AnimalGo plan on developing their platform next year
KAIST professor Sung-ho Cho was appointed as CTO
Manage and take care of your pet’s health in real-time
Hopes are high for the emerging Pet-Tech-P

A Metaverse for your pets is on the horizon.

A service that allows users to create avatars that reflect pet data, as well as check and manage their status in real time in a virtual space is currently being developed.

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<KAIST Department of Computer Science Professor Sung-ho Cho >

AnimalGo, a company that specializes in pet care, will develop a platform that caters to pet-related services on the Metaverse.
To this end, Professor Sung-ho Cho, who studies artificial intelligence (AI) and robots at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), was appointed as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Professor Cho is a professor at KAIST's Department of Computer Science and oversees other professors at the KI Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and Robotics Program. They have done considerable research on bio-based sensors and have recently managed to garner a lot of attention for predicting human gait and researching grip strength-enhancing gloves using a single wearable sensor.

AnimalGo entrusted Professor Cho with general advice on AI as well as mobile app development and operation.

You will be able to scan and input biometric data to create pet AI avatars on the Pet Metaverse. You will be able to collect and track biometric and activity data in real-time through a pet necklace that utilizes the Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Users will be able to easily monitor and manage the health and movement status of their pet through the app. Health check-up services based on pet data as well as insurance plans exclusively for pets will also be possible.

AnimalGo signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Peopet, a pet registration service startup, licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It provides a service that allows pets to be registered on mobile without having to go to an animal hospital. Currently, more than 200,000 animals have been registered.

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<Photo=Getty Imagesbank>

According to the 2021 Korea Pet Report released by KB Financial Group's Management Research Institute, there were 6.04 million households raising pets, accounting for 29.7% of all households in Korea, as of the end of 2020.

There are 14.48 million pet-owners, which is more than one in four Koreans that live with a pet companion. Pet households using "pet-tech" devices to conveniently and safely care for their pets also accounted for 64.1%, well over half of all pet households.

A official from AnimalGo said, “As the number of people raising pets increases, the pet-related market is rapidly growing," adding, "We expect Professor Sung-ho Cho's appointment as CTO will allow us to quickly and effectively enter the Pet-Tech market linked to IT and the Metaverse."

AnimalGo is a comprehensive platform company that provides pet-only services such as dog cafes, kindergartens, beauty salons, and hotels. It operates six offline branches, including branches in Samsung, Gwangju, Jeju, and Dobong, and has recently been aggressively expanding its online and offline businesses.

By Staff Reporter Myung-hee Kim (noprint@etnews.com)