BowLingual

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BowLingual (バウリンガル), or "Bow-Lingual" as the North American version is spelled, is a computer-based dog language-to-human language translation device developed by Japanese toy company Takara and first sold in Japan in 2002. Versions for South Korea and the United States were launched in 2003. The device was named by Time magazine as one of the "Best Inventions of 2002." The inventors of BowLingual, Keita Satoh, Matsumi Suzuki and Norio Kogure were awarded the 2002 Ig Nobel Prize for "promoting peace and harmony between the species."

The device is presented as a "translator" but has been called an "emotion analyzer". It is said to categorize dog barks into one of six standardized emotional categories. BowLingual also provides a phrase which is representative of that emotion. The product instructions state that these phrases "are for entertainment purposes only" and are not meant to be accurate translations of each bark.