Dogs have almost become an essential member of every family. More than 23 million American households adopted a dog during the pandemic. So, to prepare to be one of them, I have been learning about the problems that dog owners face. 56% of the dogs in the US are obese, and about one-third of the dog population goes missing even today in the US. 

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Most of my friends have dogs, and our pets are one of the most precious things for us. In 7th grade, my friend and I built a pet wearable, PetBit, to measure and improve dogs' health using Adafruit and Python. PetBit earned a top 10 finalist award, but as a product, Adafruit hardware was bulky and hard to use.

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Later, I surveyed around 100 dog owners to learn if they use any pet wearables and, if not, why not. Not to my surprise, 85% of people were willing to use such a product as long as they got location tracking and health monitoring in the same device without paying monthly fees for services like GPS.

In high school, I decided to evolve PetBit. I found Puck.js, a Javascript-based development kit that has sensors similar to those of Adafruit but is much smaller, so it can easily fit on pet collars. I also explored location-tracking solutions. After studying Apple MFi technologies, I combined FindMy technology and Puck.js. PetBit V2 is a more cost-effective and convenient solution. I spent my rising Junior summer building the PetBit 2 prototype using these technologies. And through DECA, I took the opportunity to build a start-up business plan for PetBit. This was a great lesson in learning what it would take to launch and succeed with such a product. I aim to bring PetBit to Kickstarter by next summer.

Over the next couple of years, I am keen to build a virtual health assistant using GenAI and CV, where the owner can learn more about the particular dog breed and their dog's behavior and understand any issues the dog may have. The owners can even upload their dog's picture and get a diagnosis for some simple skin issues. It's exciting to see all the possibilities with such a product, and I love learning various technologies by applying them to my own PetBit!