The range of products on China’s smart pet care market is expanding, driven by growing consumer demand and advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Pet care is becoming increasingly tech-driven and sophisticated. This is reported by
Belt and Road News Network (BRNN), a partner of TV BRICS.
According to statistics, by 2025 the number of cats and dogs in China’s cities had exceeded 126 million, whilst the consumer market was worth approximately US$46 billion. At a popular pet products exhibition held in Shanghai this spring, visitors could see a range of smart technologies for pet care, including smart cameras, water dispensers, feeders and companion robots.
For example, Wang, a Chinese woman who owns several cats, explained that she uses a feeder with a face-recognition function: after initial registration, each pet is assigned its own profile in the system.
“Even if I add large chunks of freeze-dried food, the device works flawlessly. When I’m away on business, I use the app to monitor when and how much each cat has eaten, and I can also see how much food is left in the feeder,” said Wang.
Smart wearable devices for pets are improving year on year. Some smart collars continuously monitor a pet’s activity, sleep duration and heart rate: if any worrying deviations are detected, the system instantly notifies the owner.
One company has unveiled an entire ecosystem: a smart water bowl with drinking behaviour recognition, a food bowl that alerts the owner to any anomalies, and a cat litter tray with face recognition and litter analysis features – all integrated into a dedicated platform that tracks the pets’ health data.
There are also reports of a smartphone designed for pets. The gadget is built around three main objectives: communication, safety and health monitoring. The owner can interact with their pet remotely, send training commands and track its location via GPS. A camera records what is happening from the pet’s perspective.
Thus, the Chinese AI-based smart gadget industry is confidently moving from automatic feeding and health monitoring towards full-fledged interaction between humans and animals.