So instead of feeding my cat, I hide these balls around the house…
This all started after I read an explanation of why cats go about repeatedly exploring the same areas: it’s partly to establish and survey their territory, but they’re also practicing ‘mobile’ hunting: moving about, being curious, and poking their noses around in the hopes of upsetting potential prey and finding a meal.
So what if my cat, while out on patrol, actually found its prey? Surely this would bring him one step closer towards a more fulfilled and self-actualized indoor kitty existence.
I imagined hiding little bowls of food around the house… then I imagined me actually refilling these bowls. Then I imagined having to move them around to different hiding spots, spilling, forgetting, and every so often, perhaps only after following a trail of ants, finding one undiscovered and rancid. Hmmm, maybe there’s a way to hide something else, a way to hide something other than food, a way to make something not-food = food…
Want to Give it a Try?
I’ve received a few questions from people interested in building something similar, so the rest of this post has some tips.
Train First, Build Later
Before you invest in building a feeder, I recommend you first train your cat.
Monkey was trained using ‘clicker’ training, with methods called ‘shaping’ or ‘forward chaining’ – Google “clicker training cats” or here’s a pretty good video that covers some basics:
After you’ve got a handle on clicker training, the key is to break down the desired behavior into very very elemental sub-behaviors.
This is roughly the sequence of sub-behaviors I trained, to build the final behavior:
Behavior Sequence 1
- Cat looks at ball – *click* (repeat until cat is performing consistently)
- Cat approaches ball – *click* (repeat etc.)
- Cat sniffs ball
- Cat bites ball
- Cat bites ball and lifts up
- Cat bites ball, lifts up and holds for a few seconds
Start training the first behavior in this sequence until the cat can do it consistently, then stop rewarding them, and only resume the reward when they perform the second behavior. Then repeat, moving down the list to the next behavior, gradually building and shaping towards the final behavior.
Behavior Sequence 2
This is a separate behavior sequence, trained independently, and requires a target where you want the cat to drop the ball (I used the blue bowl and feeder cover shown in the video).
Place the target somewhere and follow this sequence:
- Cat looks at target area
- Cat approaches target area
- Cat sniffs target area
Behavior Sequence 3
Now comes the hard part… this took some luck, and is better described than listed.
You’re going to place the ball near the target (but not too close), and your goal is to combine the two sequences described above, so that the cat only gets a reward when they first pick up and hold the ball and moves towards the target area.
Basically, I think, hoping the cat’s brain crosses its wires when presented with the two stimulus, the ball and target area, and the cat chooses to pick up the ball and move towards the target — *click*.
This takes finesse, and timing, and luck, because if you stop rewarding the behaviors from Sequence 1 & 2, you risk “extinguishing” those behaviors, and the cat will stop doing them. If you have a training session and you can’t get the cat to combine the two behaviors into Sequence 3, stop the session, and next session start back at reinforcing Sequences 1 & 2.
The Feeder
If you’re successful training and you choose to build a feeder, here are a few suggestions, along with a parts list.
Super Feeder
The feeder is a Super Feed brand (I can’t recommend them enough – for basic hackability and general quality).
One note when working with Super Feeders, they’re activated by closing a circuit to feed for any length of time, but after feeding they have a several minute reset interval, or refractory period, designed to avoid back-to-back feedings; fortunately they also have a push-button reset switch, which the Arduino can close to allow immediate re-feeding (helpful for training, and for repeated feedings via the keyfob remote when in a hurry).
There’s More Than One Way to Feed a Cat
I am far from an engineer, and a novice ‘maker’, so there are very likely better solutions to the ball receptacle/Arduino set-up needed to trigger the feeder.
Here’s a pic of my approach:
I used an Adafruit RFID reader to detect RFID tags embedded in the wiffle balls: the balls are cut slightly, enough to slip in an RFID tag; when the ball drops it rolls down an incline and passes the RFID reader, which reads the tag and initiates the Arduino’s feeding program. The Arduino switches on the relay that closes the feeder’s power circuit, and voila, food.
