iPhone enabled internet dog feeder 2.0

[hacklife]

IPhone Enabled Dog Feeder 2.0! New additions! Much improved! Still Beta....more to come!...........
After seeing the IO Bridge in action, I decided to make a True Internet Dog Feeder of my own. Not a treat dispenser, but an actual dog feeder!
Feeder 1.0 Pics:



The mechanism is connected like this:



The Opening/closing mechanism used was a CD attached to a servo. I used a Dremel to cut a hole on one side of the CD and the top off of the water bottle. I shaved the inside lip of the water bottle's lid to offset each side's circumferences. The CD rotates aligning the hole with the PVC pipe allowing food to pour down from the reservior into the bowl for the awaiting dogs.

Hendrix (aka Hen man, hennie hen, henedocious and hennie monster)


I used a five gallon water bottle as the reservior to ensure that most if not all of the food was used (much more efficient than the previous set up and easier on the eyes). I also, affixed the IO Bridge so that the digital displays and components were visible from the front of the feeder. I have incorporated a webcam to view the bowl's contents and monitor the feeding activities of my DAWGS. More to come.......

Here are some new pics of the 2.0 construction:

Water Bottle cutting:




The viewable IO Bridge display:





Last, I added a little something more for all my Dawgs! Sic Em!


Here is a video of Dog Feeder 1.0 in action! Dog Feeder 2.0 video coming soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaePrjwCLg4


Create your own IO Bridge Project....It's easy ... click here!:


http://www.iobridge.com/store/


Thank you to anyone that answered any of my questions regarding this project. Thank you to the IO Bridge team for creating such a versatile gadget.

[jason]

Nice job!  That's quite a set up.  Makes me want to get a dog.

If you want a way to "meter" how much food is dispensed, try having the hole in the CD pass completely through the pipe (from one side to the other in one motion).  Then food would only drop down for a short time.  By changing the speed of the servo you can change the amount of food dispensed.

Does that make any sense?

[hacklife]

Thanks Jason! Yeah makes sense! I tried this setup out initially placing the hole in the CD 90 degrees from the opening in the pipe. This allowed the hole in the CD to pass over the opening in the pipe. This made the mechanism start out closed, then open, then close again all in one button press. This did not allow enough food to be dispensed. How do you change the speed of the servo?

[jason]

Go to the module settings page... the same place you set the channel mode to servo.  Once the channel mode is set to servo, you should get a few options for the servo speeds.  The default is 100 (fastest). 

[iobridge]

Very nice project! BTW, I like your tags on the video...

[hacklife]

LOL yeah i thought that might be a way to maximize the amount of viewers.

[hans]

Since you've got a lot of detail and photos, you should make an Instructables (http://www.Instructables.com). Nice job.

[iobridge]

Just put this project up on the blog.

http://www.iobridge.net/projects/2009/03/remote-dog-feeder-with-iphone/

[hacklife]

Check out my latest additions! Introducing (taa daa!) Internet dog feeder 2.0! More to come.......im thinking LCD status display...

[iobridge]

Very nice, can't wait to see 2.0! I see your shelf has gone to the Dawgs, Georgia Dawgs that is.

[hacklife]

Thanks Lynn, there will be more to come. I've been real busy recently, so my dog feeder progress has been on a siesta.

[MirrorSpock]

i noticed in your last picture that you are using a usb 2 ethernet webcam server, from the looks of it the same one I have.

how did you get the live stream of off it? all i can get it to do is to save images every 5 seconds, which is not enough for a live feed.

[hacklife]

I actually hadn't incorporated that webcam server yet. I had been using a nearby comp and Webcam XP 5 to serve up the images/videos. As soon as I get a day off, I'll try it out and see if it works as claimed. It's unfortuante that yours only barely works. I'll get to testing mine soon and let you know the results.

[MirrorSpock]

It's unfortuante that yours only barely works.

I'm not sure we have the same device, mine is a cheap cheap cheap usb-ethernet device that only supports the cheap chinese webcam that came with it ($25 total i think), the video streams nicely through ActiveX and Java, but i would rather get it to my iPod touch directly, preferably embedded.

[hacklife]

Sorry for the miscommunication. I was refering to the "all i can get it to do is to save images every 5 seconds, which is not enough for a live feed" comment when i said yours barely works. My IP cam server fairly cheap(Ebay) and it is from China as well. So, who knows?