This pet feeder differentiates between animals based mostly on their weight

A typical drawback amongst homeowners of a number of pets is how you can feed them individually. If one animal wants particular meals, is on a weight loss plan, or likes to eat from one other’s bowl, it turns into troublesome to manage every pet’s consumption. That’s very true when one pet doesn’t like to complete their bowl of meals instantly and leaves it open to theft by one other. To unravel this drawback and stop one cat from stealing one other cat’s particular diabetic weight loss plan meals, Tomas constructed a selective pet feeder.

Like most of us would, Tomas first considered utilizing NFC tags on his cat’s collars to grant entry to their meals bowls. However NFC has a really restricted vary, which makes it onerous to make use of in a state of affairs like this. After contemplating different options, Tomas realized that considered one of his cats weighs fairly a bit greater than the opposite. In the event that they had been an identical weight then this wouldn’t work, however as a result of the distinction is substantial, he figured he might use a scale to grant entry to the particular weight loss plan meals.

This meant establishing a servo-actuated cowl for the particular meals and a cat-friendly scale. Any Arduino-compatible board can management the operation. The size is 4 load cells linked to the event board by means of an amplifier. A sheet of MDF on prime of the load cells offers a big floor for the cat to sit down on. If the detected weight corresponds to the diabetic cat, the event board prompts the servo to open the 3D-printed door that covers the weight loss plan meals. If the size doesn’t detect any weight or if it detects the burden of the opposite cat, it retains the door closed.

That is a sublime and easy resolution that needs to be helpful for any pet proprietor that finds themselves in an identical state of affairs.