Inventions including AI-assisted cat door highlighted at US tech summit

Hamm invented an AI-assisted door called Critterblock to stop his cat Metric from carrying prey into the house. — Ben Hamm/TNS

What drives a cat owner to invent a door that automatically closes when pets try to carry prey into the house? Countless nights of waking up at 3am to euthanise badly wounded small animals his cat would carry into the house, said Ben Hamm, creator of an artificially intelligent (AI)-assisted pet door called Critterblock.

The contraption consists of a wood-framed glass door that uses computer vision to detect when Hamm's cat, Metric, tries to sneak a critter through the opening.