Experimental smart harness for JK9®LAB
The development of the JK9®Sync smart harness is an experimental design project with JK9®LAB in pursuit of creating a thrilling experience in urban dog walking. How are we going to walk the cities in the future? What will dog harnesses be capable of? What will they be made of?
Wearable technology for dogs
During the smart harness project our aim was to develop a next-gen dog harness that utilises the potentials of cutting edge material, hardware and software technologies to make city living with dogs safer and more comfortable: Built-in geolocation to make sure you find your dog if it gets lost; Fully automated LED lighting so you only have to pay attention to your walk; Built-in movement sensors that monitor if the quantity and quality of your dog's activity is in the healthy range.
Advanced technology hidden in a simple harness
• High accuracy geolocation: The integrated GPS system can signal your dog's position accurately to 10 meters.
• Extremely long-lasting tracking: In case your dog strays, the GPS tracker can transmit a signal to the owners about the dog's whereabouts for two weeks.
• Built-in motion sensors: the harness always know whether your pet is standing, sitting, playing, or sniffing about.
• Big Data for health: By analysing the patterns of movement and behaviour, it keeps track of your dog's activity level and signals when it drops below healthy.
Continuously adapting to your surroundings
The JK9®Sync harness fundamentally changes the lifestyle of urban dogs and dog owners as we know it. The App of the Sync Harness allows you to manage the most important geolocation, lighting and lifestyle functions.
• The automatic LED lights switches on when it's getting dark. The farther your dog is, the stronger the light gets.
• Emergency assistant: your phone (and watch) will alert you, if your dog moves too far away in the park or leaves her spot by the store you popped into.
• Route logging: you can browse your previous routes or check where your dog is going when someone else is walking her.
• The automatic LED lights switches on when it's getting dark. The farther your dog is, the stronger the light gets.
• Emergency assistant: your phone (and watch) will alert you, if your dog moves too far away in the park or leaves her spot by the store you popped into.
• Route logging: you can browse your previous routes or check where your dog is going when someone else is walking her.
Discovering ultra strong 3D knitting
We developed an extremely breathable harness that fits the dog’s body like a glove but also has extreme tensile strength and high abrasion resistance. We combined normal polyester yarns and ultra strong “thermo-yarns” in a special knitting pattern which allows durable 3D forming through steaming and pressing processes.
Zero waste material design
Today's dog harnesses consist of more than 40 parts. The JK9®Sync harness only consist of the 3 layers sewed together. Thanks to the purely knitted technique, the straps literally “grow” out of the saddle part, creating a seamless unibody construction and a perfect fit on your dog's body. There are no die cuts – and therefore no waste of yarns – in the process.
Project Team: Gergő Kozma (Project leader & Tech researcher), Alberto Vasquez (Lead Product Designer & Design Researcher), István Vincze (Lead UX & Digital Designer), Gyula Sebő (Engineering Consultant), Pál Jelli (Engineering Designer), Emese Forgács (Colour Designer), Ákos Szabó (Mechanical Engineer), Attila Tamás (Mechanical Engineer), Attila Egri (Software Engineer), Ádám Németh (Software Engineer)
