WIM-Z Smart Pet Platform: Seven trials across NYC area homes show strength; three trial households bought the robot; production evaluation underway in Shenzhen.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — WIM-Z, an autonomous home robot that trains dogs to stay calm while they are alone, today released results from its first seven field trials. In the two homes where the robot ran repeat autonomous “Silent Guardian” sessions, barking fell by 75% and 83% respectively: one dog went from 161 barks per hour to 40, the other from 317 to 53, over two to three weeks. The share of interventions that ended with the dog going quiet rose from 43% to 73% in the first home and from 31% to 67% in the second.
The seven trials ran from May to September 2026 across six homes in Hoboken, Jersey City, Edgewater and Manhattan and one Jersey City kennel, on a fleet of four hand-built robots. Across 50 logged sessions and 60 hours on duty, WIM-Z detected more than 2,100 barks, made 107 autonomous interventions, and dispensed roughly 500 training rewards, with every event processed and logged on the robot itself, no cloud required. Of the seven trial sites, three bought the robot and two kept their unit.
“Every pet camera on the market tells you your dog is barking. None of them can do anything about it,” said Morgan Hill, founder and CEO of WIM-Z. “WIM-Z runs the same reinforcement loop a professional trainer uses: it catches the behavior the moment it starts, cues a calm behavior the dog already knows, and rewards
the calm with a precisely timed treat. Then it fades the treats so the calm holds on its own. The numbers we are releasing today are the first proof that the loop works in a real home, on a real dog, with nobody there.”
How it works
WIM-Z runs on a Raspberry Pi 5 with a Hailo-8 AI accelerator. On-device models detect the dog, classify barking, and read body pose to confirm the dog has settled before a treat is released. Every event is logged to the dog’s own behavioral record, timestamped on the device, so results are measured rather than estimated. The robot is built to move with the dog; full autonomous navigation is on the funded roadmap.
Early customers and production
WIM-Z has taken its first paid preorders, including inbound orders at full retail from owners who found the product by searching for an AI pet robot. Of the five hand-built robots, four remain in the field with trial households and one is in Shenzhen with an established manufacturer for production evaluation. Founder-batch units are $799, reservable with a $99 refundable deposit at wimzai.com, with a money-back guarantee.
“It’s stopped Bezik multiple times from going on barking sprees, and instead he’s now sleeping right next to the robot. It’s his new friend. I’m shocked.” said B. Kim of Hoboken, N.J., whose dog Bezik was among the first trial dogs and who bought the robot after the trial.
“It’s been fantastic. Ziggy is actually listening to the robot more than I expected and doesn’t seem to mind getting extra treats for less barking. It’s great to have when I’m not home to keep an eye on him and keep the neighbors happy.” said Patty Gold of New York, N.Y., owner of Ziggy, whose barking fell 83% over the trial and who also bought the robot.
About WIM-Z
WIM-Z (Watchful Intelligent Mobile Zen) is an autonomous, on-device AI robot for dog training and behavior, built for the roughly 65 million U.S. households whose dogs are routinely left home alone. Founded by Morgan Hill, a Goldman Sachs and Federal Reserve alumnus and solo full-stack technical founder, WIM-Z is a Delaware C-Corp headquartered in the New York metro area. Provisional patent filed April 2026. Learn more at wimzai.com.
Media contact
Morgan Hill, Founder & CEO · morgan@wimzai.com. Demo video and review units available on request.
Morgan Hill
WIM-Z / Food Forward AI INC
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