Introduction: Robotic Arm Fish Feeder

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My amazing girlfriend got me a robotic arm servo kit for Christmas. I thought I'd repay her by feeding her fish ;)

Step 1: Build the Robotic Arm

  • Assemble your robotic arm and servo motors.
  • Make sure to have a pivot point which allows for a "dumping" movement in to the fishbowl.

Step 2: Wire the Servos to the Arduino

Typical servo motors have three necessary connections: +V, ground, and a PWM control from the arduino. I powered three servos and the arduino using a 5V 8A power supply that I had lying around.

Step 3: Position the Arm and the Fish Bowl

Make sure the arm is capable of moving to the fish bowl to dispense the food. (I used a top dispense method where I punched a few holes in the lid of the fish food).

Step 4: Feed Your Hungry Fish!

Using whatever code you have written (its fairly dependent on your set up what the code will look like), run your program and feed your fish!

I used a Christmas light timer on my power supply to ensure that the Arduino is powered and that the program runs for only 10 minutes, once per day. This timer can also be written in to the code, and power can be permanently supplied to the Arduino.