Want your dog to talk to you? CSULB faculty member's dog toy would teach it to communicate

Brittany Ransom thinks the days of the rubber chew toys are numbered. She wants to combine art and technology in a revolutionary, interactive dog toy called The Jaw Jabbler.

Ransom, a Cal State Long Beach art department faculty member who teaches about digital fabrication, electronics, kinetics and mechanics, is creating a high-tech toy she hopes will enable dog owners to communicate with their pooch.

“I want to create a dog toy that allows people to communicate with dogs through leaing various commands. Each time a dog squeezes a different part of the toy, it would make a different sound,” she explained. “If a dog wants something or needs to communicate to their human companion, they will lea to bite different legs of the toy.

“The toy would act as an interactive species tool,” said Ransom, who owns two dogs, a Boston terrier and a beagle labrador mix.

Ransom is working on a Jaw Jabbler prototype during a six-week residency in San Francisco. If she completes it, Ransom isn’t sure what she will do next.

As an artist, Ransom strives to probe the lines between human, animal and environmental relations while exploring emergent technologies, she said.

“My artwork invites technology, real and imagined, to heighten our awareness of the existence and perspectives of the world from other species’ point of view,” she said.

Ransom started working on prototype of the toy in 2010 as a grad student at the University of Illinois at Chicago pursuing her master of fine arts degree.

The Interactopus was an eight-legged octopus-like toy that could be reprogrammed with different sounds for every dog.

“As someone who is particular about aesthetics and design, I wanted to create a well-designed dog toy that people wouldn’t be upset by to see in their homes,” Ransom said.

At that time, the goal was to research durable and ergonomic materials that dogs like to play with, she said.

“I’m tired of the squeaky noise toy. I don’t like a lot of dog toys. I wouldn’t want them around the house,” Ransom said. “I don’t think a lot of dog toys are all that interesting to dogs.”

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