Tidy Cats has come up with a new and amazing tool for cat parents everywhere: A little flying drone that will scoop your cats’ litter boxes for you. The concept looks like a cross between a model quad-copter, and, well, something else. Dubbed the Clump Claw 2000, it comes equipped with a plastic scooper on its belly, and, according to CNet, actually works. Sort of.
Most companies announce fake product launches or ad campaigns for their April Fools’ Day jokes. Tidy Cats actually built three prototypes for theirs, and CNet writer Amanda Kooser was lucky enough to receive one. It flies, she says, but not very well. It might be able to scoop a litter box, but that doesn’t really work.
What it does do, according to Ms. Kooser, is make us imagine a future where such a thing is possible. Not only would it automate one chore that most of us don’t really enjoy, no matter how much we love our cats, it could also do things like remove the threat of toxoplamosis for pregnant women. Pregnant women are often warned to avoid scooping their cats’ boxes to avoid infection from the toxoplasma gondii parasite.
As Ms. Kooser said, Tidy Cats could simply have announced the product launch and created a few renderings for effect. They didn’t just build three prototypes, though; they also have one at an undisclosed location, and made a video of the Clump Claw 2000 actually at work. Cat Daily News also reported on Tidy Cats’ joke, and complained that they never explain how this drone would scoop a hooded box.
That’s a good point, and possibly renders something like this moot, at least for now. If people want a drone to scoop their boxes, they don’t want to have to go around the house removing covers first. Perhaps someone, maybe even Tidy Cats itself, will take this idea and turn it into something a bit more practical, viable, and real. Until then, we’re stuck scooping our kitties’ boxes by hand.
