What’s a guaranteed way to capture this writer’s interest? CATS! They’re furry, cuddly, cute, and require food on a regular basis (much like their owners do). However, if you are at work during the day, your cat has to go without food or learn to ration the food you leave for it (yeah right!). Quite a few products have tried to address this, but this is the first Open-Source Cat Feeder I’ve seen!
Being open-source, you can modify it as required. It’s surprisingly quiet (check out the video at the bottom of this post) which is the number one complaint I see about commercial cat feeders — they’re so loud that they scare the cats away! This one dispenses food on a set schedule, and it pulls the time from NTP servers so you can accurately feed your kitties on time. It holds about 400mL of cat food, which is definitely enough for daily use, and depending on how much your cat eats, might be enough to last for multiple days.
The design is based on the Raspberry Pi Pico W, and the code is done in MicroPython, so you can change the design to your heart’s content. Feeding times and manual overrides are done via a browser-based interface, making it easy for others in the household to access if needed — or you can remotely feed your cat while watching it on a remote camera! If you have cats and want to try out an automated feeder, definitely take the time to check out the product page.
