2021 IEEE International Conference on Mobile Networks and Wireless Communications (ICMNWC)

Automated Pet Feeder using IoT

Vrishanka P. N Parimala Prabhakar Devika Shet
Dept. of Electronics and Dept. of Electronics and Dept. of Electronics and
2021 IEEE International Conference on Mobile Networks and Wireless Communications (ICMNWC) | 978-1-6654-3883-4/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICMNWC52512.2021.9688391

Telecommunication Engineering Telecommunication Engineering Telecommunication Engineering

Ramaiah Institute of Technology Ramaiah Institute of Technology Ramaiah Institute of Technology
Bangalore, India Bangalore, India Bangalore, India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Rupali K
Dept. of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineering
Ramaiah Institute of Technology
Bangalore, India
[email protected]

Abstract—As the world gets more interconnected, the also useful for elderly dog owners who have difficulty
Internet of Things (IoT) creates a vast network of devices that bending over to fill their pet's feeding bowls on a daily basis.
routinely exchange data. IoT extends the power of the internet Traditional methods may exacerbate physical and emotional
beyond smartphones and computers to ordinary household pressures, which these appliances help to alleviate. When
objects such as light bulbs, locks, smart microwaves and various compared to other machines with more intricate designs,
technologies. Smart home devices and gadgets are becoming where cleaning can be difficult and the unit may require
more popular among consumers who enjoy having all of their disassembly to adequately clean moving parts, the proposed
devices interconnected for the purposes of increased design is simple to clean and maintain. Every year, the pet care
convenience, comfort, energy efficiency, and most importantly,
industry and business expands, thus necessitating the
personalization which is one of the project's focal points. This
helps in solving the starvation of small pets such as dogs and cats
development of new technology-based solutions.
in absence of their owners. Through this proposed design, the II. RELATED WORK
user can adjust the feed time, the time between consecutive
feeds, and the amount of feed served. Thus, keeping the pets Integration of heterogeneous data from diverse devices
healthy and happy. Here in this paper, automation of pet feeders and their capacity to undertake joint job execution is one of
using the Internet of Things (IoT) is developed. Overweight dogs the primary open difficulties in IoT automated systems. By
and cats account for over 55% of all population, posing major offering [1] an uniform manner of accessing and masking the
health hazards such as heart and lung problems, kidney disease, heterogeneity of different home devices, interoperability
and diabetes. The proposed machine will provide a solution to appears to be the key goal in these systems. Each pet owner's
this as it aids in weight management by providing the portioned lifestyle is different; [12][2] using this machine will be
feedings that pets require. Here the smart automatic pet feeder different from the traditional method of owners feeding their
is implemented using Arduino Uno, RTC module to track time dogs by hand since it will provide more accurate feeding at the
and manage feeding schedules, a distance sensor to monitor food times we specify, as well as the ability to manage it from a
level, and a servo motor SG90 with a wide-angle servo (0°-180°) distance, something the traditional method cannot provide. In
to control the flow of the food dispensed are among the project's
[3] the smart pet door is a designed in such a way that it allows
major components.
the pet owner to supervise the movement of their pet by
Keywords—IoT, Pet feeder, Data, Arduino Uno utilizing a sensing tag on the collar. An automated system is
built using Internet protocol (IP) camera and a microcomputer
I. INTRODUCTION to control the automobile remotely [15][8] The
microcomputer serves as a MQTT (MQ Telemetry Transport)
Having a pet at home is one of the greatest joys. But
server and accepts MQTT messages sent by mobile phones.
regular feeding is one of the major problems in a pet’s
The microcomputer delivers the GPIO (General Purpose
maintenance. To raise a healthy pet, each pet’s meal and
Input/Output) signals to the motor hardware through its
feeding habits must be carefully studied. When pets are not
programmed pin configuration. The video streaming will be
fed on time, it has a direct impact on their health. As a result,
received by the microcomputer from the IP(Internet protocol)
the proposed machine will provide a solution to the problems
camera at the same time. This streaming can be relayed back
like malnutrition and obesity. The biggest benefit of this smart
to the mobile phone's screen. A new embedded development
automatic pet feeder is the convenience as you only need to
board and a new Wi-Fi development board are used in this
refill it every few days. This saves you both time and energy
design. The Yocto Project Linux kernel's compilation function
because they work on timers that are capable of dispensing
is used by the CC3200 [7], which can automate pet feeding
several times a day to satisfy the food intake of the pet.
and watering, as well as perform regular and quantitative
Because the machine is IoT-based, the user's experience
feeding procedures. The feeder uses IoT technology for
becomes much more personalized with the help of electronic
remote control and has a more exact control of food and water
automation and IoT. It can be used to monitor the amount of
supply. A remote camera can be used to monitor the pet's
food fed to the pet at each meal in order to reduce the risk of
behaviour in real-time, and with the use of the phone, the
illness. An automatic pet feeder can feed the pet based on the
feeding situation can be monitored in real-time [14]. This pet
custom schedule and helps make it easier to maintain a regular
feeder design [10][13] has elements that make pet care more
feeding schedule and are ideal for pet owners who are
convenient for both the owner and the pet. This system also
constantly on the go and have erratic schedules. Parallely, is
offers information about the pet's feeding, such as whether it

