Petlibro, the pet tech startup known for its automatic feeders and filtered water fountains, has just launched its latest product, the AI-powered Scout Smart Camera, designed to provide pet owners with real-time insights into their furbabies’ activities and behaviors.
Scout is similar to other pet cameras on the market; it monitors your pet in real time and features two-way audio, allowing you to communicate with them if they’re getting into mischief. The companion mobile app allows users to control the camera’s movements, although the camera is also designed to detect and automatically follow their pet as they move past it. It can also make a chirping noise to grab their attention if you can’t find them.
What sets this device apart, however, is its AI capabilities.
Scout uses pet-recognition technology to track various activities, such as when your pet eats (which is helpful if they chew on things they shouldn’t), drinks water, uses the litter box, or simply walks in front of the screen. It also captures surprise selfies of your pet when they are detected and provides daily highlights, storing clips in the cloud for up to 30 days.
Additionally, Scout can recognize multiple pets, allowing it to track their activities separately. Users can currently set individual profiles for two pets in the app.
“Early on, our models struggled to tell similar-looking pets apart, which we knew was needed in many multi-pet pet households. Traditional facial recognition failed when pets moved quickly or shared features. This led us to develop a dynamic, first-of-its-kind (for an AI pet cam), feedback-driven system that improves through real-world use over time,” York Wu, founder and CEO, told TechCrunch.
A standout feature I appreciated as a pet owner is that the device doesn’t just notify you of your pet’s activities; it also provides cute descriptions. One of my favorites during testing was, “Zelda is calmly strolling across the shiny floor, her nose pointed forward as she explores her surroundings with gentle curiosity.” How adorable is that?
Another way Petlibro’s Scout camera stands out is its ability to share devices with up to five other family members and friends.
If you’re interested in trying the device, it’s priced at $100. There are multiple subscription plans available; however, to access the AI features, you can opt for either the standard tier, which costs $12 per month, or the premium tier, priced at $17 per month.
Another pet camera company, Furbo, offers a similar device that includes an AI “Nanny” assistant for $7 per month. The camera itself is priced at $210.
While Petlibro’s Scout camera is priced lower than Furbo’s, it currently lacks a key feature found in Furbo’s offering: the ability to detect and alert owners to barking. Petlibro is actively working on adding this, along with meowing detection, which may broaden its appeal, as Furbo is primarily marketed to dog owners.
Additionally, the Scout device doesn’t have a food dispenser, but Petlibro plans to integrate AI capabilities with select feeders and fountains, aiming to differentiate its growing product line from competitors.
It should be noted that the company’s privacy policy indicates that its system collects image and video data captured by the camera for use in improving the device, including its AI features. Other smart cameras, such as Google Nest and Amazon Ring, also state in their privacy policies that they collect user data to improve their services. Scout doesn’t use audio in any AI training or processing.
Petlibro explained to us that the data collection is for making corrections for users’ individual cameras. The data is handled in accordance with privacy laws.
“Essentially, users are training their own camera with their pets, so the more they use it, the better it will get. For example, if I tell Scout in the app, they tagged this puppy as Max but it’s really Penny, it improves future accuracy,” a company spokesperson explained to us, adding that the app also includes a “donate video” button, allowing users to provide clips to Petlibro for “universal improvement,” they added.
This story has been updated to include additional information about data collection.