that cover mass distance.
To date, the best methods for an average civilian to track someone is a cellular phone. Although a simple cell phone won't do it, you'd need it customized first; at least as I understand it.
But don't fret! As with all inventions, it will be refined with time to better meet the needs of users.
Should be interesting to say the least.
Posted by: Paolo at August 4, 2003 4:27 PM
