Welcome to 2P47



Welcome to 2P47! 

    This blog will show the steps of creating the 'Autonomous Animal Trickle Feeder', starting with the inspiration behind it and following as the project develops, with a final finished project in 5 weeks time! We hope this project blog shows our project progressing weekly until our lab inspection!

    This project is inspired by a pony with EMS, a condition similar to type 2 diabetes in humans. It affects her ability to regulate insulin, leading to complications like laminitis. Horses need constant access to food, but overfeeding must be avoided. Long gaps can cause ulcers, creating a ‘catch-22’—feed must be restricted yet frequent. Managing this throughout the day can be challenging with a busy schedule. 

 Our idea to help solve this issue is to design a automatic trickle feeder that can be filled in the morning/evening with forage and opens/closes at specific intervals throughout the day, allowing animals to be prevented from over eating as well as still having regular access to food.     

    There are products on the market currently that have similar applications that we can take inspiration from:                                                                                                                                                           The Lely 'Juno' is an automatic feed pusher for cattle, keeping feed within reach by following a predefined route. Using a rotating mechanism and ultrasound navigation, it enables frequent feeding, improving cattle health, reducing waste, and cutting labour costs.                                                                     The Omlet 'Autodoor' is a smart chicken coop door that opens and closes on a schedule, controllable via an app. It helps prevent predators like foxes from entering at night.                                                               

The Lely 'Calm' is an automatic calf feeder that provides fresh milk for the first 35 days, then gradually reduces supply. This supports healthy rumen development, boosts fertility, and improves future milk yield in dairy cows. 

    Using the above inspiration, we have initial ideas and designs for our own autonomous feeder. We have decided to have a roller shutter over a container where the hay will be stored. The shutter will be able to roll open/closed at specific intervals to demonstrate it's trickle feeding ability. The time intervals can be changed by the user but for the bench inspection we will have it set to open/shut in 15 second intervals for demonstration purposes. 

With a brief idea of the projects aims and inspiration we can now begin to design the trickle feeder with components, follow the blog for a week by week download of our project progression. 

2P47 :) 

 










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