You might be stuck in the past, feeding batteries into a little
laser pointer meant for conference room presentations. You
hold it in your hand and wave it around manually. Yes, your
cat goes bonkers for it, but wouldn't you rather handle laser-
pointer duty with your smartphone from the comfort of your
couch? If that's a "yes," then head over to Kickstarter and
gawk at the Obi.
Obi is described as a smart laser toy for cats. It's a nifty bit
of modern design, available in matte black or white with a
cork interior. It looks more like a Bluetooth speaker than a
cat toy.
It takes an iPad or iPhone to control the Obi using an app
with an onscreen interface, where you simply draw your
finger over the screen to aim the laser. It can also be set to
handle itself automatically, or to turn on when you're not
around. It also makes a noise to attract your cat for
unsupervised playtime.
Don't freak out if you come home and find your feline buddy
has trashed your house while you were out. At least your cat
will have gotten some good exercise. The laser toy can also
be set to only shine in a predetermined confined space in
case you want to just aim for the nearest blank wall, far
away from any breakables.
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The Obi is going for an $80 (about £53, AU$114) pledge. The
campaign has raised over $33,000 toward a pretty hefty
$120,000 goal with 25 days left to run. Keep in mind that not
every crowdfunding project delivers as expected and on
time. However, Obi's creators have launched five other
projects on Kickstarter over the years, so you can check the
track records for those products to get an idea on how they
deliver.
The Kickstarter comes with an interesting warning
concerning Obi and dogs: "According to some animal
behaviorists, some dogs exhibit 'obsessive' qualities, in
which chasing a laser dot can mess with their psyche, since
they can't actually catch it. If you are at all concerned about
your dog's behavior in this regard you should not use Obi
with your dog."
This isn't the first time a delightfully over-engineered cat toy
has appeared on Kickstarter. Mousr, a robotic mouse,
exceeded its funding goal and is scheduled to ship to cat
companions this fall. If you buy both Mousr and Obi (and
your cat likes them), then you might end up with the fittest
cat in your neighborhood.