Japanese inventors have come up with a device they claim can detect a dog's emotion from its bark.
The Bowlingual Voice, produced by Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy, is a talking gadget which analyses the acoustics of a dog's bark and translates the findings into human words.
The gadget focuses on the detection of six emotions including sadness, joy and frustration alongside a recorded repertoire of spoken phrases such as "play with me".
Bowlingual Voice will go on sale for £129 in Japan from next month and is a more technologically advanced version of a basic model launched seven years ago.
The gadget, which will be sold initially only in Japan, consists of a microphone which is placed around the dog's neck alongside a hand-held unit operating device.
When the dog barks, the microphone records the sound and sends the data to the owner's hand-held device which then "translates" it into what the dog is apparently trying to say.
A speech synthesizer audibly informs the owner of the dog's apparent intentions as well as appearing on the screen of the wireless hand-held unit. A new answering machine function can also record the dog's expressions of desire when owners are absent.
The original Bowlingual, which was not a talking device but translated emotions onto a screen, was bought by more than 300,000 in Japan when it was first launched. The new Bowlingual was unveiled at the Tokyo Toy Fair
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