Project Description

P.A.W.S. is a fully-walled, AI-assisted protective enclosure designed to address a common issue in households with both dogs and cats—coprophagia, or dogs eating cat feces. It grants cats exclusive access to their litter box while keeping dogs (and any other animal) out. It achieves this through a camera positioned at the entrance of the cat door, which uses object identification to accurately recognize the animal lingering nearby. The unit blends seamlessly into the home, resembling a piece of dark-wood furniture with a top-hinged door for easy cleaning and refilling of the litter box. Current available litter boxes either allow free access to any animal or need the animal to be microchipped or collared. Our system is completely autonomous without needing any external signal. This means that any cat can enter the enclosure and all other pets will be blocked. This works great for both a multi-cat and mixed pet household.

Team Members

Luana Capel

Photonic Science and Engineering

Kinza Rashid

Computer Engineering

Jeffrey Sotello

Electrical Engineering

Christian Williams

Computer Engineering