I also added a keyfob remote, to trigger the feeder on days when Dad is too busy to go around hiding balls.
Parts List
Here’s a list of the components:
- Super Feed feeder
- Arduino Uno
- Adafruit Arduino RFID Shield (reader)
- Dual SSR Relay Board
- RF M4 Receiver – 315MHz Momentary Type
- Keyfob 4-Button RF Remote Control – 315MHz
- MiFare Classic (13.56MHz RFID/NFC) Clear Keychain Fob
Potential Improvements
A few design flaws that could be improved:
RFID Misses
Sometimes the ball rolls too fast, and the RFID reader fails to register the tag inside the ball. (This might also be a feature (I tell myself), because it creates a variable reinforcement schedule, but it would be better to have a consistent feeder, and program any kind of desired reinforcement schedule into the Arduino.)
Ball Pile-Up
There’s only room for 3 or 4 balls – in this design the balls are cleared only by their momentum, rolling down a slight incline, and they can pile up. Very very rarely this leads to a ball getting stuck, and the feeder will get overrun spitting out food endlessly… this can be solved with a better design, or programmatically in the Arduino (e.g. storing the RFID tag ID and disallowing consecutive feeds from the same tag), but since I work from home I’m around enough that I’ve just taken care not to leave hidden balls around while I’m out (Monkey usually finds them pretty quick, too).
Thanks
Thank you to Monkey for putting up with my experiments and being an all-around cat.
Also thanks to my dad, Jim Millam, for helping me build the components box, and for coming up with the solution of an incline plane for passing the balls by the RFID reader.
I’ve got a few more cat geek posts in the works, so feel free to subscribe (this blog is an ‘every once in a while’ project, so it won’t clog your Inbox, and subscriptions are managed through WordPress, so it’s easy to unsubscribe).
Thanks for reading!
Update
I also posted a bloopers video (it’s also running ads to fund my next cat geek project, but you can skip them).
Unfortunately I didn’t document the original training, but these bloopers are from the early days when Monkey was just getting used to the bowl, and to filming, and when he had his kitten pep going in full gear!
Audry says
Totally sweet! I am copying you; will let you know the results.
And yeay for your Burroughs quote.
Ben Millam says
Hi Audry, this post has been updated a lot with more information since you commented, hope you get this reply.
Burroughs’ The Cat Inside is one of my favorites.
Joyce says
Oh my gosh, you should sell these!! Let me know if you ever do. It would be fabulous for my hunter.
Tatiana says
Yes. Just make it with an instructional training dvd. I’d buy it!
Trav says
I wonder if you got a second cat, if it would learn to do this by observing the first cat?
h says
Trav,
The way I see this going down is one cat would become a sort of alpha eater (and grow accordingly), never moving from the bowl while the other would keep hunting, hoping for a chance to get the reward.
Dang says
This experiment (the “alpha feeder”) has been done with rats. two rats are placed in a long cage with a lever at one end and the food dispenser at the other. One rat is usually the industrious one and figures out to press the lever to get a pellet. Eventually, the other one realizes that it can stand by the dispenser, and the other rat will not have time to run across the box before it steals the pellet. Typically, the industrious rat learns to press the lever a lot and rapidly, overwhelming the freeloading rat, which will eventually get stuffed and stop eating, or get overwhelmed and let some pellets lie long enough for the industrious one to get some.
crica says
dry kibble is horrible for cats, but your invention is spot on for his instinctual needs – fill it with insects from a fishing bait store instead – awesome project, thanks for sharing!
