I have been playing around with Arduino for the past 6 month but I have primarily worked with sensors and IoT.
Now I am trying to built a cat feeding station - basically a box with a lid that only opens when the cat is near and not my dog.
The mechanical part of the project is straight forward. I am using two small 9g servos to open the plastic lid and a proximity sensor to register when the cat is near. The problem is however that the lid off course also opens when the dog is near.
I have been investigating several possibilities to evaluate the nearby animal:
Using the pets chip: The RFID of European pets use 134.2kHz and RFID modules for this frequency is very expensive (compared to 125kHz modules).
Using normal RFID tag (125kHz) attached to the dog collar(the cat does not wear a collar): This would work while the dog is still a puppy, but in a couple of months the dog will have grown "out of range".
Using a load cell to determine the weight of the animal: Would work in theory but the practical implementation would be near impossible in this case.
Using a hall sensor and a magnet attached to the dogs collar: Would perhaps work in the beginning but the magnet would have to be incredible powerful and thereby heavy.
Using a light sensor to measure wich animal is approaching: Would work under ideal and stable lightning conditions but is not a robust feasible solution.
Buying a commercial cat feeder: NOT an option
Have I missed something? Does anybody have an idea of something that might work? Than you!
We feed our cat on the window sill, above kitchen counter, so the dog even at full stretch can't reach.
(That said, between them the two beasts just destroyed a book I brought home from work, the only extant copy of a training course from 20 years ago. So by tonight we might not have either pet.)
Robin2:
If you are not there to look after them, then don't have them in the first place.
The cat and dog has separate dishes, but the cat eats only eats a little food per eating session and therefore very often has food in its bowl.
The dog is always with my wife at work (she is a vet) so it is actually only a problem when we are at home with both of the animals - i understand and share your concern about automatic feeders.
JimboZA:
(That said, between them the two beasts just destroyed a book I brought home from work, the only extant copy of a training course from 20 years ago. So by tonight we might not have either pet.)
if your pets are like mine, just put a flea detector nearby. if there are not fleas, it is the cat.
I think FrontLine Plus must taste like candy to them.
if either wears a collar, just hang an RFID chip on it.
you can figure out which and if the chip is (is not) near bowl........
I have my cat's food on a bench, like a piano bench. he likes being a little higher up and the dog always has enough food as to not bother jumping up.
as for calling 20 year old books old... I have the original manual from my PLC with 5-1/4" floppies.
I tossed the 8 inch floppy drive about 20 years ago when windows and PC's took over and there was no hardware support.
My wife still has ZIP drives from her work back in the 90's
I have some engineering manuals from the early part of last century..... I have to check if any are over 100 years old.
dave-in-nj:
if your pets are like mine, just put a flea detector nearby. if there are not fleas, it is the cat.
I think FrontLine Plus must taste like candy to them.
if either wears a collar, just hang an RFID chip on it.
you can figure out which and if the chip is (is not) near bowl........
I have my cat's food on a bench, like a piano bench. he likes being a little higher up and the dog always has enough food as to not bother jumping up.
The dog wears a collar, and hanging a RFID tag on the collar was my original idea - but i think the dog will outgrow the range of the RFID sensor pretty fast. I dont know if there is a way to extend the range of the RFID sensor?
If I do not find a solution to the problem I think i have to find a high spot for the cat food
dave-in-nj:
you can put a weight sensor on the pad in front of the bowl.
the benefit is that the the cat starts to get fat.........
I actually been investigating this as a possibility. It would give the added benefit that the cat would be able to eat of the bowl from a lot of angles. But I think the implementation of this solution will be difficult.
They have pet doors out there that activate from a tag on the dog (or cat) collar so you might want to check them out and see if you can figure out what RFID technology they use since they seem to work of for unlocking the pet door when the animal comes close (they might even be a simple magnet on the collar - see if the dog points north? :o )
