Reach-In formerly Apriori Control is a technology company that "provides real-time physical interactions over the internet." It manufactures devices and

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or periphera ...

s that can be controlled remotely. A popular product is iPet Companion, which allows users to view and interact with pets.

iPet Companion

Reach-In (Apriori, LLC) developed iPet Companion in cooperation with the Idaho Humane Society and the Oregon Humane Society. Using cat toys tied to robotic arms, website visitors could play with kittens housed at the societies'

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

s. Since the installation, pet adoptions have increased at both shelters. The idea was born serendipidously when an engineer's cat distracted him from working on a robotic arm. Reach-In (Apriori, LLC) donated a prototype system to the Idaho Humane Society for the initial launch in June 2010. All the toy mechanisms were broken within the first week, and had to be strengthened to survive the "destructive capacity of a roomful of kittens." An iPet Companion system was installed at Bideawee in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in October 2011, making it the only shelter on the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the ...

with the system. The Michigan Humane Society Berman Center for Animal Care in

Westland, Michigan Westland is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located about west of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,094. It is the 10th largest city and 12th largest municipality in Mich ...

has a system. In 2012, Kong Company partnered with Reach-In to install iPet Companion technology in humane societies around the United States, “Pets Need to Play” campaign. Shelters house the interactive toys for six weeks at their facilities to help adoptable pets find forever homes, and increase sponsorships for the shelters. Shelters include Foothills Animal Shelter in Kong's home

Golden, Colorado Golden is a home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Census. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountain ...

, Arizona Animal Welfare League & Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Valley, Arizona, Wisconsin Humane Society in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. and Los Angeles

Best Friends Best Friend or Best Friends may refer to: * Someone with whom one shares the strongest type of friendship. Film and television * ''Best Friend'' (film), a 2020 South Korean film * ''Best Friends'' (1982 film), a film starring Goldie Hawn and B ...

Pet Adoption & Spay Neuter Center in

Mission Hills, California Mission Hills, California may refer to: * Mission Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, a census-designated place * Mission Hills, Los Angeles, a suburban neighborhood * Mission Hills, San Diego, an old subdivision and upscale affluent neighbo ...

. The web interface requires

Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a v ...

Other applications

Another application for this technology includes a submarine and gaming. Dive Commander project created an online physically interactive submarine game controlled over the web. Users take control of the sub to find clues to an

underwater treasure Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, re-floating a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Today, protecting the coastal environment from s ...

hunt, at the same time the technology lets a second user take control of the "Nuisance Buttons" trying to disrupt the passage of the Captain in Charge. Reach-In has worked with universities in

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from " basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scienti ...

. Thermal

Mannequin A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles ...

Laboratory provides an innovative new technology for measuring the heat exchange properties of protective clothing worn by persons engaged in hot outdoor activities. Convective and radiative heat exchange properties of garments can be documented while being exposed to

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

and

Infrared radiation Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

. Tests performed in this laboratory to-date have contributed to the design and development of new clothing systems for agricultural workers. The principles used in the new garment designs can now also be incorporated into garments worn by athletes and other persons exposed to hot outdoor environments. Allowing students around the world to participate in such experiments, greater individual learning and improved teaching efficiencies in the field of

ergonomics Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

is envisioned. Reach-In also conducted a Be@Hospital experiment where physicians around the globe could physically interact during a presentation of a

tracheotomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the Vertebrate trachea, trache ...

. Live Band Interactive was tailored to the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, trai ...

, allowing fans to interact with their favorite bands. During May 2012,

Radio Boise KRBX, branded as Radio Boise, is a listener-supported, independent community radio station headquartered in Boise, Idaho, United States, broadcasting at 89.9 FM and 93.5 FM (on translator K228EK), presenting a freeform radio format. The station i ...

leased the Reach-In media equipment for a month, allowing radio listeners to go on-line and control a camera and objects in the

live studio Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...

as bands were playing during the fund-raising campaign.

References

External links

Company website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619210757/http://www.reach-in.com/ , date=2012-06-19 Technology companies of the United States Remote control