International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol.

24, Issue 10, 2020

ISSN: 1475-7192

Automatic IoT Pet Feederusing Arduino Uno

1
Ananya Sharma, 2Aditya Gupta, 3J.Ramaprabha

Abstract— The internet of things, or IoT, is a network of interconnected objects able to connect
and exchange data. “Smart Home” is one of the most trending implementations of IoT. With increasing
workforces and more working members in the family, raising pets has become an issue. This project
proposes to create an automated system to provide food to the pet on time based on user given
instructions. The user need not be physically present to feed their pets and can program the
system to work automatically. However, the user will have to wash the container and must take care
about the size of the valve to prevent food from getting stuck in it. Additional components like
cameras could also be installed with the system to keep a check on the pet’s activities for better
results. An embedded integrated system like this will greatly facilitate the ease of feeding pets for busy
owners.

Keywords— Iot, Arduino uno, motion sensor, speaker, pet, feeder, servo motor, Wi-Fi module, load cell.

I INTRODUCTION

Technology in today’s world is growing exponentially. We can find the use of technology in almost every
aspect of our lives at all times. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a part of the newer technologies available which is
at the peak of its development phase. Smart homes are one of the customer favourite applications of Internet of
Things and are slowly entering personal lives. The objective is to let the various components of home work
automatically with minimal human effort with the use of internet connectivity. Humans love pets of all kinds. But,
with increasing workhours and busy schedules, management and taking care of the pet is becoming more and
more inconvenient. The objective behind this project is to bring back that convenience and ease of feeding
pets as it is one of the most important requirements to raise healthy pets. Intension is to use an Arduino board and a
servo motor with other components to remotely control the feeding of a pet without any interaction between the
human and the food or the pet.

II STATE OF THE ART

The feeder is controlled by an android smart mobile phone and the authentication of the pet is done with RFID
as stated by Vania et al in “Smart Dog Feeder Design Using Wireless Communication, MQTT and Android Client”.
Finally, a feeding report is developed for the owner. There were mechanical limitations to the pet feeder. Also,
food might get stuck in the blades of the feeder. Obvious limit on the

1, SRM Institute of Science and Technology Chennai, India ananyasharma2677@gmail.com

2, SRM Institute of Science and Technology Chennai, India aditya9798@gmail.com
3, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India, ramapraj@srmist.edu.in

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1109
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

food being given also exists. There is no way to measure the amount of food given.
The setup, as stated by S.Subaashri et al in “Automatic Pet

Monitoring and Feeding System Using IoT” consisted of three sub systems:- Pet Door with an infrared sensor
based security alarm circuit, a pet feeder with bowl cover that is actuated by an infrared proximity sensor and a
battery- operated electric motor and a pet collar with a GPS for easy tracking and management.

Controlled with the help of a web server, the pet feeder by Andi Adriansyah, Muchd et al knows when food
needs to be available in the container and can also set the position of the valve as stated in “Design of Pet Feeder
using Web Server as Internet of Things Application”.

In “Automatic Pet Feeder Using Arduino”, a mobile app controlled setup was created as stated by Mritunjay
Subhashchandra Tiwari et al. Arduino was used for automatic operations. All the details displayed on an LCD
screen fitted on the body of the pet feeder. This setup was expensive because of the usage of an LCD screen.

A hardware design system which can detect what type of pet is near it and dispense food accordingly was
elaborated in “Phone controlled automatic pet feeder” by Fan Ling et al. The drawback was that the system was not
fool proof and there could be possible errors while detecting the type of pet.

The user can adjust the feeding time in the system, the time gap between consecutive feedings and the quantity
of food served explained by Prashant Singh et al in “Remote control and GSM based automated pet feeder”. It
also contains a call for the pet at feeding time, a refill alert, a dual power supply with battery a charger, a safety
lock for the container and a sensor based system to serve the previously served food in case of remaining food.

Angelo et al involved the use of GSM technology to receive signals from the user and notify the user back once
feeding is done successfully during any meal time in “Arduino based food and water dispenser using GSM
technology”. The cellular signals must be available at all times in order to exchange signals to and from the user.

