Ctrl-Z

Casey Panning, Community Outreach & Education Coordinator, The Toronto Humane Society

November 24, 2016

most of the dogs were loud and stressed
most animals were from owner surrender
special boxes that look like a viable place to hide can be used to catch loose cats
Only 1% of a dog's DNA determines appearance
smaller animals or baby animals are adopted faster
the third most often scenario in which the THS obtains animals is when people bring in strays
3500 animals are brought in every year, 750 of those are strays
THS is a no-kill facility
California Humane Society is partnered with them, they transfer animals to each other
750 stray animals are brought every year
They suggested that we meet with dog owners to see what extra features we can add or take away from the Pinder Pet Finder
There are way more cats in the shelter than there are dogs
All dogs will have different reactions to senses such as sound, vision, etc.
There are way more stray cats than dogs so maybe we should either:
(a) make our collar adaptable for various animals, or
(b) create different versions of cats and dogs (flexible e-text display?)
They liked how cost effective our solution was
If a stray is found, you can call 311 to get someone to collect the pet. This takes longer than bringing the pet into the THS but it is safer
The microchip includes of the owner's contact information. It is the owner's job to update this information. When their contact information changes, owners often remember to change their hydro and employment information but not their dog’s information. The microchip gets inserted into the pet’s skin (Mostly dogs). Then if the pet is lost, the doctor will scan the microchip and find the information. They will then call the microchip company and find out the phone number of the owner.
Baby animals get adopted faster than adult animals
Pit Bulls were banned in Ontario in 2004
More dogs are surrendered by their owner than they are found stray.
Less than 1% of a pitbull’s DNA makes up its look

Claudia Vecchio, Founder and Chair of ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals

November 29, 2016

Even when people see an assumed lost dog, they are reluctant to go near if it is a big dog. If people knew that is was fine to approach the dog, they would. Most people in Ontario will assume that dogs without owners in sight are lost, not stray.

Electromagnetic fields could affect dogs.
MAGNETIC FIELDS and LEY LINES
Can EMFs Shorten Your Dog’s Life?

It can be used only when the owner takes the dog for a walk Make it easier to put on and off Magnets?

Arduino does not match the physical Arduino controller being used by the team

Jack Feder, Electrical Engineer, Inventor of Electronic Medical Devices

December 4, 2016

It is used to test the electronic equipment that generates an electrical signal by measuring the changing voltage of an electrical signal over time.
When troubleshooting electronic components, like Arduino, always refer to schematics which are available online
It is surprising the schematic for Ctrl-Z’s

Cathy Broughton, Local Dog Walker, Cathy Broughton Dog Walking

January 8, 2017

People spend a fortune on their dogs.
When a dog is scared, its tail goes down, its ears shut and it runs away.
She’d pay over $100 for our collar
Our collar may not be durable enough for a dog’s daily life.
Our collar may not be durable enough for a dog’s daily life.
Flashing and noise shouldn’t be too flashy or too loud or else it might spook the dog.
Reliability is a big part of why people purchase certain products for their dogs.
People will notice the flashing text.
Normally dogs are running. It is assumed that the owner is with it because you can’t tell if it is a lost dog. With our collar, no assumptions are necessary because it is clear that it is lost.
If we make it too cheap people might think that it is bad quality.
In order to read the contact information off normal dog collar tags, you have to get right up to the dog to read it. Sometimes the dog is scared with people coming up close to it. It will start jumping around so the identification can not be read. With our dog collar, you don’t have to get right next to the dog to get the identification. With our collar you can see the contact information from far away and then contact the owner.
The owner can spend several hundred dollars a month on food

Galen Udell, Founder of The Company Bark ‘N Yapp

January 9, 2017

Was very impressed with our product
Most of North America is compassionate towards dogs
An app would be expensive for us to support and develop
Make it for many platforms (IOS, ANDROID)
A lot of dogs are scared of people or are skittish
He really likes the idea of having the LED display and the laser projection because then it solves the problem of people having to go up right next to the dog
Toronto is a very sensitive and friendly towards lost/stray dogs
Suggests something to notify owner when collar strap is broken
App is not a negative, people are used to having an app
The app is expensive for the users
Get a lot of market data for your project
There is a product fairly similar but for horses and now they are trying to make it for dogs but it does not have many of the features that our product has

Rosemary Muccilli, Franchisee of Global Pet Foods in North Toronto

March 23, 2017

The final product should be all black
Add reflective material to Pinder
Make sure that the collar buckle is very solid and won’t break apart
Make special batteries for the Pinder so that we get more annual revenue
Make the Pinder able to attach to harnesses for small dogs (for this point make multiple versions or make one that is adaptable).
A concern is dogs with hair that is long enough to cover the screen.
She feels that the price of $49.99 is too low and that we could sell this for $120.00
People come to her store asking for pet trackers but she does not supply them.
Once the Pinder is finished, she would sell them at her store.
Make sure the Pinder is light enough for 2lb dogs to carry (harness idea would solve this)
She thought this is a very viable idea that can be made very successful.

Pegmatis Inc., End-To-End Product Design And Development

April 11, 2017

On April 11, 2017 Ctrl-Z members visited Pegmatis Inc., which is a tech startup located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada that brings product ideas to life using its team of seasoned experts in software, hardware and system design. Ron Cassar (software management), Ed Becze (System and ME Architecture), Mike Flynn (Architecture and System Validation), David Reeves (Test Architecture), Steve Miao (EE Architecture), Calvin Curry (Manufacturing Engineering), and James Ball (System Architecture and RF / Wireless Architecture) are the founders of the company. Each engineer with their own unique skillset informed us about the different aspects of bringing the Pinder to life.

Ron Cassar: Business Aspects

Find the hard parts and problems early on, and solve them early on
When manufacturing in Asia, many parts used in North America will not be available
Product definition
Teamwork is key, many brilliant engineers often miss this and this is often a career-limiting item.
Many different people with different skillsets are needed to produce a product

James Ball and Steve Miao: Electrical

ALLPCB.com is a website to get PCB’s made for a good price
Software for PCB design
When buying individual chips, make sure the proper firmware is loaded onto those chips
Battery charging chips are available
We would use a cell phone speaker
Charging would not be by USB
It could cost up to $1 million to develop Pinder
Certification for bringing to market:
Using pre-made modules makes certification a lot easier
Battery life
Element14 offers parts libraries for PCB design
DIGIKEY supplies many parts
CNC manufacturing for plastic prototype is fast and easy

Calvin Curry: Mechanical Design

Know the requirements very well
Waterproofing
Screws
Tolerance
Speakers
Buttons
Dog’s neck
Add amplifier to make louder speaker
Bluetooth
Having a dedicated team each with their own skills is really important
For laser lens, contact the people who make it for the Dollarama laser
No sharp edges on product
We need to be able to service it
CAD software