I did an Auto Pet Feeder.

First, I went to the Makerspace in the Idea Forge to see if there’s a scrap of wood available in the size range I need. Luckily, I found what I’m looking for.

It’s about 25″x13″ so I cut it in half using the bandsaw. Then, I gave them to my artist friend, Batool Altaher. During that time, I went to Walmart and bought a $1 water bottle (1 gallon) and a $2 cat food bowl. After that, I went to the ITLL to read and learn all about vinyl printer.

I decided I want to Print “Food Here” with cat footprints. The picture below might be hard to see due to the color.

Then, I cleaned the water bottle.

After that, I cut the bottom of the bottle using a knife.

Then, I covered it with a white rectangular sticker.

Then, I used the footprints stickers I made.

I got my wood back from my friend and I loved it so much!

I set it up and used the “Food Here” sticker with the footprints.

I have my Arduino code working and I just need to attach it to the design. I checked out the Arduino from the ITLL which makes my total budget $3 only!! That’s way less than what I had in my mind. I really loved how it turned out!

I sticked with the main idea but I changed the aesthetic I had in my mind. I got a lot of feed back in my project review that led me to reach to this aesthetically pleasing design.

I learned a lot along the process of this project such as printing stickers using the Vinyl printer and servo motors! I also expanded my knowledge in a lot of areas in this amazing and fun class. As a mechanical engineer, I used to care about the functioning part only. Now I know how important it is for the design to be aesthetically pleasing no matter how well it is!

For future iterations, I would like to add a laser game, remote control, and a camera!

Below is my Youtube link for my presentation.

https://youtu.be/_6Ap8sG-a8I