Pawtrack, GPS cat tracker

We have worked with Pawtrack as their go to product design development consultancy for the past 8 years now. They are great to work with as they relish a design challenge. With this iteration we wanted to add to the range of products with a more versatile battery option. The curved battery on other models is still excellent, however on this version the challenge was to integrate standard replacement batteries into a sleek new design.

About the Project

Client

Pawtrack

Services

Product Design | Electronics Development | Design for Manufacture

Cat Tracking

Challenge

Creating an easy to wear collar for cats of all sizes means keeping things light and slim. Space is at a premium like a SpaceX payload bay.

The challenge in the latest brief was to integrate a replaceable battery of standard size. The model here uses a cool little rechargeable Li-Po usb charged battery which is a standard size and interchangeable with off the shelf batteries for the first time, giving you the option for an emergency backup if you missed a charging slot. This means the body had to be morphed around a cylindrical battery and providing a bay with access to swap in and out.

Outcome

One thing that sets all the Pawtrack collars apart is the GPS antenna always being on the top side of the cats neck. This is to increase the number of satellites which are used by the collar, the more satellites the collar sees the greater the tracking accuracy. The brief here was to drop any rigid plastics on the upper side of the neck and house a flexible antenna. This makes the collar lighter and more flexible overall with the self weight of the battery keeping the antenna on top.

We worked with the advise of cat experts on creating a safe to wear device and key to this is the safety release should the cat become entangled. More over we built in a method of getting just the right collar fitment by our toggle snap device integration.

Final Thoughts

Since we have partnered with Pawtrack in the pet tracking space we have seen the market evolve. Now consumers are switched on to the concept of tracking your pets movements. There is a wider adoption and perhaps more competition than ever. Most tracking devices on the market seem to be extremely similar, our collar is unique in that it utilises the technology of flexible antenna to reduce stress on the animal while keeping accuracy of tracking high.