Geoffrey says
Cheaply/poorly made dry food is bad for cats, yes. An entire diet of dry food is also bad for cats. But saying that dry food is 100% bad for cats is a completely misguided statement. Everything in moderation and balance. Talk to your vet and get informed. Dry food serves a purpose and when added into a properly thought out diet is perfectly healthy for a cat.
crica says
a cats natural diet never consists of processed dry kibble, i don’t care what you make it out of, thereby making it 100% horrible for them, regardless of moderation – if there is a choice, feed them food they would eat in the wild, not processed food, that will always be better for them
Julie says
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-nature
crica says
it was not nature i was appealing to, it was their body and what scientists have discovered about them when studied – their bodies thrive on what they would eat in the wild and do not thrive on what humans process for them
Julie says
Really? I can keep doing this.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-authority
Conuly says
if there is a choice, feed them food they would eat in the wild, not processed food, that will always be better for them
So… feeder mice? You’re welcome to do that.
lheydon says
OMG, a relevant opportunity to quote one of my favourite Far Side comics 🙂
http://bit.ly/2v4LbEX
Seyjo says
I am really looking forward to see a video where you fill that feeder with worms, or crickets. Or spiders, mice, dragonflies, moths, frogs, sparrow chicks, goldfish… that is what my cats think of a non processed snack.
I love the idea of keeping a cat busy between breakfast and dinner with some search-for-prey and trade-for-snack action. Really good work.
Jack says
Have considered a design where the ball has to turn sharp corners. If you do it right there should be a short pause before the ball continues which might solve your intermittent rfid problem. You could also use a gradual spiral design of some sort with more room so balls don’t get backed up.
If you want to get really ambitious you could setup a trap door or automated gate that opens whenever it reads the tag. Thereby separating the “read” balls from the unread and giving the reader time to do its thing.
Very cool regardless!
steve says
How old was Monkey when you trained him for this? My cat just turned 2, is he too old to make this work?
Beɳ says
Cat’s can be trained using positive reinforcement at any age. Your cat should do well at his age.
It’s usually the trainer who messes up the training, by the way. Make sure not to screw the timing, and you’ll do just fine. 🙂
sue says
Agreed. Any cat at any age can be clicker trained. Took in an older stray and taught him to pull tissues out of a box when anyone sneezed. Have to hide the tissue boxes during allergy season now.
Gail says
*like*like*like*
Ben Millam says
Hi Steve,
Because of the name similarity I wanted to reply that the comment below from “Beɳ” isn’t from me/my site.
I’ve read that younger cats have an easier time with training, and I started Monkey when we was a kitten, but it’s worth trying basic clicker training and finding out; I’m sure every cat is a little different.
Thanks,
Ben
Will says
I think you could fix both design flaws if you could modify the setup such that the ball is held in place until it is read. Once read, you could activate a servo to nudge it out of the way and into the ball collection area.
PGP_Protector says
I’m just wondering why use RFID tags in the balls at all?
If you just use an optical switch you wouldn’t have the issue of the Reader missing the tag & not feeding it.
keelin says
If it is just an optical sensor, the cat could jam anything in there and would get fed, which could lead to overeating and a possible breakage of the machine.
Kristen says
I’m a veterinarian and just wanted to commend you, not only for your sincere dedication to your cat and his livelihood, but also taking the time to so clearly explain everything for other people to try. If more cats had this type of feeding system in their lives, and not the lazy all-you-can-eat 24h buffet that most cats get, there would be a drastic decrease of obesity in our cats. I diagnosed type II diabetes in 3 cats last month, if they had this to keep them active, happy, and a healthy weight, they wouldn’t have diabetes and need expensive insulin shots twice a day. Also the fact that it satisfies a natural drive to hunt improves overall happiness and quality of life — less cats would urinate inappropriately — meaning less cats are euthanized for behavioral reasons.
Thank you, sir. Nice work.
Herm says
Absolutely agree. My cat’s wet food is fed normally, but when I go out to work, the last thing I do before leaving is tip her measured portion of dry food into her Catit Food Maze (one of the various available puzzle feeders that require effort on the part of the cat).
And she loves it! If I’m too slow to fill her feeder (by her internal clock, that is) she sits expectantly by it or fetches me and leads me to it. This is a tortoiseshell, so you know she’s not going to put up with anything she doesn’t like. It’s stimulation and a bit of exercise for her.
