RFID cat flaps are great for keeping unwelcome animals from wandering into your house, but they don't stop your cat from bringing dead animals into said dwelling. The ZeroMouse was designed to address that shortcoming, by blocking access to cats that are carrying prey.
Invented by German electronic engineer Thomas Prosser, the ZeroMouse is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. It's a compact device that gets added to existing third-party RFID cat flaps, in a user-performed process that reportedly takes less than five minutes.
For readers who are unfamiliar with the flaps, they're basically little cat doors that are equipped with an RFID (radio frequency identification) reader.
When the user's cat approaches the flap, the reader wirelessly communicates with an RFID chip that is either inserted under the animal's skin or is worn on its collar. As long as that particular chip is recognized by the reader, the cat is allowed through. If an un-chipped animal – or another cat with a different chip – tries to get in, however, the flap won't open for them.
Of course, even recognized felines may try bringing captured mice, birds or other small animals into the house with them. That's where the ZeroMouse comes in.
Utilizing an infrared light and a night-vision camera, it snaps a photo of the cat (day or night) as it reaches the flap. The image is instantaneously analyzed utilizing AI-based algorithms, to see if any prey items are being carried in the cat's mouth.
If any are detected, the device emits an RFID signal that mimics the chip of an unrecognized cat. This means that the flap won't open until the user's cat (hopefully) figures out that it has to drop its little prize in order to get inside. Users can opt to be notified via an accompanying app, to help in the learning process.
And speaking of learning, the prey-detecting software is automatically improved and updated using anonymized data that is regularly transmitted by other ZeroMouse devices in use around the world. For this reason, the device does require Wi-Fi access. It also requires an external power source, as it doesn't use batteries.
Assuming the ZeroMouse reaches production, a pledge of €139 (about US$152) will get you one – the planned retail price is €299 ($328).
There's more information in the following video.
Sources: Kickstarter, ZeroMouse
