My two male cats at home have a loving and harmonious relationship. They sleep together, groom each other, and share food bowls.

But I must say, as close as they are, I’m starting to see a difference in their physiques.

One is happy to play anywhere, any time, and he is stocky and muscular. The other guy, the one that prefers to move around by lying on his back and pushing himself along with his hind legs….there seems to be some “jigglage” accumulating on his belly.

That’s why I was interested to read about a cat-feeder that a Taiwan design team created.

The device, called Bistro, is a food dispenser that uses a scale, and….wait for it….. cat-facial recognition technology!

Just saying the words gives me a thrill.

The scale weighs the food continuously as the cat is eating, and after the cat leaves, the system will calculate the amount of food and water the cat has taken, as well as the cat’s weight.

The data is then sent to the user’s smartphone via an app. So owners can use the app to easily review each cat’s diet history and health.

Cat-facial recognition is used by a built-in camera, to distinguish which cat is preparing to eat, great for multi-cat households. 

In addition, users can configure how many meals they want their cats to eat per day, and Bistro will automatically calculate and dispense the correct amount of food for each meal.

I can see how Bistro would be very useful at home, since it could prevent my jiggly-bellied cat from eating too much.

But, I can also easily imagine him waiting for Bistro to dispense food for his housemate, then sauntering over, nudging said housemate out of the way, and eating it all up.

Perhaps Bistro also needs security measures coupled with its cat-facial recognition technology. Something like a clear plastic cover that slides over the bowl if the wrong cat pokes its nose in? Flashing lights? A red siren maybe? XD

The device is currently in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign with 29 days left to go, and is expected to retail for around $7500 NT.

P.S Designers at 42Ark, please also invent a machine for feeding hairball paste to cats so I do not have to stage a daily cat rodeo to get the job done! Thanks!