Let's gather all of the materials we need to make the dispenser using the servo motor. Once we are finished with it, we will add MQTT functionality, so you can control it via MQTT (for example, via a smartphone app).
We will need the following:
- A plastic bottle with a big opening
- Scissors
- Thick paper or thin cardboard
- Hot glue or super glue
- Tape
While building the smart pet food dispenser, for some steps, you will need to move the servo motor by hand. Try to keep manual rotation to a minimum. Excessively rotating it by hand might eventually destroy it.
Follow the following steps to build the dispenser:
- Cut the bottle in half using the scissors. We will use the top part for our food dispenser:
Servo motor attached to the half bottle with tape
- To simulate the dispenser functionality, hold the bottle upside down and fill in the...