Automatic Cricket Dispenser - Page 6

bill123 · #51 12-09-2008, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MtuPup

Preface: I'm an electrical engineer with a background in automation controls

So me being the geek I am, I want to fully automate my habitats through the use of a PLC(Programable Logic Circuit) based control panel. This would monitor temperature/humidity and turn lighting on/off etc to control the climate of the tank - a way over elaborate air conditioning system. Anyways, the guys in the office like to make fun of "the frog kid" as my wall paper is always some red eye tree frog or whatever the flavor of the week may be.

Anyways where this pertains to crickets:
Jokingly, the idea of a automatic cricket feeder got thrown out. My idea is to have some type of hopper with a tube running into the enclosure. The tube would have a door on each end. At a given time both doors will open allowing crickets to pass in. To sense as crickets go through, a break beam sensor is the best I could come up with. Basically, you'd need a sensor at each end - see how many crickets go in, how many go out. Once the desired number of crickets have entered the staging tube, the first door closes...after all have past into the enclosure, the second door closes.

Now this isn't a sound idea seeing as it goes off the assumption the crickets will walk linearlly into the enclosure from the hopper.

Hope this gives a good laugh because the schematics that were being passed around and modified at my office were hillarious.

no guys ....the trick is to catch each CRICKET one by one lol the electrical guy is not to creative... i just made a box that cost $20 and it catches one cricket at a time and sends it down the road, LOL. I don't want to give the secret away, but I would like to talk to the electrical guy about some ideas that I have for automation... I would like to send out a certain amount of crickets per day or per week. I can only dispense crickets for a certain time, like every day for 3 hours, but with the right programming, I could dispense 5 every 2 days; and my dispenser is on the money. So I hope I didn't pee you off, electrical guy, but I would be interested in talking to you...

froggsong · #52 12-09-2008, 04:26 PM

Please do not type in all caps. Next time, I will simply delete the posting, I don't have time to retype everything that someone says that can't take their finger off the shift button, or make sure that the caps lock isn't on. Did you not even look at all that before you hit post?

MtuPup, I would be cautious helping some perfect an invention that doesn't want to share the how to with everyone, as this person may be looking to profit from your knowledge.

bill123 · #53 12-10-2008, 10:07 AM

wops i did not know about the caps thing! and yes i am trying to profit of my invention, but i am also looking to let the right person profit to. i am looking for some one with an electronic back ground to help me automate my machine so i can sell it. i found this sight by using Google and my key words hit the electrical guys posting. sorry if that offends some people!! when i am threw with the patent proses i will post the schematics for you do it your self-ers to build your own. there is a huge market for a automate live feeding, pet shops, zoo's research facilities and most importantly "us" the people that will spend there last 20 bucks to make our habitat a little better. the basic idea is i can catch one cricket "alive and un harmed" and then drop it in the cage. what i need help on is.... i need to be able to count and dispense them with a user interface...o i also i have a mouse and rat dispenser to..you might ask why i am talking about this here and not using a consulting company. "they are not cheep"

froggsong · #54 12-10-2008, 11:50 AM

See, that sounds much better. I couldn't tell from your original post if you were planning on sharing the profits with the person that helped you develop it. Thank you for elaborating.

MtuPup · #55 09-02-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill123

no guys ....the trick is to catch each CRICKET one by one lol the electrical guy is not to creative... i just made a box that cost $20 and it catches one cricket at a time and sends it down the road, LOL. I don't want to give the secret away, but I would like to talk to the electrical guy about some ideas that I have for automation... I would like to send out a certain amount of crickets per day or per week. I can only dispense crickets for a certain time, like every day for 3 hours, but with the right programming, I could dispense 5 every 2 days; and my dispenser is on the money. So I hope I didn't pee you off, electrical guy, but I would be interested in talking to you...

Electrical guy? I have a name, sheesh! lol no worries. I just found this thread again (roughly a year from when I posted). I'm actually working on a new viv and this little problem might provide me with some downtime think tanking.

I'm going to start a study into the behavior of crickets in captivity to best determine how to herd them. so far I found when they escape they migrate to my water heater or my roommates bed...

beckdg · #56 09-02-2009, 12:59 PM

your roommate doesn't happen to be a little robust like me is he/she? if so they're looking for warmth. if not they may be crossed with bed bugs. i fear the latter of the two may inhibit your findings in your studies. therefore you may have to abandon all hope until you can locate some purebred stock.

oh, and Mr. Electrical Guy (sp?, i'm bad with names rofl) keep us updated on your findings.

this has been an interesting thread, thanks mtupup!

Hewhois · #57 10-04-2009, 09:22 AM

Ya'll are making this waaay too complicated. Simply build multiple enclosures, each with a separate trap door. If you want 4 crickets per feeding, put 4 crickets per enclosure, then rig the trap doors to open one at a time every 8 (or whatever) hours in sequence.

I bet you could even modify an automatic pill dispenser to fit the bill. Or just use one as a jump off point to create your own dispenser. Something similar to this:

Automatic Pill Dispenser Organizer

HewesHort · #58 10-04-2009, 10:28 AM

hello and welcome to the forum Hewhois! that is a great idea, i think i saw schematics for a home made pill dispenser online, i need to find them to see if it might work.

i cant believe i never saw this thread before! i guess i need to read through the whole thing now!

froggsong · #59 10-04-2009, 11:59 AM

It's an interesting idea, but the point is to not have to count them, just buy them, toss them in, and let the dispenser do it's work.

MtuPup · #60 10-04-2009, 04:48 PM

full automation baby.