

Chinese app aims to translate what your cat is trying to tell you - tomazstolfa
http://getmaoapp.cn/en/

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prairiedogg
Step 1: Create landing page with call to action to measure interest

Step 2: Post on hacker news

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binarysolo
To be fair, if I had to guess, I think the measurement of interest is for
American translation of said app already in development (or developed) by some
Chinese devs. If anything I'm kinda impressed at the production quality; can't
seem to find anything about the developers though.

As a person with some experience with mocap data analysis, the ad copy is
mildly furiating (<http://getmaoapp.cn/en/how-it-works/>). But I suppose they
do what they gotta do to impress the clientele.

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Udo
I swear my cat gets frustrated sometimes when she's repeatedly trying to tell
me something and I keep guessing the wrong thing (or worse, ignoring her) - so
much so that she sometimes hits me... However, I believe that any human will
probably effortlessly outperform a mobile app at cat translation for the
foreseeable future.

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T-hawk
Maybe, maybe not. A computer could pick up subtle shifts in body positions or
vocal tone and pace that a human can't. Like the work to visualize a heartbeat
and other bodily functions, by magnifying deltas that are too small for the
human eye to detect. <http://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/vidmag/> Something like
that could certainly conceivably work for cat body language and voices.

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Udo
It would indeed be interesting to see some info on systems trying to
accomplish this. I would argue that the cat owner gets better data in the
first place because they are physically present, while a mobile app has to
reconstruct a lot from video input.

Then there is the problem of interpreting the intent of the cat itself. I
would say there are a few different modes of communication with varying
degrees of obviousness.

First, the app would probably be good to determine basic mood, such as fear or
joy. But then again, any human could do that just as well. More nuanced
communications of mood and intent can vary from cat to cat, giving the owner-
human the edge here as well. I don't need an app to tell me that my cat feels
57% optimistic about her day, 32% playful, and wants more social contact with
a 75% probability. As a family member, I can also use other heuristics that an
app can't, for example I can factor in what happened yesterday, or other
specific data that is hard to generalize programmatically.

The other category would be purposeful coordination with the human. In this,
the cat explicitly addresses a human with the intent to communicate. This is
probably where the most misunderstandings happen, and hence the best
opportunity for the app to shine. As a lifelong "cat observer" I'm pretty good
at reading a lot of the cues instinctively, but these too vary a lot from cat
to cat. Usually the cat also tries to _show_ what the problem is. For example,
she literally walks me over to the door, or to the place where food is stored,
or to where a toy is kept, or to a dirty litter box if I forgot to clean it.
My cat also regularly points out other things that are clearly my fault, such
as rain or the wrong food flavor. Once again, this is not hard to recognize.

In general I think this is a fascinating area, not because it's about cats,
but because of the implications of communicating with minds that are not
human.

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StringyBob
I'll put it alongside the dolphin translator so they can have a chat:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2665653>

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DigitalTurk
Although the style of this website is sufficiently 'Western' that these people
are probably trustworthy, I would recommend some caution when it comes to
signing up for their mailing list. My experience is that Chinese
companies—even the ones you might think are respectable—don't know the meaning
of the word 'unsubscribe'.

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jiggy2011
echo "feed me"

Done

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D-Coder
Oh come on. Cats are _far_ more complicated than that.

"Feed me."

"Feed me NOW DAMMIT."

"Pet me."

"Clean the fricken sandbox."

"Make a lap for me."

"Go the hell away."

See?

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krofdrakula
Good. Now I can finally decode what the fuss about the shoebox is all about.

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sharmanaetor
There seems to be no "Contact Us" link but if the creators of the site read
this, there is no such language as "Hindu". I think you mean "Hindi".

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CWIZO
I can't wait to try this out on my cats. It really is something I need.

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gyzar
I wish somebody made something like that but for dogs ...

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mbratkovic
If Google couldn't do it, Chinese developers will :)

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natannikolic
This is absolutely bonkers! 1 Million dollars!

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Brat
Can't wait for the dog version.

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gretzki
Timmy fell in the well? :/

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klaut
i can already predict loads of Vine cat movies ;)

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alesrosina
Very nice!

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bsenftner
Brillant

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ireadqrcodes
I can has cheazeburgers?

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jerrickhoang
lol, this is funny, I like it =)

