Pet Feeding System

Abstract

The objective of this research is to design an IoT (Internet of Things) that can enhance pets care and monitoring. Keeping pets has become a popular among people at the present and one of the best companions that available at home. Taking care pets need effort and time and most of the owner having problem because of their busy schedules. By utilizing the microcomputer and internet, this research will be able to feed and monitoring the pets when owner is away from their pets. We develop the prototype of food dispenser modified with servo motor, webcam, and raspberry pi. A web application is developed to control the servo motor and webcam by sending signal to the raspberry pi. To conclude, from the research we found out 79% respondents strongly agree that pet feeding system are useful and 61% want to buy the system. In future, we hope that feeding system can be apply to animals in the zoo, pet shop, wildlife department, etc.

Full text

2022 | International Journal of Recent Technology and Applied Scie nce | Volume. 4 | Issue. 2 | 111-118
International Journal of Recent Technology and Applied Science
p-ISSN: 2721-2017, e-ISSN: 2721-7280
Original Research Paper
Pet Feeding System
Helmi Che Hasni1, Suhazlan Suhaimi1
1 Computing Department, Faculty of Art, Computing and Creative Industry. Universiti
Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Perak, Malaysia.
Article History
Received:
17.07.2022
Revised:
12.08.2022
Accepted:
27.08.2022
*Corresponding Author:
Suhazlan Suhaimi
Email:
suhazlan@fskik.upsi.edu.my
This is an open access article,
licensed under: CC–BY-SA
Abstract:
The study is to design an IoT (Internet of Things) that can
enhance pets care and monitoring. Keeping pets has become a popular
among people at the present and one of the best companions that available at
home. Taking care pets need effort and time and most of the owner having
problem because of their busy schedules. By utilizing the microcomputer
and internet, this study will be able to feed and monitoring the pets when
owner is away from their pets. We develop the prototype of food dispenser
modified with servo motor, webcam, and raspberry pi. A web application is
developed to control the servo motor and webcam by sending signal to the
raspberry pi. To conclude, from the research we found out 79% respondents
strongly agree that pet feeding system are useful and 61% want to buy the
system. In future, we hope that feeding system can be apply to animals in the
zoo, pet shop, and wildlife department.
Keywords: Internet of Things, Pet feeding System, Raspberry Pi.

Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
112
1. Introduction
Pets or the definition name is companion animals that have owner to take care them and keeps
company to them such as dogs and cats. Nowadays, the implementation of technologies in daily life is
very common. Almost all tasks and activities are done using technologies. Taking care pets also can
be done using technology. This show technologies play a very important role, and it is impractical to
not use them. Internet of things (IoT) are one of the popular technologies that are being using now [1]
[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]. IoT can help owners to take care pets efficiently and do not have to worry with
busy schedule. With IoT, owner can monitor their pets at home wherever they are.
Based on the IoT concept, this research will consist of three subsystem that will be combine each
other and work together. The subsystem are the performing unit, server, and mobile application.
Performing unit consist of vision module and raspberry pi. Owner can view their pet and raspberry pi
play the important role to trigger the servo motor to rotate spinner and released the pet food. As
important as that, a server for receiving control signal from mobile application was built and deployed
in the raspberry pi. Owners use the mobile application to operate the system.
Home automation can be defined as a mechanism removing as much human interaction as
technically possible and desirable in various domestic processes and replacing them with programmed
electronic systems [8]. Taking care of pets at home using IoT will become popular because most of
human nowadays will have at least one pet at their home.
Pets are a big part of life in many parts of the world, and a growing economy often means a
growing pet population. Dogs and cats are the most popular pets around the world. At least a
household have a cat or dog. Humans most commonly get pets for companionship, to protect a home
or the attractiveness of the animals. A Canadian study found that the foremost common reasons for
not owning a pet were need of ability to care for the pet when traveling (34.6%), need of time (28.6%)
and need of reasonable lodging (28.3%), with dislike of pets being less common (19.6%) [9]. Based
on the percentage we can conclude that humans want to keep pets but they afraid cannot pay full
attention as they have other activities and time difficulty as they are away from home. Thus, there is
so many risks encountered by leaving the pets alone such as obesity, stress, negative interaction. At
the same time, pet’s daycare may not be suitable with our pet’s behavior and that places are usually
fully booked in holiday time. Using IoT for intelligent home system to take care small pets such as
cats and dogs are the main topics of this study.
For the past years, many companies had built pet feeder but cannot meet the pet owner
requirements. This is because the existing pet feeder cannot be control remotely and cannot view the
real-time monitoring. These two requirements are the most important because owner get busier with
their lives and sometimes forget to take so good care of their pet’s time to eat and need some help to
relieve their burden. Most commercial pet feeders are stationary machines. Owner cannot control the
machines to set feeding time and watch pets’ condition from other places.
Having pets at home takes time and effort, the study will apply IoT into the system to enable the
pet feeder to become home intelligent system that can be control by owner through their mobile
application because the animal owner had trouble dividing the owner's activity time and feeding the
pet. The webcam features can take pictures (photographs or videos) processed with the fswebcam and
the avconv functions on the Raspberry Pi. The stepper motor can rotate the feed valve by utilizing a
General-Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pin and a program which is inserted into the Raspberry Pi.
Next, the Raspberry Pi will be connected to the Internet and a server network so that the system
control can be done remotely by using a web browser or web view on a mobile. The overall function
of the system in the form of feeding the pets either directly or scheduled, as well as monitoring of
photographs or videos around the feed.
This Pet Feeding System is design to dispense pet food and monitor the pet. Servo motor and
webcam that connected to the Raspberry Pi which will be able to control by a web application.
2. Literature Review
2.1. The Importance of Applying Iot in Pet Feeder
The work presented by Shih et al. [10] stated that pet owners cannot share their caring task with other
and it is impossible to pay full attention due to the busy work. Next, Wicaksono et al. [9] state that pet
owners cannot care their pets optimally because they not always with them. Pets that are being leave
alone can encounter the risks of having obesity, stress, negative interaction with other animals, etc.
The other problem stated were our pet behavior maybe not suitable with pet daycare and that places
are usually fully booked in holiday time. Wang [11] stated that pet owner cannot take care of the pet

Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
113
remotely and the professional pet cases and feeding device on the market cannot meet the
requirements of remote control and real-time monitoring. Lastly, Anggraini et al [12] stated that
keeping pets at home need efforts and times. Based on the problems stated above, all the researchers
come out with solution to build Pet Feeding System with the implementation of Internet of Things
(IoT).
2.2. Previous Research
Provious research related to the Pet Feeder System listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Provious Research Related to the Pet Feeder System
Author Title Problem Method
Wicaksono, et
al [9]
Development of
Cat Care System
Based on
Internet of
Things
Cat owners cannot be always
together with their cat, so cat
care cannot be carried out
optimally. Thus, there is so
many risks encountered by
leaving the cat alone such as
obesity, stress, negative
interaction with other cat, etc.
At the same time, cat daycare
may not suitable with our cat
behavior and that places are
usually fully booked in
holiday time.
Hardware, software, and
communication, as an aspect of
internet of things, are
considered to build the entire
system. The system is divided
into several sub-system that is
cat feeder, cat playmate,
automatic cat door, cat monitor,
and mobile apps.
Wang [11] Design of Mini
Pets Feeding
Intelligent Home
System Based on
IoT
Pet owner cannot take care of
the pet remotely and the
professional pet case and
feeding device on the market
cannot meet the requirements
of remote control and real-
time monitoring.
The system was based on the
sensing layer, network layer,
and application layer, three-
layer Internet of things
architecture. CC2530 worked as
the coordinator of the lower
computer and completed the
data acquisition of the LAN
network through the ZigBee
wireless transmission protocol.
The STM32 microcontroller
was used as the core controller
of the lower computer to control
the interface circuit of each
execution component. The
ESP8266 Wi-Fi
communication module was
mounted on the STM32 to form
an embedded gateway, which
completed the data transmission
between the lower computer and
the upper computer and the
mobile intelligent terminal.
Huong [13] Design and
Implementati on
of a Pet Care
System
Not stated To build a pet feeding machine,
a food dispenser, a servo, and a
configured Raspberry Pi were
connected. The pet’s food could
be released from the food
dispenser as a result of
Raspberry Pi triggering the
servo to rotate the spinner. A
progressive web application for
remotely manipulating the pet
feeding machine was developed
using ReactJS. As important as

Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
114
that, a web server for receiving
control signals from the web
app was built and deployed in
Raspberry Pi using NodeJS.
Core features, such as
immediate feed and scheduling
feed were implemented in this
system
Anggraini
et al
[12]
Mobile based
monitoring
system for an
automatic cat
feeder using
Raspberry Pi.
K
eeping a cat at home takes
time and effort.
The webcam can take pictures
(photographs or videos)
processed with the fswebcam
and the avconv functions on the
Raspberry Pi. The stepper motor
can rotate the feed valve by
utilising a General- Purpose
Input Output (GPIO) pin and a
program which is inserted into
the Raspberry Pi. Next, the
Raspberry Pi will be connected
to the Internet and a server
network so that the system
control can be done remotely by
using a web browser or web
view on a mobile. The overall
function of the system in the
form of feeding the cat either
directly or scheduled, as well as
monitoring of photographs or
videos around the feed.
2.3. Hardware and Software for Pet Feeding System
From literature review, there are hardware and software that are being used by the researcher to build
the system. Generally, the system consists of three subsystems. The performing unit, camera and food
dispenser are connected to a microcontroller. Then, the microcontroller connects to the internet and a
server to enable remotely control using a mobile application. Most of the researchers use raspberry pi
as microcontroller for this system. Linux operating system and Raspberry Pi board as development
platform [1], to build a pet feeding machine, a food dispenser, a servo, and a configured Raspberry Pi
were connected [14] and the webcam can take pictures (photographs or videos) processed with the
fswebcam and the avconv functions on the Raspberry Pi.
Figure 1. Block Diagram for the System

Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
115
The motor can rotate the feed valve by utilizing a General-Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pin and a
program which is inserted into the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi camera module can take full HD
1080p photo and video and can be controlled programmatically. USB camera also can be used by
installing the fswebcam package. Two 5V pins and two 3V3 pins are present on the board, as well as
several ground pins, which are unconfigurable. The remaining pins are all general purpose 3V3 pins,
meaning outputs are set to 3V3 and inputs are 3V3-tolerant.
Figure 2. Raspberry Pi Board
3. Methodology
Rapid application development (RAD) model is going to be used. RAD is an agile study management
that are popular in software development [15]. The advantages of using RAD for this study is to get a
fast result. Researcher can work in a fast-paced environment during the study development. RAD
focus more on the prototype development then planning stage [16]. Reducing planning time can help
researcher to measure the progress and involve in any issues and changes needed for the study. RAD
can consist of four main phases. The phases are requirement planning, user design, rapid construction,
and cutover. RAD suitable for small team to allow fast communication with quick meeting for fast
information transfer.
Figure 5. Rapid Prototyping Model

Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
116
 Phase 1: Requirement Planning
This phase is important for the objective number one that is to analyze the need of the
system by pet keeper to help them to take care pets at home. The researcher meets with the
pet owner as the clients, for an interview. This phase is a critical step for the study to be
success and minimize the mistake. A few interview and communication with the clients
help the researcher to determine the goals and expectations for the study.
 Phase 2: User Design
During this phase, the researcher begins the development and achieve study objective
number two that is to build a Pet Care System using the trendiest technologies from both
the Internet of Things and the mobile application development. Researcher and pet owners
will work closely to create and improve on the working prototypes until the final product
is ready. The prototype represents all the system processes, inputs, and outputs. Testing is
carried out for the prototype and ensure that all the processes is correct and meet the
client’s expectations. After testing, the prototype will be refine incorporating with the
client’s feedback.
 Phase 3: Construction
This is the phase where the prototypes and beta systems from the design phase is convert
into the working system. Majority changes and problems faces were solved by the
researcher in the phase before, so now the developers can construct the final working
model faster.
 Phase 4: Cutover
The final phase, the finished product is launch. This phase resembles the final task in of
Software Development Cycle (SDLC) implementation phase, including data conversion,
testing, changeover to the new system and user training. As a result, objective number
three manage to achieve by researcher.
4. Result and Finding
4.1. Prototype
The food dispenser is a customize dispenser that will hold all electronics components. The size of the
food dispenser prototype is (H230 x W50 x L80mm). The body are made up of aluminum and the
food container are from plastic. It is strong material and suitable for the study.
Figure 6. Food Dispenser in 3D Design
4.2. Testing for Pet Feeding System
During the testing phase, the researcher tests all the function of the system to make sure it works
correctly. The test result as follow in Table 2.

Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
117
Table 2. Testing for the Pet Feeding System
Test
Procedure Expected Outcome Result
1 Push button Food released after pressing the button Succeed
2 Login button in web
application
The login button is clickable and showing
correct output Succeed
3 LCD
Show
message
that
program
to
be
display Succeed
4 Feed button in web
application
Release food when pressed Succeed
5 Scheduling the food Can set date and time for food scheduling Succeed
6 Webcam Capture pictures Succeed
The overall analysis data for the Pet Feeding System have shown positive feedback from the
potential user.
5. Conclusions
The study finding shows Pet Feeding System is needed among the pet owner to act as assistant for
them taking their beloved pet. With the system people will not worry to leave their pet alone.
Utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) into pet management give benefits to humans and animals. For the
future work for Pet Feeding System, researcher hope this system can be apply in the Zoo, Pet Shop,
Wildlife Department, etc. Automation food feeding and monitoring can make animals care easier.
New features can be implemented to improve the system. For commercialization part, Pet Feeding
System has potential buyer based on the feedback result. This commercialization potential chances
can increase when the system can be sold at affordable cost. User can easily install and use the system
like plug and play concept.
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Helmi Che Hasni, Suhazlan Suhaim i.
Pet Feeding System.
International Journal of Recen t Technology and Applied Science, vo l 4, no. 2, pp. 111-118, September 2022. DOI: 10.36079/lamintang.ijorta s-0402.400
118
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