Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
quinndunki.com
Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
1–10 of 302 posts
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#2Has he tried a increase in the cat's food intake? Seems low cost, low risk, and if it does not work you can resume armor plating the robot.
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#3The problem, as in most difficult hacking operations, is that the attacker has physical access.
I would have put the machine in a base cabinet, run a chute out a small hole cut in the toe mould, and if necessary, put a child lock on the cabinet.
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#4I recently got a SureFeed RFID feeder. It can read your cat's microchip or an RFID collar tag. When an authorized kitty approaches, a flap raises and lets the cat eat. I got it to prevent other family pets from stealing my cat's food. It works well for that purpose and seems well designed. The feeder has clear side "walls" and the flap itself acts as a wall on the rear of the feeder, helping prevent food theft during authorized feeding.
I'd like to hack it and add timer functionality. See, my cat is always trying to get breakfast early and is always underfoot from 4 A.M. until I feed him. I tripped over him and broke my ankle last month because of this. I figure, if I can load up breakfast's meal before I go to bed, and only "unlock" the feeder after 7 A.M., my cat may eventually learn to stop bugging me at night. The joke will probably be on me though, darn cats.
I'd like to use an ESP8266 for this so I can also have an IoT feeder that reports usage statistics. =P
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#5Has he tried a increase in the cat's food intake? Seems low cost, low risk, and if it does not work you can resume armor plating the robot.
This causes weight gain. My dog gains weight if I walk her any less than I usually do, but still clammors endlessly for food.
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#6Has he tried a increase in the cat's food intake? Seems low cost, low risk, and if it does not work you can resume armor plating the robot.
Some pets might eat themselves to obesity given the chance. I'm not sure the amount of effort the cat puts into trying to get more food is a perfect determinate of how much food the cat needs to be healthy.
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#7I recently got a SureFeed RFID feeder. It can read your cat's microchip or an RFID collar tag. When an authorized kitty approaches, a flap raises and lets the cat eat. I got it to prevent other family pets from stealing my cat's food. It works well for that purpose and seems well designed. The feeder has clear side "walls" and the flap itself acts as a wall on the rear of the feeder, helping prevent food theft during…
I've got the same one and it doesn't stop cats tailgating other cats. It was however hilarious during the 'training' phase watching the stupidest of our two barrel towards the flap and go crunching into it.
Did have a good idea for gamifying it though - a cat airlock with a camera, $5 a month, getting bored old ladies on Facebook to compare the cat in the airlock and making the decision to let it through or not...
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#8Has he tried a increase in the cat's food intake? Seems low cost, low risk, and if it does not work you can resume armor plating the robot.
In the article he mentioned a couple times that increased food intake causes the cat to vomit. For a "lazy human" armor plating a robot, cleaning up cat vomit is the last thing he would want to do I imagine.
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#9After about the second failure I would have gotten one of those auto feeders that let out as much as they want and some weight control cat food.
Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine
#10Someone in the other thread suggested the problem is she can smell the rest of the food. I'd bet that's a huge contributor.