Raspberry Pi has been used in the system named “Automatic pet feeder using Rasberry Pi” by
Nurnabilah Binti Zakaria as the main microcontroller and sensors have been used to provide inputs to the
Raspberry Pi in order for the system to work properly.

III PROPOSED WORK

Time is the most valuable aspect in one’s life. Due to the fast paced lives, time is exactly what individuals’
lack. Proper management of time is of utmost importance in today’s world. Technology is helping humans save
time in every possible way along with making any particular task easier to carry out on day to day basis. But, due
to excessive work and multiple working members in most of the families, taking care of pets is becoming more and
more difficult. Feeding of the pet on the right time is of utmost importance which is at stake nowadays. No family
can afford to compromise on the health of their beloved pets due do inconvenient work hours and long shifts. Pets
should not be the ones suffering in such conditions. We would like to create and introduce a pet feeding
mechanism which will ensure that the pets are provided with proper food automatically. It is an Internet of Things
based setup and will fit right in with the Smart Home. It will make use of an Arduino Uno microcontroller to

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1110
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

control a servo motor which will rotate and drop food into a food bowl for the pet to eat which can either be
controlled manually by the owner or can be sensed by a PIR motion sensor and activate the system. The owner will
also get a live update of the weight of food remaining in the container. This will not be a permanent replacement for
the manual feeding by the owner but will be a backup system for situations when the owner needs to be away for a
pre-defined amount of time. This will ensure that the pet gets the food at the right time even in situations where
the owner is away.

IV IMPLEMENTATION

The automatic pet feeder ensures timely feed for the pet as the owner has the control over the sound
produced by the speaker which attracts the pet towards it. As the owner clicks the feed button on their mobile
screen, the speaker produces a sound which attracts the pet towards the feeder. As the pet approaches near it, the
motion sensor senses it and makes the motor rotate which in turn pours food from the feeder into the container.
The weight of food remaining in the setup is constantly updated.

IV.I. Arduino UNO

It is an open-source microcontroller. It was developed by Arduino.cc. it consists of various digital (14 )and
analog pins(6). The pins can be programmed with the Arduino IDE . The microcontroller is connected to the
computer with the use of a B type cable. Power is supplied to it by USB cable or by external battery of 9V (also
accepts voltages between

7V-20V).

IV.II. PIR Motion Sensor

A motion sensor is used to detect motion falling in its range. It can always know when anything moves near or
away from it. The various characteristics of a PIR sensor motion are it is small, easy to use and low priced. Thus, they
are pretty much used in many devices.

IV.III. Speaker
A speaker will be used in our project to attract the pet near the feeder. The one used in the feeder is a
piezoelectric speaker with 0.5W power.

IV.IV. Esp8266-01 (Wi-Fi module)

The ESP8266 ESP-01 allows the microcontroller to access Wi-Fi. It is commonly called the Wi-Fi module. It
is a SOC (System On a Chip) which can manipulate its inputs and outputs with an arduino because it acts as a small
computer.

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1111
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

IV.V. Servo Motor

It is a rotational device attached on the mouth of the feeder opener to control the movement of the container
providing food. We can set the angle and the time delay as per our requirement.

IV.VI. Load Cell

A load cell is a type of transducer, specifically a force transducer. It converts a force such as tension,
compression, pressure, or torque into an electrical signal that can be measured and standardized. As the force applied
to the load cell increases, the electrical signal changes proportionally. The most common types of load cell used are
hydraulic, pneumatic, and strain gauge.

Fig. 1 – Basic components architecture

V FUTURE SCOPE

The accuracy and working of the pet feeder for timely feed can be supervised with the installation of a camera.
It can help with behavior issues of the pet. It can also help to avoid overfeeding of the pet. Automatic cleaning of the
container can also be deployed. Usage of a bigger valve to pour food as to avoid the food from getting stuck while
feeding. A back- up system to help in case the primary system fails. It will ensure that the pet is fed properly.

VI CONCLUSION

This paper aims at providing an easy way to understand and develop an automatic IoT pet feeder system. It can
be easily implemented by everyone and is under budget for most users. The literature reviews of various other
similar applications were studied to understand the various approaches, the various components required for the
system were listed out. A limitation of this feeder system is regarding the behavior of the pet as it completely relies
on the pet coming to the feeder at the correct time.

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1112
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

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Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1113