Harold the Undead

Overview

Below a quick overview of the content.

• Introduction and showcase video
• Creating the internet controlled Hamster
• Setting up the internet tracked Hamster wheel
• Challenging the Internet - Can you run more than a hamster?

Introduction and showcase video

Our hamster Harold has passed away, and we miss him very much. Instead of getting a new hamster, we've decided to build one, but this time he will be controlled and tracked by the internet!

TL;DR

You can control him here on LetsRobot, and you can find the live data here on Thingspeak.

Creating the internet controlled Hamster

Unlike Frankenstein, our little monster should smell pleasant, and only spread a small amount of fear. To achieve this, we will use his original hamster wheel, powering it with a stepper motor, making it look like he is still happily running along.

The hamster wheel is very smooth, so attaching a bit of toothed belt makes sure our second belt will have enough grip.

This setup works, but the belt can slide to the side, so gluing some 'railings' next to the first belt helps.

With the wheel ready, we can secure it to the cage flooring, placing the stepper motor right next to it, and finally running the driving belt around both.

Wiring the stepper motor, attaching the motor hat and running the example code brings our creation to life!

Undead hamster running in his wheel, check! Let's move on the the internet controlled bit. We're not going to reinvent the hamster wheel, so here's a neat guide on setting up a Pi Camera, and connecting everything to Let's Robot, the internet controlled robot platform.

Setting up the internet tracked Hamster wheel

Next step, tracking how far our less-than-living pet runs. This setup is very much based on our previous project: An IoT Hamsterwheel made using a Raspberry Pi and a magnetic door sensor.

-- Challenging the Internet -- Can you run further than a hamster?

Let's find out! The controls are right here.