News

AI-Powered App Can Tell You How Your Cat Is Feeling

The app can reach an accuracy of up to 97% when provided a high-quality and full-face front image of the cat.

Published

5 years ago

August 7, 2021

Joanna Melki

ai-powered app can tell you how your cat is feeling

Unsplash

Are you sometimes unsure whether your cat is tired or plotting your assassination? You’re not alone because cats don’t show their emotions too well.

That’s why scientists came up with something called the Feline Grimace Scale, a method of assessing the occurrence or severity of pain experienced by cats according to objective scoring of facial expressions. Now, an Alberta-based animal health technology company called Sylvester.ai has paired the Feline Grimace Scale with an artificial intelligence algorithm to create an app that can tell you how your cat is feeling.

The app is called Tably, and you can download it directly from the App Store. To use it, you simply need to point your smartphone’s camera at your furry friend and wait for a short while for the app to analyze a variety of facial features, including eye-narrowing, muzzle tension, and how whiskers change, to determine how your cat is feeling.

tably app screenshot

According to Michelle Priest, Tably senior product manager, the app can reach an accuracy of up to 97 percent when provided a high-quality and full-face front image of the cat. That’s good enough not only for concerned cat owners but also for young veterinarians, who may not have the experience necessary to tell whether a cat is feeling pain.

Also Read: Microsoft Is Resurrecting Clippy With Its New 3D Emoji

The AI algorithm behind Tably was trained at the Wild Rose Cat Clinic of Calgary. “I love working with cats, have always grown up with cats,” said Dr. Liz Ruelle, DVM, DABVP Feline Specialist at the clinic. “For other colleagues, new grads, who maybe have not had quite so much experience, it can be very daunting to know — is your patient painful?”.

Tably is an excellent example of cutting-edge technology being used to positively impact the lives of those who don’t understand it themselves (although you never know with cats).

News

Abu Dhabi’s Robot Kitchen Is Serving Up Biryani, Not Burgers

Circus SE wants to put a tiny automated factory inside the buildings where Gulf residents live and work, bypassing part of last-mile delivery.

Published

6 days ago

October 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

abu dhabi's robot kitchen is serving up biryani not burgers

Circus SE

The most telling thing about a new autonomous kitchen now running in Abu Dhabi’s Marina Square is what it won’t cook:

“We don’t do fast food,” says Nikolas Bullwinkel, Founder and CEO of Circus SE. “We’ve actively decided not to build a machine that can only do burgers”.

Instead, the CA-1 system is built around pot-based cooking: curries, pastas, soups and rice dishes. After experimenting with highly personalized recipes, Circus deliberately leaned back toward recognizable food. “We’re going with a chicken biryani because you know it,” Bullwinkel says of the AED 40 dish.

circus se ca-1 robot system

The Germany-based robotics and food technology company operates across eight countries, and Abu Dhabi is its first deployment outside Europe. More locations are expected there and in Dubai.

In Germany, its units can be placed in supermarkets, gas stations, airports and hospitals. In the Gulf, Bullwinkel wants them inside residential and office buildings, replacing some of the complexity of last-mile delivery. “We’re basically bringing a very tiny factory a few square meters into your building,” he says. Catering company Royal Prestige supplies the ingredients and knowledge of local tastes.

The CA-1 manages up to 36 refrigerated ingredient silos alongside automated induction cooking, robotic plating and a self-cleaning dishwasher. Two robotic arms move ingredients through the system with minimal human intervention. It can produce up to 120 hot meals an hour, and a meal such as rice and curry can take around three to four minutes.

Also Read: Ooredoo Qatar’s 5G+ Network Is Built For Machines As Much As People

Five cameras and multiple sensors monitor heat, temperature and consistency, an attempt to approximate what a chef perceives. “You can hear something gets burned, you can smell it, you can see it at some point,” Bullwinkel says. CircusOS, the company’s operating system, adjusts recipes in real time.

You might think of the platform as a threat to kitchen staff, but Bullwinkel frames Circus as a way for chefs to develop recipes and distribute them at scale. With that being said, rising labor costs and shortages are also part of his case for automation.