Sharon says
This is perfect for my ex-feral kitty. She’s on wet food for kidney health, but is supplemented with some dry. I use a timed feeder dish now, but she can tell time and sometimes will sit and watch it for 2 hours, waiting. This is a much better way for her to get that part of her daily food. Like Herm’s cat she is a tortie and has that infamous tortitude.
Christine says
Very cool! I like your crokinole board too. 🙂
Greg Johnston says
Yes! I liked both the cat entertainment/feeding system and your handsome crokinole board. I suspect you live a very sane life.
Stuart says
Hi
I like this idea, great concern for the cats instinctive needs, however I’m a little concerned that the cat might not really be associating this with proper feral hunting instincts.
The behavioural changes are originated and enforced by you, it’s only playing hide-and-seek, there’s no real hunting instinct going on here, the ball isn’t fleeing for its life, fighting back, or struggling when in the cats mouth.
I’ve lived with cats for years and years, I like to think I’m a good judge of cat behaviour, but I’m by no means an animal psychologist, it’s just a concern I have that it may not really be experiencing the thrills of an actual hunt for a mouse.
It could possibly be made a little more authentic by adding a low RPM weighted motor in there to simulate a struggle when in the cats mouth. I’m not sure.
I wonder if it could be made to move around randomly too with shifting weights or something? Making it much more life like.
Just a thought.
Quin says
Offhand, I think a cheap accelerometer with jolt/pulse/motion interrupt pin that goes high or low when it picks up a quick movement (like a cat swatting it), run that single pin to a 555 to trigger some amount of time. Might need a transistor to send enough current to the motor, since 1.6V accelerometers and 555s probably couldn’t source that much. $3 for the accel, $1 for the 555 and transistor (or scavenge the parts), and a battery.
Now that I’ve cooked that up, I think I need to build one for my cat. I think I have some old pagers I saved from a dumpster, those motors should run on 1.6V.
Zac says
What about a motion sensor instead of rfid? It should be a lot more reliable.
wesley says
Looks cool, would be even better if you used a mousr when it’s released, so that real hunting instincts are used;
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525985345/mousr-the-robotic-mouse-that-plays-with-your-cat/comments
I can’t wait for that to ship and play with 🙂
Sage says
Looks very good, I might try it someday. I do have one concern though. I am thinking that my cat might bring other objects into the feeder once he realices how the machine works.
Louise says
I am sure that is the reason for the RFID, to discourage this behavior with lack of reward.
Jon says
Just a quick suggestion(s) to improve the ball reader (and is fairly simple).
1) You could use a force sensor that the ball is funneled to. When the sensor is initially engaged it will create an analog voltage change which can be fed into a comparator and the output into the arduino.
2) You could use an IR transmitter with an IR receive diode. This works on the same principle. Whenever the ball passes through the bowl, the receiver will detect less IR and create an analog voltage change. Again, into a comparator.
Quin says
IR would let the cat drop anything in to get a treat, something a bright cat would test at least once; and that defeats the hunt and stalk purpose. I’d also be worried about the cat just picking up one ball and dropping it in repeatedly.
Storing the last RFID tag (or two or three) to ensure a full hunt would work for the second problem. To the first issue, I’d say a simple gate would work. A small motor, or magnetic locking gate, something that stops the ball long enough to read it, then open the gate, wait, and then close the gate again.
Kurt says
Man’s got his monkey.
Monkey’s got his cat.
Cat’s got his flea.
Flea’s got me.
Everybody’s free
to work on their act.
https://youtu.be/tdYen3a9xko
cristin says
absolutely brilliant.
Just curious, how long did it take you to train Monkey to hunt the ball and place it in the reader bowl?
Also, would you consider making your arduino sketches public?
Wyatt says
Firstly, I’m totally going to steal your idea, this is awesome. Secondly, do you think there’s a good way to add a scent to the ball? I feel like that could assist in finding the targets, and make the hunt a little more stimulating for the cat.
