Carnegie Mellon student demos OATs, tiny AI pets for objects

In short: A Carnegie Mellon PhD student showed a prototype called OATs that turns everyday objects into small, expressive “virtual pets” to nudge habits.

What happened

Daehwa Kim, a fifth-year PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, created OATs, short for Object Agent Twins. They are small E Ink screens (like a Kindle style display) that attach to household objects and show a simple character with changing facial expressions.

The idea is to make objects feel a bit like Tamagotchi pets from the 1990s. For example, an OAT attached to a plant can look sad when the soil is dry, and happy after you water it. Another example is a skateboard that looks lonely if it has not moved in days, and cheers up when you ride it.

Each OAT connects to sensors that can measure things such as moisture, temperature, humidity, light, motion, and room activity. A web setup page lets people name the object and choose which sensors to use. The system then creates “positive” and “negative” states, and you can edit them to match what you want.

Kim presented the project at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in Detroit in early November, where it received two Honorable Mention awards. Kim has not decided whether to sell kits.

Why it matters

This shows a different way AI can show up in daily life, not just inside a phone app. But it also raises questions about giving AI human-like emotions, since that can make people trust a tool too much. The prototype also has limits, including short battery life of about three to four days, or about one day with a sound sensor.

Source: Wired