A feline’s appetite is rarely sated, and cat owners around the world are routinely treated to an early morning wake up call to remind them of this fact. To solve this problem, many turn to automated feeders. However, such devices usually handle only dry foods, with a simple hopper system. [Vikram Hao] instead went above and beyond, building a fully automated wet food cat feeder.
The device is a great example of effective automation. It’s fully capable of dispensing a single can of cat food, as well as opening the can, serving the food and disposing of the waste in an integrated bin. Currently, it has a maximum capacity of 9 cans, though this can be increased by simple alterations to the hopper and trash bin. Unsurprisingly, all manner of steppers, servos and brushed motors work in concert to achieve this feat. An Arduino Mega 2560 serves as the brains, providing plenty of IO to run everything as easily as possible.
[Vikram] reports that both the owner and the cat are overjoyed with the invention. We’ve seen a few builds before, with some even featuring armor plating. Video after the break.
Now if Vikram could post a cat video of his feline friend programming the device to dispense more often, he’d have an Internet viral video hit. Wonder if his cat would prefer to program in “Scratch”?
Very impressed by the can opening feature. It seems to work purrrfect.
Nice, but I don’t think my cat would wait that long for food.
Why not? What should he/she do instead of waiting?
Sometimes mine have to wait some minutes more, when I decide to got to the toilet or the shower before feeding them. They are not in danger of starvation, although sometimes they try to sound like that :-)
I am more concerned about what the cat does not eat than what it does. In case you have never encountered wet cat food, it is about the foulest substance ever conceived. I would be worried about the cat not eating all of it and the stench of it building up in the house over a few days. Now if you could come up with s system to stir the substance up in the can, cause god knows cat’s don’t like the stuff the way it sits in the can, it needs to be churned up to get all the entrails back on top, anyway, stir it up in the can, have the can sit out for a couple of hours and than slide it out a window and down a chute to an outdoor trash can. If you wanted to do more 3D printing you could make little things that friction fit on the cans and turn them into bowls so it does not overflow when you churn it up. You are no doubt a brave person dealing with that stuff.
this happens: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WjX1jU9pQeY
Exactly what I was thinking – You beat me to it. :-)
What a great contraption, who cares if the cat likes it, it’s fun to watch it operate.
Fun project!
Needs custom charset for the LCD.
Once, my dad designed and build an automatic cat feeder ( for solid food, not canned food). The cat was afraid of it and never approched the damn thing.
Old housemate’s cat never eat more dry food than it needs. We only refill the bowl may be once a day. The kitty reminds you (in day time) when the bowl is almost empty.
Phase 2: Ventilation for the horrible smell!
Seems like the task is only half solved if you don’t automate replacing the food tray.
As feeding time can be the only time the human gets any attention from its feline owner (depending on the cat), this might defeat the purpose of actually having a cat.
Sometimes I would like to be able to fully automate the care for my cats: When I want to go on vacation and my neighbor is not available.
But of course it’s more than feeding: Taking care of the toilet (could be automated) and giving love to them (can not be automated).
Very interesting contraption! Was the plate put in the trash and replaced by a clean plate? Wasn’t clear from the video.
I would pay for anyone to construct such a device!!!