Alan says
If I did this I’d find every drawer in the house open and emptied! The only reason this doesn’t happen now is because I have to tell her off for opening drawers on her own!
Christoph says
Greetz from a German fan and blog: http://www.hirnverbrandt.de/19224/katze-sucht-sich-abendessen/#more-19224
Scott says
I love this. I have this same feeder but after trying to cut my cats food for dieting purposes he learned to just lift up and drop the feeder to shake out food. Hopefully your cat doesn’t learn the same trick.
aaron says
so about how much did this cost you in materials and time?
H says
Monkey is very cute. So is Ben.
Christopher says
I love your invention!! You did a great job. You should take a patent on it and sell it!! Nive work!!
MonkeyBoy says
You better see about patenting this ASAP or somebody else may.
Also a patent might be able to prevent companies from selling crappy knockoffs to those demanding to own one. I bet there will be big demand.
Geeklove says
You, my friend, are not an aspiring geek, you are a full fledged geek! And you found an equally geeky cat! Refer back to user name.
Debbie says
You have just made thousands of cat ladies swoon. All these years, they told us we were unmarryable and discarded us to live out our days in our ratty bathrobes and vague stench of cat urine. You’ve changed all that. You are like an adorable Cat Lady Jesus, come to deliver us from endless nights of Netflix. I’m erecting a small shrine to you out of cat fur. And using the word “erecting” even though it makes me cringe.
This is seriously great and makes me resent my brother for getting all the engineering genes in our family.
Dawn says
I also have a cat named Monkey!! I have 4 other cats or I would attempt to make something like this from your idea. She is a bit obese, only eats dry food (the other 4 enjoy some wet food each day – she turns her nose up at it), but she LOVES to catch crickets on our ‘mostly’ screened in porch and has a deep desire for busting thru the window to go after a bird or 5. This would be an amazing way for her to lose a few pounds, do some simulated hunting, remain safe, and still get fed.
I love that one of your reasons for not hiding food itself is the ant trail. OMG – I totally relate to that when we put food on the screen porch. I do a similar thing with water. There is plenty of water around but it gets moved from time to time. I had never thought of doing it with food too.
Well done! I love the commenters that tell you how to do it better. Reminds of my sister who owns a bar and every single night hears from people what we ‘should’ do. Yet they have never taken the risk to own their own business. Kudos for trying something news and humongous kudos for sharing it publicly. Some people are ***holes – but most people love the info and appreciate the share.
Thank you!
Melissa Warner says
This is fantastic! Great way to provide enrichment for your pet. I wish more animal “parents” were this dedicated.
I love cats but my pet of choice is a parrot. If you are interested, check out the Parrot Wizard youtube channel. It does similar training with his birds. It’s exciting to see what an animal can do if you give him/her the right tools and environment. 🙂
Amber says
Please start selling these. You are an amazing inventor. You should really hook up with someone to invest in you. 🙂
Isla says
This is awesome! If only more people thought & looked after their animals like this.
I have a house cat too, he is my fur baby! Never ceases to amaze me how many people think doing the very best for your furry family member is cruel!
It normally turns out they are the worst offenders!
Jody says
Have you thought of building a cat teeter totter or zip line, operated on counter weight? Those are my next projects for my hard to please cat herd.
Jan says
I love this! Your cat is very lucky to have you! I think selling these is a GREAT idea, I know I’d buy one! Go on Shark Tank.
Michelle says
I think Monkey might be an Einstein. I could even imagine attempting to train my cat to do anything. super impressed with both of you guys!
Awesomelycute says
Fantastic idea! You should kickstart this thing.
We featured your video on our website: http://www.awesomelycute.com/2015/08/cat-feeding-machine-makes-cat-hunt-for-his-food/ Let us know if you have any questions.
Kristyn says
I agree- Kickstarting would be a great idea. I’d love to see this in more people’s homes. We’d have happier, healthier cats!
