Sharp to Enter Pet-Related Business

June 12, 2018

Tokyo- Sharp Corp. said Monday that it will enter the pet-related business.

As the first step, the Japanese electronics maker will launch a litter box on July 30 that will help people to monitor their cats' health using the Internet of Things.

Sharp's move comes as people are increasingly interested in disease prevention for their pets amid their rising longevity.

The company aims to earn some 10 billion yen in annual sales from its pet-related business in the year ending in March 2021.

Sharp's new product will measure the amount and the number of times a cat urinates, as well as the animal's weight and length of time it spends in the litter box. The information will then be sent to a cloud storage system managed by the firm.

The data will be analyzed using artificial intelligence and results will be sent to the owner's smartphone if abnormalities, such as an increased urine amount, are detected.

The litter box, available only via Sharp's online store for the time being, will be sold for 26,784 yen. Users will need to pay a monthly fee of 324 yen for the health monitoring service.

Sharp is also working on developing a wearable device for dogs to measure heart rate and other indicators. Jiji Press