🐶 How to Turn a Vacuum Cleaner into a Space Feeder for Your Dog Using AI
Joaquim Silveira, a developer and innovator, turned his Roomba robot cleaner into an AI-powered dog feeder.
Joaquim needed to replace the wheel module of his robot vacuum, so he bought a similar old model for just $7 at an online auction. After repairing it, he decided to repurpose the extra vacuum into something new: a "smart" feeder for his bull terrier.
The feeder's "brain" is a single-board computer Raspberry Pi. Joaquim picked Fprime, a NASA-developed software framework for controlling the Mars drone Ingenuity, as the control software. That's how the feeder got its name: Space Vacuum.
To identify his dog, the inventor coupled an AI-powered computer vision model, YOLO11, to the vacuum's built-in camera. If the camera recognizes the dog, a motor is activated, distributing food from an old paper cup. (Silveira considered 3D printing a container, but that would have increased the project's cost.)
Joaquim has made the code available for anyone who wants to recreate the project, and you can see more of his inventions on his YouTube channel.
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