Can a pillow with a tail replace a cat?
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
On Raleigh’s RALEIGH, N.C. — busiest street, a 24-pound cat lumbers down the sidewalk twice a day, poking hisheadintobanklob bies, padding through sidewalk cafes, catching smil esfrom the high-dollar attorneys and hot dog vendors.
To Tucker, Rale i gh’s 20-year-old feline-abouttown, Fayetteville Street serves as a concrete backyard — a king dom of sandwich smells and passing poodles, his to explore with keen whiskers.
About a year ago, Ron Kirk set his pet on the street and let him wander, hoping to whittle down his weight. As a sedentary cat upstairs in The Hudson condominiums, Tucker ballooned to 31 pounds, bigger than a pair of Christmas turkeys.
Once released, he took a few tentative steps, then wandered a few buildings down the block, then grad- ually learned to recognize the Fayetteville Street land- marks — especially the red door at Sono Sushi.
Now Tucker might amblea block ahead of his humans, tail swishing.
“He walks into the bank,” said Kirk, 40, a database ana- lyst who works from home. “He walks into every sin- gle p lace that will let him in. P eople will stop their cars. If he wobbles away, he’s easy to find.”
In his life as a downtown flaneur, Tucker has not only shed 22 percent of his bulk but slinked his way into downtown c eleb- rity. At last co unt Tucker had 650 friends on Instagram as oakcitykitty.
He appears there curled up on a sidewalk mural dur- ing SparkCon, resting nex tto a shelf stocked with pump- kin ale, trotting between a Fayetteville Street bride and groom, bowtie fixed around his neck.
“He knows all the peo- p le who work in the restaurants,” Kirk said. “He has just under 650 Instagram friends. He’s got some dogfri ends even though he doesn’t consider them his equal.”
Other than sirens and motorcycles, nothing frightens Tucker. Half-tabby, half-Maine coon, Tucker got adopted from a shelter in Orange County, where h e’dservedasatestcatfor the staff. When the shelter took in a Rottweiler, the staff paired the 100-pound dogs with Tucker to see if they were feline compatible.
“He was a terror,” Kirk said.
Downtown, he inspires a hundred questions: Is that acat?Isitaraccoon?Isita bobcat? Is it pregnant?
But their questions fade with a scratch between Tuck- er’s ears, a soft place on Fay- etteville Street where bad days turn good.
Have you ever just wanted a cat, but without a head?
The Qoobo is a new invention from Yukai Engineering that aims to give you all you need in a small furry compan- ion without any of the mess, fuss or general responsibility of caring for a living and breathing animal. It’s essentially just a round pillow with a tail. There’s no head or feet. It comes in two colors, Husky Gray and French Brown. It wags and curls its tail when you pet it. It even vibra testo simulate purring. The Japanese invention was unveiled at the CEATEC trade sh owinOctober and should cost around $100 when it debuts in Japan in summer 2018, Engadget reported.
The idea behind the robot came about when its designer was forced to leave her cat behind when her new apartment wouldn’t allow pets, reported Edgadget. She wanted to come up with a substitute that could make her feel better.
The lifelike tail is a big selling point for the robot, and will change speeds depending on how much you pet it.
“We have studied the actual tail and developed mechanisms and programs to reproduce the movement,” the company said in a statement translated by Mashable. Feeling comforted is the main goal of Qoobo, according to the company’s website. The three-step process to using the robot is “Stroke, React, Get Healed.”
So it’s not a real cat. It can’t st are uninterestedly a t you, catch mice, meow at the wall or harass you when you’re trying to sleep. On the flip side, you’d save a ton on kitty litter.