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 is eating or not, and whether it is eating in the right amount, boards (shields) or breadboards (for prototyping) and other
which aids in the elimination of the overfeeding problem. By circuits are considered. Serial communications ports,
supplying the left feed first, this arrangement also helps to re- including USB on some models, are also used to load
duce feed waste. With its interactive remote control [9], this programs on the boards. The microcontrollers can be
design also eliminates the traditional manual adjustment of pet programmed using the C and C++ programming languages as
feeders. In terms of advancement, several elements can be well as a standard Application programming interface (API)
changed, such as using a camera instead of sensors for priority dubbed "Arduino language". The Arduino project includes an
feeding of pets. On request, this device can also send a short IDE and a command-line tool (Arduino-cli) written in Go, in
video clip [5] [6] to the owner through multimedia message of addition to traditional compiler toolchains.
the pet during feed time. Remote monitoring, feeding, body
temperature analysis, and other health issues can all be 2) Red LED: An average 5mm has a 2V forward voltage
diagnosed with IoT [4]. Also, tackled the problem of animal drop and a forward current of 20mA. When a LED is
identification over vast distances using sensors integrated into connected to the Arduino, a current-limiting resistor must be
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that can be used
monitored using Global Positioning System (GPS).An 3) Piezo Buzzer: It is used instead of the electromagnet
automatic [11] pooping pad, a Raspberry Pi camera, and a used in typical speakers. The piezoelectric effect is used to
smartphone application .The food is dispensed and distributed generate sound waves. To produce a sound at the specified
across three layers of the automatic feeder. The feeding frequency could be achieved by applying a square wave.
mechanism is controlled by Arduino, and the serving size is 4) Real-Time Clock(RTC): RTC is an electronic device
determined by a weight sensor. The automatic feeder and
that measures the passage of time (usually in the form of an
pooping pad are both monitored using a Raspberry Pi
webcam. The Raspberry Pi serves as both a client and a server. integrated circuit). The Real Time Clock module’s onboard
Unfortunately, the application is only available in Korean. battery ensures that the computer retains the correct date and
time even when the system is powered down. Once this
III. PROPOSED WORK module is installed, set the correct date in the computer and
A. System Design save it using the Time Preferences or Set Clock command.
After which the workbench clock will always display the
1) Arduino Uno R3: It is used to control the Pet Feeder
correct time.
activities for various applications. Figure 1, shows the block
5) Servo Motor SG90: Is a low cost and high output power
diagram of the proposed IoT pet feeder. An open-source
servo motor. It can rotate up to 180 degrees and each step can
hardware and software of Arduino is used for initiating user-
be a maximum of 90 degrees. It requires only one output pulse
friendly communications, which creates single-board
signal to control its movement. For accurate position control,
microcontrollers for controlling the digital devices. The
the servo is used (unlike a DC motor). The red/orange wire is
Arduino Uno R3 is the most recent version of the Arduino
5V, the black/brown wire is ground, and the white/yellow wire
Uno. The Arduino board and Integrated development
is the control signal. However, colour schemes vary. Because
environment (IDE) software serve as the reference versions of
servos can draw a lot of power, the 5V cable must be
Arduino, which can be updated. The Uno-board is the
connected to a separately controlled 5V source rather than the
standard model for the Arduino platform and is the first in a
Arduino's 5V supply.
series of USB-Arduino boards.
6) Ultrasonic Distance Sensor: Devices that generate or
sense ultrasound radiation, are known as transducers and
ultrasonic sensors. Transmitters, receivers, and transceivers
are the three broad categories they fall under. Transceivers can
both transmit and receive ultrasound, whereas transmitters
turn electrical signals into ultrasound. Arduino Ultrasonic
distance sensor is used to measure the distance of the object
using Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR). Ultrasound
is emitted at a frequency of 40KHz or 40000 Hz.
7) LCD: Light-modulating characteristics of liquid
crystals combined with polarizers are used here. Liquid
crystals do not directly emit light, instead, they use a backlight
or reflector to create colour or monochrome images. The 162
corresponds to a two-line display with 16 characters per line.
Fig. 1. Block diagram of IoT Pet Feeder Each character is presented in a 5x7 pixel matrix on this LCD.
A wide range of microprocessors and microcontrollers can B. Software Design
be used in Arduino board designs. The boards having digital 1) Flow Chart: The diagrammatic representation of the
and analog I/ O pins that can be used to connect to expansion algorithm is shown in figure 2, through a flowchart.

