Pet Feeding System

Derek Osterheld

To anyone who may be able to help,
··········· My name is Dr. Derek Osterheld. I have been pursuing an idea for some time now and am in the patent process but before I invest more money I need to know that a critical aspect of this project is possible and practical. I am a veterinarian; my project is an individualized feeding system. A prototype was constructed for me by DeVry. My problem is that the feeding systems success is predicated on its ability to feed the intended pet and not the other pets in the house - similar to the automatic dog doors already in pet stores. ·The premise is that each pet in the house has its own feeder.·Each individual·feeder is only accessible to the intended pet when that pet is with in a certain distance. Otherwise the feeding systems doors are closed to all other pets. This requires that the receiver on the feeding system picks up the collar tag transmitter only at very close distances so that you can’t have the intended pet sleeping close to the feeder – which opens the feeder doors to the rest of the hungry pets. Below are some target distances for pets of 3 different sizes - which mean 3 different sized feeding systems.
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Cats and small dogs shouldn’t activate (open) the feeding doors any further out than 30cm
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Medium sized dogs shouldn’t activate (open) the feeding doors any further out than 45cm
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Large dogs shouldn’t activate (open) the feeding doors any further out than 60cm
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These distances are not written in stone but are at least very close. Reading out 3 feet or further would be useless – especially for cats. No information needs to transfer between the receiver and the transmitter other than·that which tells the receiver that the transmitter is with in the desired range. Additionally, as the transmitter would be located on a pet’s collar it would be best if the transmitter was some what sturdy and did not need a power source or at least was powered by a very small battery.
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Please let me know if this is at all possible and of course monetarily practical. Obviously as a consumer product the less expensive the transmitter / receiver unit is the more people would buy it.
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Thank You very much for any assistance you can provide.
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Sincerely,
Derek Osterheld
knyndoc@cox.net

Post Edited By Moderator (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 7/11/2006 5:44:54 AM GMT

Mike Green

Parallax sells RFID readers and passive tags that respond at distances of 2.5 inches and contain a unique code. There are others on the market that work at longer distances, but others would have to guide you there. It is possible to design a simple infrared transponder that "sleeps" most of the time and responds uniquely when it sees a specific code from a feeder. By limiting the power and the field of view, the response distance could be tailored for different size pets. A Stamp or SX series device could be used to run the prototype. The Stamp would be easier to use for development, but the SX series would be cheaper and lower power. There are examples in the Parallax Robotics book (on-line) of "detuning" the infrared sensors that they sell to change the response distance. For commercial use, you'd want to use surface mounted parts on the collar. They're smaller and easier to protect (embed if needed).

Mike Metzger

I've been working on a similar project - the biggest issues I've found have been:

1) Using an RFID tag on a cat that hates his collar and will spend hours trying to get it off. Considering the general size of a passive tag, attaching it to his collar and him keeping it on there will be a challenge.

2) Extremely skittish animal - the door thing will not work for one of my cats, he simply would refuse to go inside, much less have anything rest on him, close behind him, etc. As such, I've looked at just having something to release a few kibble to him at most every ten minutes he's around (assuming the presence issue above is solved.)

3) Extremely smart 2nd cat - she will figure out any given device and try to disable it - this also limits simple door mechanisms as she'd simply paw it enough to get it open.

4) Sturdiness - either the 2nd cat or the dog can't be able to force their way through the system, much less destroy the electronics in the process.

I have a feeling you'll get some buyers but it's kind of like the automatic litter boxes - a lot of cats simply won't use them due to fear - and fear of the litter box is not something you want....

Derek Osterheld

Thank You. That is a fresh perspective. Most guide me to RFID - But no real referance to exact distances. Would IR require a precise unidirectional approach for reliability and would long dog hair get in the way? Both of which are variables that can be manipulated.

Thanks Again,
Derek Osterheld