Travis says
Does your cat understand how many balls there are total and stop searching after finding them all or are they constantly searching?
Kristyn says
As a cat trainer and researcher studying cat behavior and cognition I applaud this idea!!! This is a great way to keep you cat engaged and their mind sharp. I’d love to try something out like this with my cats. Awesome job!
Alexander Jesse says
Really cool project !!!!
Congratulations for all aspects.
I would like to have something like that. Although I have some problems:
a) I have two cats. As long as they eat the same stuff… no problem. But as soon as one of them needs diet food. Might be resolvable by having two feeders and control them using a second rfid-reader reading a rfid-chip for each cat.
b) my cats do not get dry food, only fresh food… Makes the feeder construction more difficult (needs fridge-functionality, but the serverd food should not be too cold,…
BUT: the inspiration ist definitely given… let the geeks brains start working 🙂
Have fun with monkey for many years to come. You both deserve it.
J. Peterson says
I’m honestly more impressed with your cat training skills – that’s amazing. Reminds me of another famous electronic cat training device.
Jason says
Impressive work for somebody who doesn’t consider himself an engineer…good job!
Rainer Kos says
Hi Ben,
Great post, it is quite impressive how you trained your cat monkey to associate dropping the ball in a funnel with receiving a portion of food. However, what i am also impressed by the technical aspects of your machine. I have a friend, who has a cat. This machine would be a brilliant surprise for him. So I bought an Ardunino Uno, and i am keen to replicate your machine, but i am struggling quite a bit with it. So i was hoping if you could help me by sending me the program of the Ardunino Uno, as well as some closeup photos of the electric circuits. Would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Rainer.
Mike Sherman says
I love the idea of having the cat search for balls to get fed.
Only drawback I can see is as a cat owner cats do NOT need extra encouragement to constantly examine every square inch of their environment. Like on top of my vacuum tube audio equipment. I would not hide any balls above ground level.
Troy Bouman says
Hey!
Love this idea and want to implement it myself. Can you post your Arduino code?
Thanks again for the tutorial!
-Troy
The Foremans says
Great idea. Smart indoor kitties need motion and play whether or not for food. Our Burmese feral has never enjoyed eating, has a rasp-less tongue so food drops out easily when he chews–plus he’s easily distracted by noise or motion. He’s never liked wet food from day one (we got him at 8 weeks) after trying everything, he will only eat dry (Royal Canuba only–this is not an advertisement!) and is now finally a decent weight (3 years old) and a healthy boy. Thank you for your generous sharing of idea and happy cat health! We love our kitty!
The Foremans says
Sorry! Meant Royal Canin cat food!
Kat Aber says
Love this!!!!! Just found your video this morning and am blown away! I had no idea cats could be trained in this fashion. I have four cats, I wonder if this would work for so many of them or if one cat would be fat and the rest skinny 🙂
Valerie says
If you did a GoFundme to start selling these, I bet you would get a lot of interest. I know my boyfriend and I would both support it!
William Splitter says
If you could forward a set of plans and parts list I would like to try this
for the cats here,,,,thank you
Deb says
Love this.
Vlad says
Shut up and take my money!
Very cool idea, I just have to try this. My cat doesn’t really care for pellets, she lives for fish. I wonder if there’s a way of dispensing wet food.
If you decide to sell these I’d be very happy – if not, it’s about time I get my hands on an Arduino anyway.
Cheers!
Steven Machtelinckx says
Hi Ben,
Thanks for sharing with the world! As I was inspired by your feeder, I purchased a clicker and some wiffle bals. After exercising a couple of times, my cat is interested in the ball and starts playing with it, but never tries to bite it. Any ideas how I could encourage my cat to bit the ball? The diameter of the ball is +- 9 cm, maybe it’s too big for him. Could you share the diameter of your wiffle ball?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
best regards,
Steven
Ben Millam says
Hi Steven,
The wiffle balls I’m using are 1.75 inches or ~4.4cm in diameter; they are sold as practice golf balls.
