In today’s society
Pet SocIoT: where one has little time for oneself, much less
for a pet, pet lovers and owners rely on a tool
How the Internet of Things called the automatic pet feeder, where one can
simply put in the pet’s feeds and leave the tool
Changed Pet Feeding to dispense the pet’s meals.
Isaiah Baluso, Jon Baucas, Adrian Bernardino,
Gail Capistrano (Junior R&D Engineers) While automatic pet feeders address the
problems of the pet owner, it does not
necessarily improve the lifestyle of the pet. A
healthy and balanced diet is essential for a
ABSTRACT healthy and happy pet [3]. Not only will it provide
your pet with enough energy for his day to day
Internet-of-things (IoT) has become the
activities, but it is also vital for proper brain
new field of research for contemporary computer
function. An adequate diet is also particularly
science. One example is the smart pet feeder.
important for animals in the early stages of their
This is done by connecting an automatic pet
development. The key to feeding your pet
feeder to the Internet and embedding it in a
properly is understanding what works best for
system that allows a smartphone to operate the
them.
feeder. While retaining its original purpose as a
pet feeding/meal scheduling tool, the IoT smart
The common responsibilities of having a
pet feeder also has the option to allow manual
pet is to provide time, nourishment and care. It
feeding even when the owner is not at home,
takes a lot of hard work to be able to handle
reducing instances of overfeeding or
these things, but having a pet is not the only
underfeeding, which is the usual case for
thing a human has to focus. Often time, the pet
conventional automatic pet feeders. In this
owner has to leave the pet alone at home to
paper, the authors aim to delve deeper into the
earn a living. Most owners tend to leave
smart feeder system, particularly, PetSafe’s
excessive food for pets to make it last the whole
smart feeder system and find out how people
day or sometimes even overlooking to feed their
benefit from the application of IoT.
pets because of hectic schedules. Due to these
reasons, pets can become unhealthy, often
Keywords: Internet of Things, Smart Pet Feeder,
resulting to either malnutrition or obesity.
JavaScript Object Notation, Embedded Systems
The obesity epidemic is hitting our pets,
INTRODUCTION
too. According to the Association for Pet Obesity
Prevention, roughly 53 percent of dogs and 58
Internet-of-Things (IoT), has become a
percent of cats in the U.S. are overweight or
widespread phenomenon in the IT world today
obese. Also, malnutrition can be a serious threat
[1]. Homes, cars, even garbage cans are
to pets. Malnutrition in pets occurs when the
hooked-up to the World Wide Web, embedded
animal has a nutrient deficiency in their body.
with systems that allow these mundane,
This issue is commonly seen in homeless dogs
everyday objects into tech-savvy pieces of work,
or animals that have been neglected by their
all controlled by the press of a button within your
owners.
smartphone or any other Internet-capable
device.
A pet feeding schedule helps establish a
routine around you pet's other vital schedules
One surprising area where IoT is
like play, activity and sleep. Scheduled portioned
applied on is in the pet business [2], specifically,
feeding requires a strict routine that you need to
be able to guarantee to stick to. Pet's thrive on the food will go to the feeding bowl allows pet
routine, however they do not monitor time like owners with those kinds of pets to avoid these
humans do. Your pet will know when meal times complications.
are and ensure that they are ready for them,
with cats coming indoors specifically at these IMPLEMENTATION
times. This method limits the amount that your
pet eats either by portion size or by time as Having pets in our lives mean that we
some pet owners prefer to give their animals a are responsible in taking care of them. Part of
specific time frame in which they must eat. This this responsibility is to give them baths, to set
method also works well if you have pets that time for exercise, and feed them. Different kinds
required medication to be mixed with their food, of pets and differents breeds for each,
or have an animal on a calorie-controlled diet. consequently have different diet [5]. But despite
the differences, the most common way of
So how do automatic pet feeders affect feeding pets is still through Free Feeding. Free
your pet’s health? Well, it depends on what kind Feeding is when you fill a bowl with pet food and
of pet feeder you have. There are 2 kinds of just leave it out for your pet to consume. This is
automatic pet feeders [1]. One has a advantageous to the owners whose busy
programmable feeding schedule, where you can schedules can't allow them to feed their pets in a
set feeding times for your pet, while the other strictly regular pattern. But to the pets, this type
relies on gravity to dispense the feeds, which of feeding can make them unhealthy [6]. Some
means whenever the pet is hungry and eats pets have been particularly known for eating too
from the dispenser’s bowl, the bowl will much food even if they are already full. For
immediately be refilled; in essence, the bowl will multiple pet homes, one pet might bully others
always be full. over the bowl and let others starve.
● Weight Management
● Regular Routine
● No Guilt when Plans Change
● More Frequent, Smaller Meals
● Fresh Food for each Meal
Figure 2. Automatic Feeder blueprint.
● No Early Morning Wake Up Calls
● Time Saver
personal computer) and a battery back-up that
further extends feeder functionality.(Device refer
Obesity is not healthy. Many diseases
to Figure 2)
can occur because of weight problems. Pets live
very closely with humans these days and
3.) PetSafe Smart Feed [9]
therefore they also share civilization diseases
with humans. Many dogs, cats, and other pets
PetSafe is a pet smart feeder and was
suffer from obesity. For example, in a
awarded as the Amazon’s choice for the smart
large-scale study, scientists from the
pet feeder category. The feeder has a capability
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München found
of until 24-cups that has Wi-Fi enabled
that about 52% of the participating dogs and
application powered by the features of Internet
cats were too fat [10].
of Things (IoT). The device has an automatic
food dispenser that are customizable in
Pet owners are the trigger for the wight
schedule and in dispensed food quantity. Incase
problems of pets due to the great influence of
of unscheduled and undelivered food for a
humans, which determines the amount,
specified meal time, alerts are sent to the feeder
composition, and feeding schedule of foods for
notifying the need to update the schedule of
the pets.Assessing the nutritional status of one's
food dispensing based on previous scheduled
own pet is difficult for many pet owners. Many
food dispensing. The whole device is powered
pet owners underestimate the weight problem of
through a power adapter with an optional battery
their pets and assess the body conditions of
back-up for cases of electricity disruptions.
pets less critically.Owners who follow strict
(Device refer to Figure 3)
routines often have to plan their entire lives
around their pets. Not only is this an impractical
but also unnecessary burden.
CONCLUSION
SOURCES
[1] http://www.petstreetmall.com/articles/how-does-an-autom
atic-pet-feeder-work.aspx
[2]
https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ur
l=https://file.scirp.org/pdf
AIT_2013012915301219.pdf&ved=2
ahUKEwjY_uGF3JrcAhWLabwKHXr0AOYQFjABegQIBhAB
&usg=AOvVaw0EFHr1DwfEKfvQv58rg1ym
[3] http://www.eastridgehosp.com/articles/feeding-your-pet.h
tml
[4] https://www.petnet.io/blog/benefits-and-risks-of-slow-feed
-pet-bowls
[5] https://nancybrandtdvm.com/food-the-evolution-of-feedin