Mexican woman designs smart collar to monitor your pets

Fabiana Hernández Muñoz, a seventh-semester student on the Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design course at the Querétaro campus of Tecnológico de Monterrey, has developed UMA, a smart collar for cats and dogs, for which she obtained third place in the James Dyson Award 2020. 

This collar allows you to monitor their sleep, the amount of food they eat, and other everyday activities.

"It all began as a project. I didn't think I'd get this far... I didn't think I'd win a prize," said Fabiana when interviewed.

She says that the project went through different stages, which contemplate going beyond a perfect design in order to make an ecological impact.

A second life for technology

The collar works by using processors from watches that people no longer use, as well as recycled plastic.

She investigated the project's feasibility for weeks, together with feedback from her classmates and mentoring from her older sister, who holds a degree in Mechatronic Engineering, for aspects to do with how the collar works. 

"My sisters have always been an inspiration to me. They've been a big part of my life, and watching them at work, doing real-life jobs, helped me to develop this idea."

The project started because of the change caused by the health emergency and Fabiana's affection for her pets. Concerned about the health of her kitten Paprika, she decided to create a collar that could monitor pet health.  

The James Dyson Award is a design competition that encourages design and engineering students to develop inspiring projects that solve a problem.  This provides these students with an opportunity to make a name for themselves in the industry. 

"It's important to make the switch from doing school projects to projects that have an impact on the real world. We shouldn't just be thinking about school, but looking to the future," shared Fabiana with CONECTA.

The judges for the event selected the top 20 projects, which were reviewed in detail by engineer and inventor James Dyson.

Plans for the future

The next step for Fabiana and UMA is to create the first prototype of the collar. To do so, the student will participate in a series of mentoring sessions with veterinarians and cat and dog specialists to see how the collar works when worn and start collecting data from the sensor.

"I want this collar to help people with cats and dogs to have better control in monitoring the health of their pets," concluded this student.

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