Practical Guide to Pet Sideloading: Preserving Your Companion's Essence

AI technology allows us to reconstruct the personality of living beings from their digital footprint. This concept, known as "sideloading," can be applied not only to humans but also to our beloved pets. In this guide, we explain how to capture and store the necessary data to preserve the essence of your dog or cat using accessible and relatively affordable tools.

What Do You Need?

To create a complete digital record of your pet, it is recommended to collect three key types of data:

1. Behavior and environment recording
2. Point-of-view (POV) capture
3. Biometric and genetic data

Step 1: Capturing Behavior and Environment

To document your pet’s habits, interactions, and routines, you need a home camera with a tracking sensor:

• Home camera with tracking sensor (~€20)
  • Install it in your home to record your pet’s activity throughout the day.
  • Make sure to position it at an angle where it can follow their movements.

This will help build a visual history of your pet’s behavior, which will be useful for training an AI to imitate their personality.

Step 2: Capturing Point-of-View (POV)

To better understand your pet’s daily experience, you can use a POV camera that attaches to their collar:

• Neck POV camera (~€27)
  • Records what your pet sees from a first-person perspective.
  • Useful for understanding their reactions and how they perceive the world.

With these recordings, you can train AI models to replicate their interaction patterns with the environment.

Step 3: Capturing Biometric Data

A biometric collar can monitor your pet’s health, recording key information such as:

• Heart and respiratory rate

• Body temperature

• Activity level and sleep patterns

• Biometric collar (~€160)

  • Recommended: PetPace Health 2.0

This data helps identify physiological patterns that can be integrated into an AI simulation to reflect emotional states.

Step 4: Storing DNA

For complete preservation, storing a DNA sample is a valuable option:

• DNA storage kit (~€20)
  • Use BNF formalin or a combination of BNF formalin + ethanol and glycerol for better preservation.
  • You can extract a sample from saliva or hair.

DNA could be useful in the future for cloning or extracting genetic behavior patterns.

Conclusion: A Digital Record for Less Than €250

For just over €200, you can capture a complete digital footprint of your pet:

• Tracking camera: €20
• Neck POV camera: €27
• Biometric collar: €160
• DNA storage: €20

For those with fewer resources, simply recording videos and storing DNA is still better than nothing. With enough information, an AI could, in the future, simulate your pet's personality and reactions.

 

Pet sideloading is an innovative way to keep their essence alive. Whether for sentimental or scientific reasons, this technology brings us closer to a future where the memory and personality of our animal companions can be digitally preserved.