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Linux-Based Cat Feeder
prostoalex writes "Chris McAvoy is a UNIX administrator and an owner of two cats. So as a natural application of his work to his hobby he built this Linux-based cat feeder. A little hardware hacking and Python scripting can get you a device that would automatically disperse a yummy fish at specified intervals."
It amazes me how few people realize that to have a healthy house cat you should be feeding it nothing but biscuits and what it hunts itself. An automated fish dispenser. Bet the cats fat, lazy and losing its teeth.
Next project, a Linux-based gumball machine.
:-M
The thing is, 75$ just for the board... and then all of the other parts? Geez... I'm cheap; here's what I'd try:
/dev/x10/a1 /dev/x10/a1
Parts:
1 cheapo X10 device
1 used electric hand mixer
1 rubber band
1 empty round plastic food container (yogurt, pudding, etc)
string (best if with good traction; glued/tied rubber band would be best?)
"anything sticky/tacky and puttylike or rubberlike that will stay put" (henceforth referred to as "putty")
1 short dowel rod piece
Other wood (or even legos) for mounting
Plug in the X10 device and set it to code a1 (or whatever). Plug the mixer into it. Turn the mixer on low (the X10 device should be off at this point). Securely mount the mixer to the wood, with blades facing forward. Attach putty to the narrow part of the blades, with ridges of putty surrounding a thinner area (to keep a belt in position). Further up on your wood mounting, drill a hole large enough for your dowel to slide in loosely, and insert the dowel. Put putty or a nail on both sides of the dowel to stop it from sliding out of the hole. Mount your empty food container on the other end of the dowel. Cut a small hole, only large enough for one treat to pass through at a time, in the container near its lip. Near the base of the container, add "putty" in the same way you did with the mixer blades. Cut string/rubber band and make a loop between the mixer and the food container; the wider container will gear down the fast mixer. Directly above the food container, mount the container of treats with a hole cut in the bottom such that it directly skims the food container where the hole is, so that when the container is precisely aligned, a treat will fall through. Through proper gearing and possible additional placement of putty, etc, one should be able to ensure that a single treat falls through as the container spins past. If the container doesn't have enough of a slope to ensure that the treat falls out of it after entering, putty or other material can increase the slope.
Script:
#!/bin/bash
echo 1 >
sleep 1
echo 0 >
"That's Nietzsche. He killed my father." -- Jesus, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
Actually, we recently bought a (used) litterbox that cleans itself. Found out why they got rid of it - the electronics were fried (something about a +5v regulator, sans heatsink, that croaked). Anyways, Vikki mapped out all the connections, replaced the regulator and a handful of semiconductors, then wrote code for a PIC. She also designed and etched the circuit board, and put it all together. It now works great!
:)
While it doesn't run Linux, all the work was done using tools she has for her Gentoo Linux box. The cats really like it, too - they often crowd around to watch the magic litterbox at work. This makes my life, as litterbox shoveller, a lot easier
Lemon curry?
A cat is safe at the house for the weekend if you leave plenty of food and water. A dog, will eat all the food when he sees it then puke.
:-)
Linux-based dog or fish feeder would have been more useful.
well, more accuratly:
Announcements about what Linux runs on, has now jumped the shark.
It runs on everything.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Think I've got prior art on this one.
As a kid (early to mid 80s), I noticed that one of my two cats seemed to be able to see the beams from remote controls and lasertag guns. I used to run them around in circles for hours until they'd just about collapse.
Anyhow, a plain 'ol flashlight works just fine these days. Oddly enough, only one of my two cats reacts to it at all. (shrug)
by clicking here.
Best regards, A.C.
There's a microcontroller, of PIC general capacity. There's a LED and phototransistor/photodiode to sense a cat's presence. There's a scoop, with sensor to halt it if it hits something. The scoop drags itself along a geared track, like a cog railway, lifting the lid at the end then dumping the scoop into a tray. Eventually, the scoop hits some switches, which signal it to go back, where it hits a different set of switches to park it so the cycle can repeat.
:( Fix that, and it's child's play from there.
:)
The power supply, stock, is 12 volts DC for the motor (but it runs fine from 9VDC). There's a delay, we chose 10 minutes, from "cat detected" to "send out the scoop". It's pretty simple, really.
The whole 12VDC thing is serious overkill, and that poor 5volt regulator needs some heatsink to drop that wattage
By the way, the cats love the show. When they hear it start, they gather around, fascinated by the mystical magic litterbox
Lemon curry?