Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine • Hacker News Board

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#91

Post by titanomachy » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:46 PM UTC

The problem-solving abilities of that cat are pretty impressive. I couldn't imagine my cat bracing himself against a table and picking up the whole feeder with his teeth, I wish there had been a video of that.

The creativity and versatility of even a "simple" biological intelligence is a humbling reminder of how much work we have ahead for AI research.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#92

Post by primitivesuave » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:50 PM UTC

My ex girlfriend's cat was a fat cat and would nip the back of our legs when he was hungry. I spent one night building an Arduino feeder that rationed his food out throughout the day, and by the next morning it had been destroyed. He also loved to "experiment with gravity" by pushing things off tables and windowsills, for which he also destroyed most of the engineering work I did to deter him. So I know firsthand what an impressive feat it is to cat-proof anything.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#93

Post by yoodenvranx » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:51 PM UTC

Jeff Atwood also wrote an interesting article about cat feeding machines but with a slightly different topic:

"This Is All Your App Is: a Collection of Tiny Details"

https://blog.codinghorror.com/this-is-all-your-app-is-a-coll...

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#94

Post by nkrisc » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

oniMaker wrote: post #38

dominotw wrote: post #27

do not feed cats from a machine. Even if you are super busy, give her food in the morning and after you get home from work, that's more than enough. Perhaps at the same time as your breakfast and your dinner. Despite the common perception of cats as 'loners' , they still want to be part of your 'gang' not a lonely creature feeding from a machine. Ideally you would want to play with the cat before feeding her so she a…

Unfortunately your common sense is in the minority of opinion here. HN is plagued by overeager engineers who endlessly discuss the how without addressing the much more important why . Why bother having a pet at all if you're not going to personally care for it?

I was with you until the second line. You're extrapolating how much they care about their pet based on just this?

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#95

Post by jevinskie » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #27

do not feed cats from a machine. Even if you are super busy, give her food in the morning and after you get home from work, that's more than enough. Perhaps at the same time as your breakfast and your dinner. Despite the common perception of cats as 'loners' , they still want to be part of your 'gang' not a lonely creature feeding from a machine. Ideally you would want to play with the cat before feeding her so she a…

Very good points about monitoring your cat's inputs and outputs. My cat develops urinary tract issues about once a year and you notice the reduced appetite and litter box use. I have a Litter Robot so I do make sure to check it at least once a day. The litter box is another thing I'd like to throw an ESP2866 in so I can monitor litter box use frequency.

Any ideas on how to detect a poop versus a piss? Perhaps there are urea sensors? The mass of the litter clump would be another good data point to measure, but I don't have any ideas about how to set it up with the Robot.

This hacker has the right idea:

https://twitter.com/litterboxtweets

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#96

Post by yoodenvranx » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:53 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #73

wlesieutre wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And OP is topologically equivalent to a bagel (disregarding nostrils)

If we're going to arbitrarily ignore orifices, then I'm a sphere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#97

Post by yoodenvranx » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:55 PM UTC

ayuvar wrote: post #17

This is the best up-armoured cat feeder I've seen this week. Kudos to Quinn for never giving up. I'm terrified to think what the next step will be once Sprocket chooses to escalate.

> I'm terrified to think what the next step will be once Sprocket chooses to escalate.

I think we should be very happy that cats don't have opposable thumbs.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#98

Post by joering2 » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:55 PM UTC

Somewhat relevant and got some attention on HN recently:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#99

Post by jrnichols » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:55 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #65

dschep wrote: post #51

That is amazing. I'm so glad I can just free feed my cat with out her getting obese, or even fat.

Haha, I know! chucks a week's worth of food in 5 bowls "peace out cats, see you next week!"

ours are usually like that but the bigger one... if he can even see the bottom of the food bowl? his little cat world is upside down. i can usually just shake the bowl and set it back down and he's happy.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#100

Post by ScottBurson » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:56 PM UTC

dodders wrote: post #64

Had similar problems with our cat who was able to retrieve food from every automatic feeder we tried, apart from the perfect pet feeder [1] which was the only model that defeated him. [1] http://www.perfectpetfeeder.com/

Why not just leave the dry food out? Most cats won't overeat.