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The ulti-mutt pet? Chinese tech company develops robo-dogs

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Helen Roxburgh and Qian Ye, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/afp/04/08/robo-dog.jpg"/><figcaption>This picture taken on April 2, 2021 shows an engineer (background R) controlling an AlphaDog quadruped robot in a workshop at the Weilan Intelligent Technology Corporation in Nanjing, China&#x27;s Jiangsu province. It&#x27;s whip fast, obeys commands and doesn&#x27;t leave unpleasant surprises on the floor -- meet the AlphaDog, a robotic response to two of China&#x27;s burgeoning loves: pets and technology. <em>Wang Zhao, Agence France-Presse</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>NANJING, China - It&#x27;s whip fast, obeys commands and doesn&#x27;t leave unpleasant surprises on the floor -- meet the AlphaDog, a robotic response to two of China&#x27;s burgeoning loves: pets and technology.</p><p>The high-tech hound uses sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to &#x27;hear&#x27; and &#x27;see&#x27; its environment -- and can even be taken for walks.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s really very similar to a real dog,&quot; says Ma Jie, chief technology officer at Weilan, the company behind the product.</p><p>The Nanjing-based creators say their robot dog -- which moves at a speed of almost 15 kilometers (nine miles) per hour and spins on the spot like an excited puppy -- is the fastest on the market.</p><p>With four metal legs it is more stable than a real dog, Ma explains as one of his team swiftly kicks it to prove the point.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/05/21/20/robot-dog-on-virus-park-patrol-in-singapore">Robot dog on virus park patrol in Singapore</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/classified-odd/01/23/19/paw-patrol-sony-offers-robocop-dog-at-home">Paw patrol: Sony offers robocop dog at home</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/11/18/old-dog-new-tricks-sony-unleashes-intelligent-robot-pet">Old dog, new tricks: Sony unleashes &#x27;intelligent&#x27; robot pet</a></li></ul><p>&quot;It can predict the friction and height of the ground (to) adjust its height, adjust the stride frequency, and adapt to the environment,&quot; he tells AFP, as the robot slowly navigates going up a set of stairs.</p><p>Its creators are using 5G technology, super-fast internet speeds with immediate reaction times, to make the robot operate autonomously.</p><p>Ma studied reinforcement learning -- the study of how to reinforce actions through reward or punishment -- at the University of Oxford and says he has used that knowledge to inform how the AI dog mimics canine habits. </p><p>Dog ownership was banned under the leadership of communist China&#x27;s founder Mao Zedong -- but has since boomed dramatically.</p><p>And in the first month of sales, more than 1,800 AlphaDogs have trotted off the shelves, despite the hefty price tag of 16,000 yuan ($2,400).</p><p>&quot;Orders are mostly from computer developers, tech geeks, and also kids, who really seem to like it,&quot; said Ma. </p><div><strong>ROBOT ROLLOUT?</strong></div><p>As China seeks to upskill its workforce, Beijing has been making huge investments in robotics and AI. </p><p>Robots are already used to deliver parcels, serve in restaurants, offer information at stations and even take throat swabs for Covid-19 tests.</p><p>The Weilan workshop is staffed by young tech enthusiasts, filled with pencil design sketches and a central obstacle route of stairs and slopes for the machines to clunk over in testing.</p><p>Developers there hope future uses of their four-legged friend could benefit the visually impaired.</p><p>&quot;To help the disabled is a important developing direction for us,&quot; says Ma. &quot;When the robot dog has the function of vision, hearing and dialogue too, it can easily interact with disabled people, and lead them to the supermarket or the bus.&quot; </p><p>Future software updates will include the dog &quot;barking&quot; -- and beyond that, even add human voices to allow conversations between pet and owner.</p><p>There is also a larger &quot;enterprise&quot; dog model, designed for industrial inspections of machinery or pipes.</p><p>The next generation of the AlphaDog in pet form could also introduce &quot;personalities&quot; to the dog&#x27;s toolkit to make them even more canine-like, as well as extend its somewhat brief battery life.</p><div><strong>rox/apj/reb/gle</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1657022" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>NANJING, China - It's whip fast, obeys commands and doesn't leave unpleasant surprises on the floor -- meet the AlphaDog, a robotic response to two of China's burgeoning loves: pets and technology.</p>

NANJING, China - It's whip fast, obeys commands and doesn't leave unpleasant surprises on the floor -- meet the AlphaDog, a robotic response to two of China's burgeoning loves: pets and technology.

The ulti-mutt pet? Chinese tech company develops robo-dogs

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The ulti-mutt pet? Chinese tech company develops robo-dogs

Helen Roxburgh and Qian Ye,

Agence France-Presse

Published Apr 08, 2021 01:08 PM PHT

Read More:

pet

robot dog

technology

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china

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AlphaDogs

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