Automated Dog Treat Feeder (Over Engineered) REV1

cults3d

I designed this treat feeder to automate feeding my dog a Dentastix after every meal. After completing it, I realized that I had made the project way more complicated and expensive than necessary. So, yes, there are simpler ways to do it, but I stuck with my initial idea to finish it. This project is not for beginners as it requires experience in electronics, programming, and machine shop tools. There's also a stainless steel sheet metal part that needs to be cut using a laser or a skilled band saw cutter. A printable template is included so you can print and cut the profile and holes yourself. See the PDF for more details. If there are many requests (10+) for a non-sheet metal base, I'll consider redesigning it as a printable one and posting it. I got tired of constantly having to remember or get up during dinner to give my dog a Dentastix after he finishes eating. As a machine designer by trade, I decided to automate this task so my dog can become more self-reliant. Here's how the feeder works: your dog places its paw on the "Paw" lever, which turns ON the machine. The machine then decides whether to dispense a treat or not and turns OFF when it's done (to conserve battery). It keeps track of the next treat time and treats left in the tube before rotation by storing these values in the EEPROM on the Arduino. The machine is programmed to only dispense a half-treat every 8 hours and resets this value every time a treat is dispensed. You load the feeder with an entire bag of Dentastix, breaking them in half and loading each tube with four halves since I only give my dog one a day.