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 Fig. 2. Flow chart of pet feeder for simulation

a) Arduino Programming and Interfacing: Arduino is

C. Methodologies
an open-source electronics platform that uses simple
hardware and software. Arduino boards can take inputs - such Pet feeder can be used in a variety of ways. Here in this
as light from a sensor, pressing a button, or a Twitter message method, it is programmed to fill the bowl at a specific time,
- and convert them to outputs, such as turning on an LED, and refill the bowl when it is empty.
triggering a motor, or publishing anything online. By Here, it is programmed in such a way that the buzzer starts
providing code, instructions could be relayed to the board's buzzing from time to time indicating the amount of pet feed
microcontroller. The Arduino programming language (based left in the feeder. Once the buzzer is turned on, the food
on Wiring) and the Arduino Software (IDE) based on dispenser controls the amount of food to be released based on
processing are used to accomplish this. Arduino senses the the quantity of feed consumed by the pet. The components
environment by receiving inputs from add-on devices such as used are Arduino Uno R3, Ultrasonic distance sensor HC-SR
sensors and can control the world around it by adjusting and Servo motor SG90.
lights, motors, and other actuators. 1) Algorithmic Steps:
2) Wokwi Arduino Simulator: The proposed design is • Pin Connections:
simulated on the website www.wokwi.com. Wokwi Arduino
i) Pin 7 and 6 for the ultrasonic distance sensor
Simulator was developed to address many more missing
features and it runs on AVR8js platform. It is a web-based ii) Pin 2 for the servo
Arduino Simulator. Wokwi Arduino Simulator runs on a web iii) Pin 3 for the buzzer
browser on both mobile and PC platforms. The interface is
clean, providing virtual components and the Arduino sketch iv) Pin 8 for LED
side by side, which can also format code and upload it to a • Initialization for all the components is done in the
real Arduino (in Beta). Since the website is mobile-friendly, function setup( ).
coding is possible on the go.
• In the function loop( ), for sensing the distance through
ultrasonic distance sensor, the microseconds is

