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Aram Chang
Thesis Concept/Project Description - Draft

Overview/Thesis Statement:

Hani-xerciser is a networking toy to encourage my cat to exercise more to stay in healthy condition while I’m out of home.

Rationale:

My cat, Hani, has been suffered from asthma for a long time since I moved to ‘carpeted’ house four years ago. Also he gained some weight than before now he is slightly over-weighted cat. I believe that lack of exercise brought these symptoms or disease, but without my ‘input’ he hardly work out by himself. Therefore, I observed him while until I noticed he likes to react and play a little with mails putting from mailslot when a mailman does his routine everyday, I came up with the idea of building a networked cat-charmer which I can control via internet when I am not home.

Goals:

Enabling him to react my remote ‘input’ that is clicking mailslot so that he runs up and down stairs resulting diet effect.

Audience:

At home: My wife, Myself - This project has many ‘personal’ reasons, motivations to actually see my cat getting better shape and feeling.

At anywhere else: Anyone who cares for their pets/cats, especially people who has issues in pet’s weight, less-activities.

Location:

My home at New Jersey

Description of Core Feartures and Functionality:

The device consists of two parts

  1. Physical parts: A breadboard with arduino console, X-port, H-bridge to control a DC motor
  2. Networking parts: Multiple IP cameras to monitor Hani, Ethernet cables, Home-networking router
And finally a user will see the live feed from IP cameras via internet connection and can control physical objects (mailslot with a servo motor attached) up and down to charm Hani.

Success Measures/Future Plans:

Hani is a picky cat. He rarely shows a ‘constant’ interest on a objects. But ‘mailman’ idea is from a long observation

Concept Diagram:


POSTED Feb 11 2009 @ 13:56
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