Optimising the Fourth-Generation Litter Robot with Whisker

1-week

beta community

200

beta units

Pre-launch

real-home trial

1-week

beta community

200

beta units

Pre-launch

real-home trial

The challenge

Testing high-tech performance in the wild

Whisker had developed a beta version of their fourth automated cat litter tray and needed to see how it performed in a real home environment before the official launch. They were looking for a way to observe potential customers and their pets interacting with the device to identify bugs, usability quirks, or simple likes and dislikes.

Industry

Pet tech

Solution

New product development

Format

Beta-tester community

Participants

Owners among 200 trial units

Methods

Photo and video, longitudinal usage

The approach

A direct, real-time feedback loop with beta testers

We facilitated a one-week online community specifically for beta testers who had received one of the 200 units sent out for trial.

Moment-of-truth capture

Using our mobile platform features, participants documented the unboxing and initial setup process through photos and videos.

Longitudinal usage

As participants and their cats used the product throughout the week, they shared in-the-moment feedback on the functional performance of both the device and the app.

Technical troubleshooting

The Whisker development team was able to engage directly with participants on our community platform, digging into technical issues as they emerged.

The result

Issues found while there was still time to fix them

The community gave Whisker clear, actionable guidance on necessary improvements to both the physical hardware and the app interface before launch. By identifying and fixing issues in the wild, we helped Whisker ensure a significantly more reliable experience for their wider customer base from day one.