Researchers aim to produce device to translate dog’s thoughts into plain English

A group of Scandinavian researchers has raised enough money through crowdfunding to attempt to bridge the gap between animals and humans by producing a gadget capable of translating what a dog was thinking into plain English.

According to their claims, a new invention from Sweden, No More Woof, would be able to translate a dog's thoughts into words.

A headset would be strapped to the animal's head and the device would read EEG signals from the dog's brain and software would then attempt to translate those thoughts into English.

The gadget would use a small Raspberry Pi computer for making the translations. The device was the brainchild of the Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery. The firm had also invented a rocking chair that could charge an iPad and a hover lamp that could shadow users from room to room.

However, No More Woof keeps the distillation of the pet's thoughts simple, which means, the bit about translating its thoughts, was somewhat short of the truth.

What the software would do is to translate rather simple thought processes like ''I am tired'' or ''I am hungry'', something that dogs had been able to communicate to their owners since they first became domesticated.

for those users who are worried that there was a communication gap between them and their dog, No More Woof would be on sale from April 2014 for $600 and would also be available in Spanish, French and Mandarin. However, its makers have warned they are Scandinavian so completely perfect English could not be expected.

The researchers stress that the project was still very much a work in progress and in no way would be mass produced.

They admit the project was still in its infancy and that it needed a lot of support and development.

Dog behaviour expert Nikki Brown who welcomed the invention, told BBC Radio that anything that could help people understand that they need to learn the language of their animal was really good.