Developing A Cat Door with Tweeting Ability

Overview

The project captures cat door events and sends a Twitter message along with a picture to the Twitter in order to determine from which owner the other cats belong to since they are always seen in the garage feasting on the food.

Details

The device operates by unlocking the cat door with a servo for authorized cats. This is done with a small RFID reader that reads the tag when a cat is in the close proximity of the door since each cat has a small RFID tag on the collar. An old laptop is used to connect the RFID reader and the servo controller. Each cat door event is sent by the software on the laptop that is written in Delphi.

Along with the cat door is the micro switch which is connected to the joystick hardware. One of the joystick buttons is pressed when the cat door is open. The software decides if the cat went in or out with the help of this mechanism. A USB hub is also available for connecting all the components together. The servo used was HS-322HD standard servo and the motor is PhidgetServo 1-Motor.