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 converted into centimeters with the function From the figure 3:
microseconds t to Centimeters ( ) and formula,
1) Arduino Uno R3
cm=(duration*2)/29, where duration is the time taken
2) LCD
for the pulse to go from low to high.
3) LED
• Time and date are displayed on the 16x2 LCD display 4) Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
in the format: the first line has the time in hh-mm-ss 5) Piezo Buzzer
and the second line has day then followed by the date 6) Servo Motor SG90
in format dd-mm-yy.
7) RTC
• Then the time intervals are set by the user for which B. Observations
the servo motor turns on and rotates according to the
following conditions: Simulating the hardware parameters using the soft tool,
and creating all possible conditions of the feeder fullness, the
i) If the distance measured in cm is 10, the servo following observations are made based on simulated results as
rotates by 45o, and returns to 0° after 10 seconds, given in Table 1.
simultaneously the LED and buzzer are turned on
to attract the attention of the pet for 5 seconds. TABLE I. DIFFERENT CONDITIONS FOR SERVO MOTOR ROTATIONS
ii) If the distance measured is between 10 cm and Distance Measured by
Condition
Rotation done
15cm, the servo rotates by 90°, and returns to 0° the distance sensor by Servo
back after 10 seconds, simultaneously the LED The pet has eaten very
Less than 10 cm 45o
less amount of food
and buzzer are turned on to attract the attention of Pet has eaten a moderate
the pet for 5 seconds Between 10 to 15 cm 90o
amount of food
Pet has nearly completed
iii) If the distance measured is between 15 cm and Between 15 to 20 cm
the dispensed food
120o
20cm, the servo rotates by 90°, and returns to 0°
after 10 seconds, simultaneously the LED and
buzzer are turned on to attract the attention of the 1) Distance less than 10 cm: For the condition of less than
pet for 5 seconds. 10 cm, consider the distance between the bowl and the
dispenser hole as 6 cm. So, the arm of the servo rotates at 45°,
If none of the conditions are satisfied, then the servo opening the dispenser hole for 10 seconds. During this, even
doesn't rotate at all and nothing happens. the LED and Buzzer are ON for 5 seconds, as shown in Figure
• SetDateTime( ) is used to set the real date and time. 4.
• DecToBcD() is used to convert decimal to BCD with
the formula: ((value/10*16)+(value%10))
• BcdToDec() is used to convert BCD to decimal with
the formula: ((value/16*10)+(value%16))
• The above two functions are used for the purpose of
displaying the date and time on the LCD.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
It’s easy to operate, no complexities involved in the
process. Light weight, easy to move around as it uses on board
battery in RTC it can be operated with electricity. Hence, this
model helps in eradicating the overweight and obesity
problems seen in dogs and cats that account for over 55% of Fig. 4. Simulated Output when distance is 6 cm from bottom or top
the population, posing major health hazards such as heart and
lung problems, kidney disease, and diabetes. 2) Distance between 10 to 15 cm: Simulated output when
distance is 13 cm is as shown in figure 5. For the condition of
A. Simulated Diagram: (see figure 3)
the distance between 10 to 15 cm, consider the distance
between the bowl and the dispenser hole as 13 cm. So, the arm
of the servo rotates by 90°, opening the dispenser hole for 10
seconds. During this, even the LED and Buzzer are turned on
for 5 seconds.

Fig. 3. Labeled Simulated Wire Diagram of the pet feeder

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mentioned previously the component requirements include
Arduino Uno R3, Ultrasonic distance sensor HC-SR, Servo
motor SG90, RTC, Buzzer and LED. With the above
simulated results, the intake of pets can be monitored. Also,
different pet food needs can be altered like the amount of food
dispensed, or the time for which the dispenser hole is kept
open, along with the number of times the pet is fed.
When compared to previous editions, this design has a lot
of new features. The feed time, the time difference between
consecutive feeds and the quantity of feed supplied can all be
adjusted in this design. This design also includes a call for the
pet when it's time to eat, as well as a refill reminder. The
present trend of integrating pet management and IoT
technology promises fascinating advances in the future. For
further and deeper research, more functionalities can be added
to the Automated Pet Feeder, such as an additional camera that
allows the owner to monitor whether or not his or her pet is
eating its meal. In addition, an RFID tag can be used in pet
collars, which allows to identify the pet identity in case of
multiple pets.

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