[Eric] as well as [Shirin] have a pet dog called [Pickles], who is the type of animal that if you are a pet dog enthusiast you will secretly covet. They obviously dote upon [Pickles], however deal with the issue that they can’t always be at house to reveal their appreciation of him. however rather than abandon him entirely, they’ve used innovation to the problem. [Eric] has developed an Internet-connected pet dog treat dispenser, with which they can dispense treats, as well as enjoy the lucky mutt wolfing them down.
The body of the maker has been made with lasercut acrylic, as well as the dispenser system is a turning hopper driven by a stepper motor. The whole thing — in all its transparent glory — is managed with a Raspberry Pi, which plays a noise clip of [Shirin] calling [Pickles] for his treat, records his dining pleasure with its camera, as well as emails the result to his owners. Behind the scenes it holds an MQTT server, which can be triggered by means of an iphone app, Alexa, or the adafruit.io site. envision for a moment: “Alexa, feed my dog!”. It has a sound to it.
He makes the point that this maker is not just restricted to dispensing treats, it might be utilized to engage [Pickles] in a lot more activities. He hints at a future job including a sphere throwing device (have you ever seen such joy from a dog). There’s no substitute for being there with your dog, however perhaps with this gadget they can make their dog’s life a bit less of, well, a dog’s life.
You can see the maker in action in the video we’ve published below the break.
We’ve brought you a number of pet dog treat dispensers in the past right here at Hackaday. There was one utilizing a tilting hopper, one utilizing a CD spindle, as well as one more that was 3D printed.
[via Raspberry Pi Pod]