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The Daily Mail reports that:
Basil the blind dog was picked up by rescuers who noticed he could not walk five yards without bumping into something.
Now, thanks to an innovative new gadget from America, Basil has been given a new lease of life - and his carers hope they will now be able to find a family to permanently house him.
The four-year-old Corgi cross has been given a special guard to wear around his head, which manufacturers call the 'Muffin's Halo'. The light-weight tubular metal ring stops Basil from bumping into objects, allowing him to run around freely without bruising himself. It is attached to his body with a harness and a pillow, which is fashioned to look like angel wings. The 'halo' is designed to be slightly longer and wider than the wearer and when it touches an object, it puts pressure on Basil's shoulders, teaching him to turn away.
Yes, the device is as simple as it sounds but it seems to work and the dog seems happy. Sometimes, going hi-tech just isn't necessary.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by d on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:45AM
IMHO this news is completely offtopic. If we define "innovatve" as "something that didn't exist before", then MAYBE it is innovative, but is this invention any little surprising?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:52AM
How is it significantly different from a cone collar. Oh right, the dog is blind. Let's pretend that makes a difference because it really doesn't.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:03PM
Er it's completely different, perhaps? The cone collar prevents the dog from licking and biting itself. This device allows the dog to do all of that. Gee do you look at anything with wheels and say "these are all cars" be they rollerblades or the landing gear of a 777?
(Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:12PM
You asked, so I'll tell you:
The cone collar serves an entirely different purpose. It is designed to prevent the dog from scratching itself either by preventing the rear leg being brought near to the head or by twisting the head around and using the teeth, to to stop the dog licking a wound or the medication applied to a wound. There may be yet more uses for a cone collar. However it does not stop a partially blind dog from walking into things.
This 'halo' does not interfere with the dog's scratching but is, if one will, a white stick replacement usable by the dog.
As I have already said, not everything has to be hi-tech to be a good idea. I hadn't seen such a thing in use elsewhere, it is not commonplace, it is simple and it works. Now, it may be that the article is not scientific enough for your personal tastes. To be honest, I agree with you. But this site has stated that it will try to balance stories such that 60-70% are of a technical nature. This is part of the other 30-40%. Somebody thought it worth spending some time submitting it, and I agree it is of interest, so I edited it. You don't have to like every story that gets published, and it would be an impossible task for us to try to achieve that with every story and for the entire community. Relax, let it wash over you, and enjoy the rest of your day.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:52AM
Well, I was surprised that it worked. I was also surprised that it was styled as a halo and wings.
1702845791×2
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Wednesday July 09 2014, @10:13AM
Well it's as newsworthy as "New version of desktop OS released, icons and buttons reshuffled, again" or "New version of mobile OS released, more hops to jump through to get the same functionality as before, as user and/or dev", which would be the honest way of report them :)
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:08PM
"Now, thanks to an innovative new gadget from America"
America is so unable to make anything innovative that we consider something so simple and mundane as this to be innovative and something worth bragging about and attaching our name to. Have we really devolved this much as a society. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if someone gets sued for patent infringement or ends up paying some patent troll money over this. Our broken and bought legal system prevents anything truly innovative from coming out of America anymore.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing (I think it's a good thing) just that trying to use this as an example of how innovative America is shows how not so innovative we are.
(Score: 5, Funny) by zafiro17 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @11:12AM
Love it! To all the people whining about how this isn't relevant for Soylent, get over yourselves - it's applied use of technology and creative problem solving, something we should all be interested in. Tons of stuff on hackaday involves creative solution-finding.
I propose a new show, "Pimp my Dog", in the Ashton Kushner trend, where we take domesticated animals and mod them. Maybe the next version of this dog's bumper can involve a small Arduino board and some sensors, or maybe wireless GPS so you can monitor and get some metrics on the dog's daily movements. Could lead to some interesting insights into dog navigation! Hell, make an Android app out of it: "Where's my mutt?" where the onboard dog Gopro camera can give you some dog's eye view of what the mutt is up to, like licking its nuts, or chasing the cat around.
Good times for techies. Lighten up.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @11:41AM
Pimp, how much to have sex with your dog?
(Score: 1, Redundant) by zafiro17 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:12PM
That sound was the sound of the joke going over your head. Here's some remedial reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimp_My_Ride [wikipedia.org] Admittedly, you can't be expected to know about this crappy TV show if you aren't American (or you're an American with a lifestyle that doesn't involve sitting around watching shitty television).
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @04:48PM
I know what Pimp My Ride is and I still thought the other AC's joke was pretty damn funny. I'm think he wooshed you here.
(Score: 2) by TheLink on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:20PM
Maybe someone should attach a "chirper"/"clicker" and then teach the dog to echolocate with it.