Referencing “Behavior Sequence 1” in my post, it sounds like you’re stuck between steps 3 and 4. Try to establish #3, moving the ball to a new spot each time, so he’s only rewarded for approaching the ball and sniffing it (if he approaches it and bats it, no reward).
Once he gets #3, stop rewarding the sniff, and only reward him if he bites the ball.
Try this sequence for your sessions:
Cats have a limited repertoire of behaviors they can apply to an object, so hopefully you’ll be able to build momentum on #3, enough so he understands he needs to do *something* to the ball, and he’ll try licking or biting *click*!
Also in general try limiting his access to the ball, so he only gets to interact with it while you’re training.
Let me know how it goes!
Thanks,
Ben
Brian Jaus says
Dude you need to file for a utility patent on this thing asap !
B. Jones says
A truly interesting article with great comments !!!
Coley says
Can you just make me one of these feeders? If so how much would it cost. I would love to see my cat at his full potential. This would be great as my cats are going to become only indoor pets and they need a form of a hunt. I woukd have no idea how to make it myself. Thanks
Marianne says
Hi
Brilliant idea, I seriously consider to build one for my cats (but having 2 cats, not equally clever, I am not sure both of them could get food !)
Do balls smell something ? If not, do your cat find them just with the sight ?
Deb says
You need to throw a patent on this idea and get this device to market, I kid you not.
Deb says
To Deborah Alverson: if you only have so many balls and the thing dispenses only so much food with each ball, you could control the amount of food consumed very precisely.
Steffi says
Hi, great invention. As a owner of two very active Bengal Cats I would buy this device and I know many cat lovers, who would do the same. Just try to get a patent, maybe invent a nicer design and try to find a company to produce it. You can make a fortune with that!
Rogerer says
I wish people also hunted for something to eat.
the gold digger says
My husband (an engineer and a cat lover) and I love this! One of our cats already loves to hunt and is forced to resort to hunting orange peels and apple cores from the sink. She is convinced we are starving her to death. (We are not.)
Rika says
I wish I can train my cats like Monkey. Maybe I should think about that from now. How old is he when you trained him at the first time? My cats are up to 3 years old. Do you think is it possible to train them at that age?
Miuh says
Hi Ben (and Monkey)!
This is absolutely great!!
Your Video and Description of what you did, combined with a link to your homepage has been published in a local Swiss Newspaper today, so I found you…
We will try, if we can build something like this too – it could be interesting, as one of our cats is already fetching / retrieving artificial (fabric) Mice and likes to get praised or fed for this.
Greetings and happy Cat life, Miuh
Kathleen J. Nelson says
Benjamin Millam, just watched your video. In the video your website is listed as benjaminmillman.com…millman…just wanted to give you the heads up. Unless, of course, you did it on purpose. Great invention by the way!
Ben Millam says
Hi Kathleen, thanks for the heads up! That video was a copy/edit taken from mine and reposted by a content driven Facebook account, so I don’t think they were too concerned with attribution… the video has since been removed. I’m glad you found your way here and thanks for stopping by!
Lindsay says
So I have purchased the parts, but from the photos I am having trouble creating it. Could you email me the code and/or specs that you used for this?
Ben Millam says
Hi Lindsay, thanks for you interest! I just send you an e-mail to touch base.
Cynthia says
Ben, I viewed your clever cat feeder a couple weeks ago and could not stop thinking about it. I have two blind cats, that could use this feeder if the balls were scented. I am very interested, as they cannot go outside to satisfy their hunting instinct. While I am not confident enough to build one myself, if you ever decide to build another and sell it, please contact me.
I enjoyed watching the video, and was delighted to see Monkey’s puzzle solving.
Cynthia
Chuckk says
+1 thanks for the idea.
