building a pet feeder

Question
Dear Patti,

I am a 4th year computer and electrical engineeering student at UBC. My group in design project course is trying to come up with ideas for a cool project. We had an idea about building an automatic pet feeder with many cool features on it. However, we haven't really come up with useful and special features yet.

Would you give me some suggestions on what features to build into the new pet feeder that would help you or Zoologist to know more about the animal?
i.e. temperature moniter for the pet, heart rate moniter, eat habit analysis...

Thank you for the help!

Answer
Hi Danny,

How about an automatic feeder with a built in sound chip. The pet owner can record a short message, such as: "Fluffy, come eat!"

It might be helpful for a feeder (both in the home or at a zoo) to record the time the animal ate, and amount of food consumed.

Having the food dispensed in measured increments, rather than a covered compartment that opens to reveal the food.

Maybe a pet that's been left alone wouldn't necessarily want to eat, as it usually would. How about an automatic feeder that warms the pet's food. Warming the pet's food is a technique used to coax sick animals into eating, because warm food emits more of a tempting odor. A warm meal would also be good for an animal kept outside, on cold days.

I know in zoo's they use automatic feeders to mentally stimulate the animals. Here is an article that might help you think of other zoological applications for your project:
http://www.awionline.org/Lab_animals/biblio/izn-mur.htm

I hope I've been a help. Good luck!
Patti