Cat Ball

The code I wrote to make a cat toy that will come to life when touched or can be controlled remotely via Wi-Fi.

I found that my cat loses interest in a toy as soon as he sees it not reacting to him catching it.

The idea is that a relatively strong motor with some mass attached to it's axis off center is glued to a spherical housing along with all the needed electronics. The violent vibration made by turning that motor on when something touches the ball makes this an interesting toy for a cat.

Components:

• NodeMCU
• SW-18010P vibration sensor
• DC motor
• MX1508 DC motor driver (depends on what motor you'll use)
• battery

Assembly

I glued the biggest coin (a nut would be fine too) I could find off axis to the motor and hooked the motor to the nodeMCU through the motor driver (pin 1). And the vibration sensor to pin 3. The same battery powers both the motor and the nodeMCU.

Flash the .ino and now you can connect to the toy via Wi-Fi.

SSID: Cat Ball
KEY: churchill

Navigate to 192.168.4.1 when connected.