I am considering my options, and, unfortunately, I think my engineering abilities outshine my cat-training abilities (and she’s already 4), so my idea at this point would be to put RF transmitters in several hidden objects, with buttons, and the cat only has to press the button where she finds it; the feeder receives the wireless signal and gives food. That would mean individual batteries, but that’s within my means. We also have a relatively small apartment. Each button could become “alive” again after an hour or so.
Regarding the RF issues, do you have any way to access the inside of the feeder? Their website lists relays, though I’m not sure for what. If possible, this would be almost fool-proof:
1. Ball lands on platform next to RF reader;
2. Arduino senses the ball and triggers the feeder;
3. The release of the feeder sends a signal back that drops the platform.
Maybe with a debounce, 3-4 seconds. Does he ever drop more than one in 10 seconds?
One other idea that would require a little more hardware in the balls, but would increase cat satisfaction: make the balls squeak and chirp, very rarely. I have to read up on the power options of Attiny, because it would drain fast if always on.
Happy hunting to Monkey!
Ben Millam says
Hi Chuckk, thanks for your comment! I just e-mailed you directly with some photos and more details about the feeder operation. One thought that comes to mind, is to be careful with how long the buttons are “dead” or unresponsive after they’ve been clicked, especially when your cat is first learning to press them, too long and the repeated lack of a reward could extinguish the behavior. I’d be interested to know if your cat develops an at-all accurate intuition for knowing when the buttons have become active again!
Also adding audio would be awesome, I think the Music for Cats guy David Teie is working on an audio cat toy. I can imagine tapping into the ultrasonic range and mimicking some kind of rodent patterns that would drive them wild (plus bonus for not annoying the humans). Engineering the power and safety/durability is the catch.
Benny marcel says
Hi this is a fantastic idea! I’ve already ordered the feeder and will be aquiring the other parts soon. I was wondering if you have a wiring schematic you could email me. Also how did you arrange to power supply to each of the circuit boards. Some appear to require 5v so I’m not sure about the others. How did you program the RFID tags? I’m a software developer so I am pretty technical. Our cat Josey Wales is super smart..too smart he knows how to open all the doors in the house and also figured out how to open the dogs food container. Ugh. Then he taught the dog.
Ben Millam says
Hi Benny, I sent you an e-mail with some more details. Let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Lisa says
This is a great idea. I wonder if it could be used at rescues for hybrids like Savannah cats and Bengal cats. One big issue that rescues have is that hybrids are more wild and destructive unless you keep them occupied. I work at a big cat refuge but we have a Bengal hybrid that this could be helpful for. I might have to look into all the parts and see how much it would cost to build one of these. Any way you could email me a detailed part list and how to do the wiring? I’m good at trouble shooting but IT is not my specialty.
Diane says
Hi there and thank you so much for sharing : )
I am trying to trigger my Super Feeder with a motion sensor via an Arduino Uno and I know enough to be dangerous (ex. I already fried digital pins 12 & 13 when I connected the Super Feeder without a resister…At least, I think that is why I fried them) Can you tell me how you connected your Super Feeder to the Arduino? Many thanks!
Ben Millam says
Hi Diane, the Super Feeder is designed to be powered only by the power supply that shipped with the feeder (or a power supply with equivalent/sufficient specs on voltage and current, or amps). The Arduino’s pins do not supply enough voltage or current to power the feeder directly.
To control the feeder, I spliced the feeder’s power supply wire to run though a solid state relay, and then used an Arduino pin to close and open the relay, closing and opening the power circuit to turn the feeder on and off. My blog post has a parts list and basic photographs. As a sidenote, I used a solid state relay to avoid the *click* sound of standard magnetic relays, so the relay wouldn’t interfere with Monkey’s clicker training, but it doesn’t sound like you’ll need to worry about training with a motion detector.
Hope this helps together with Google. Because you may be splicing power supply wire and connecting various parts, I recommend working with someone who is comfortable with electricity, voltages, etc., to be extra safe. I have a friend I consult when I’m unsure or learning with anything electrical.