After all humans can do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLziFMF4DHA [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-P2a6Mrjs [youtube.com]
So I'm sure you can teach a dog to do it - not like their sense of hearing is worse than ours. Just need to provide a source of clicks/chirps.
As long as you can figure out reasonably accurately the location of an object that's making a soft/quiet noise, you can learn to echolocate - since all you are doing with echolocation is supplying appropriate noise to silent objects.
It doesn't take much energy to make a sound so you might be able to use the dog's motion as a power source. Or maybe teach the dog to change/charge the batteries or tell you to do so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:57PM
Both of my previous dogs went blind a few years before they died. They really could have used this, and it looks like a future-proofer for my current pooch.
Also, Basil's story just makes me go "aww." Thanks, SN!
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday July 09 2014, @02:14PM
Thanks - your comment serves as a counterpoint to some of the others above.
(Score: 2) by mrider on Wednesday July 09 2014, @03:59PM
Yeah, I had a dog that went blind because of diabetes about two years before we finally put him down. He was a great friend and my wife and I still miss him. Too bad I didn't think of something like this.
Doctor: "Do you hear voices?"
Me: "Only when my bluetooth is charged."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Wednesday July 09 2014, @04:30PM
...whiskers! or more accurately, vibrissae.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskers [wikipedia.org]
Okay, so whiskers is easier to type.
I had a cat who became totally blind in his old age. He doddered around for six years after that, relying entirely on his whiskers for navigation -- both for objects and air currents.
Now, most dogs don't have long whiskers, but several long wires (ie. flexible plastic) attached to an ordinary flat collar manages the same trick; yes, this has been done, and the blind dog quickly learns to navigate by the scrape of the wires and the resultant tug on the collar.
Seems to me what they've invented is a lot more cumbersome for the dog, not to mention more expensive for the owners, which is probably more to the point.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:11PM
Whiskers are good for identifying objects to the side. If you're a rat, and you can sweep them forward, then you get a little warning of imminent collision, but not if you're moving very fast. This blind dog apparently still liked to run around like a puppy. His problem wasn't bumping against walls so much as running straight into them. This is a great solution. The notion of prosthetic bumpers or whiskers is not common knowledge, and a little publicity is well deserved.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:38PM
Of course Cats are better than dogs, they are the Superior Species.
Though having a cat for 17 years may have biased me a little :)
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:48PM
Having had numerous cats and dogs... the cat that can compete with a dog is rare indeed. I like my cats, but I've only seen one that could think as far as an average dog, and this cat was a freak all around.
As to the AC's response, cats do point whiskers forward; in fact the easy way to tell when a cat is blind is that it holds whiskers fully extended (which brings some of them due forward) ALL the time.
I don't think their solution is bad, but it struck me as ungainly compared to the "artificial whiskers" technique.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @04:52PM
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:57PM
We'd rather that you didn't.
But if a submitter puts in 27 stories in a matter of weeks, then some of them are bound to make it through to the front page. We encourage people to submit stories and, if you are not finding the stories that you want to read, submit some of your own favourites and we'll take it from there. Its that community thing again....
We will be looking closely at the Daily Mail stories for another reason - they too often come without any links to scientific studies or reports and so might just be some hack's thoughts. Not all stories have to be science based, of course - but we try to look for a 60-70% of stories that are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:26PM
Yes.
(Score: 2, Informative) by oldmac31310 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:37PM
Do NOT link to stories in the Daily Mail. Not a reliable source. Soylent News, please quickly try to develop some editorial skills. You are already way beneath the falling standards of the 'other site'.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Wednesday July 09 2014, @08:03PM
As usual we await your submission. We can only edit what the community submits.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by oldmac31310 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @08:50PM
Please see my other comment which states my case more clearly. If I come across something of interest, I'll submit it, time permitting.
But I think it worth stating that not all submitted stories should be accepted, which is how you make it sound. Surely a big part of editing is weeding out the junk and irrelevant submissions.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday July 10 2014, @06:55AM
Indeed it is. And I have already explained my decision for including this story.
(Score: 1) by oldmac31310 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @08:23PM
On closer inspection, you are the one letting some of these Daily Mail stories through!
Please try to develop some sort of filter (i.e. manually check the source of the story) to immediately jettison anything from the Daily Mail and similar 'newspapers'.
Would you also link to a story in the (UK) Sun, The National Enquirer, The New york Post, Fox News etc.? It is nothing at all to do with political bias; it is all about some standard of journalistic integrity which none of the above mentioned organs can make any reasonable claim to possessing.
I suggest that you generate a whitelist and blacklist so that the bullshit non-stories never make it on to the site. Otherwise, Soylent News' credibility will quickly be zero.
And please, please lighten the body text in the posts and comments. It is very uncomfortable to read and downright ugly. What is it, Arial black or similar? Just make it regular for sanity's sake. I work at a magazine. Believe me, I'm right about this.
Thanks!