Published December 14, 2024

Litterbox detector

Detects how often my cats use the litterbox and notifies me when it is ready to be cleaned

BeginnerFull instructions provided3 hours67

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Photon 2

PIR Motion Sensor (generic)

i2c Display Module 0.91 inch

Jumper wires (generic)

Male/Female Jumper Wires

basic button

Software apps and online services

Pushover

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Story

One thing that I really hate doing is cleaning my cats' litterbox. What I hate more than having to clean it is going to clean it only to discover that it is virtually empty- that I had been sifting through the litterbox for nothing. I decided to make a device that would notify me via notification on my phone and a display next to the litterbox whenever the litterbox needed to be cleaned.

PhysicalComponents

The electronics of the problem consist of a Particle Photon 2, a PIR motion sensor, an OLED i2c display and a button.

Diagram of final electronics

Final electronics setup

I pulled data from the motion sensor so that a "cur" variable would increment every time a cat jumped in or out of the litterbox (with a delay to avoid registering the same event twice), until a certain threshold was reached. When this threshold was reached, and the litterbox was ready to be cleaned, I would get a notification on my phone. For each event that the motion sensor detected after the initial notification, Pushover would send a reminder notification. I used the "Adafruit_GFX.h" and "Adafruit_SSD1306.h" libraries to push data to the screen. The screen would default to display "Litterbox is clean, " and switch to say "Litterbox is dirty" when the cur variable reached the threshold value. Once I cleaned the litterbox, I would hit the button on the breadboard, which would return the cur value back to 0 and the screen to say that the litterbox was clean.

PhysicalSetup

Considering the setup of my litterbox, positioning the device was pretty easy. The litterbox sits inside of a cabinet, and there is only one way for the cats to get in and out. Because of this, I had to make the threshold variable double the amount of litterbox uses to account for both entering and exiting.

Device mounted to cabinet

Pushover

For each of the notification types I wanted (Initial & Reminder) I needed to create an Application Token in Pushover and then create a webhook that I could publish within my code.

Events being published

Notification on my phone

Challenges

The display that I used was super finnicky. It required you to code things in a very specific way in very specific places, and when I finally got it to work, it would just shut off half the time. Additionally, when I was setting up the device, I had difficulties angling the motion sensor and playing with the sensitivity to ensure that the sensor only caught the movement of the cats, and no other things like shadows. I also tried to put casing over the breadboard on the side of the litterbox because I thought that the cats would try and play with it, but it kept falling off. Plus, the cats were far more interested in the cardboard and didn't touch the photon much at all.

Link to video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JA4QbYRGVX74WXwyHdm8ZEJyH06feX4q/view?usp=sharing

Code

Untitled file

#include <SPI.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>
#include <Adafruit_SSD1306.h>

#define SCREEN_WIDTH 128 // OLED display width, in pixels
#define SCREEN_HEIGHT 32 // OLED display height, in pixels

// Declaration for an SSD1306 display connected to I2C (SDA, SCL pins)
#define OLED_RESET     -1 // Reset pin # (or -1 if sharing Arduino reset pin)
Adafruit_SSD1306 display(SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT, &Wire, OLED_RESET);

#include "Particle.h"


SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC);
 

SerialLogHandler logHandler(LOG_LEVEL_INFO);

int sensorPin = 5; //A5     
int button = 4; //D4
int sensorInput = 0;     
int buttonInput = 0;
int threshold = 8.0;
double cur = 0.0;


void setup() {
  pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);    
  pinMode(button, INPUT_PULLUP);
  display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C); // 0x3C for 128x32
  
  Serial.begin(9600);

  // SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC = generate display voltage from 3.3V internally
  if(!display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C)) { // Address 0x3C for 128x32
    Serial.println(F("SSD1306 allocation failed"));
    
  }
}


void loop() {
    
    sensorInput = digitalRead(sensorPin);
    buttonInput = digitalRead(button);
    
    if(sensorInput == HIGH){
        cur+=0.5;
        delay(5000);
    }
    
    if(cur==threshold){
        Particle.publish("push-notification", "Litterbox is dirty");
        delay(1000);
    }
    if(cur>threshold){
        Particle.publish("notification-reminder", "Make sure to clean the litterbox!");
    }
    if(cur >= threshold){
        display.clearDisplay();
        display.setTextColor(WHITE); 
        display.setTextSize(2); // Draw 2X-scale text
        display.setCursor(10, 0);
        display.println(F("Litterbox is dirty!"));
        display.display();   
        

    }
    
    if(cur < threshold){
        display.clearDisplay();
        display.setTextSize(2); // Draw 2X-scale text
        display.setTextColor(WHITE); 
         display.setCursor(10, 0);
         display.println(F("Litterbox is clean!"));
        display.display();   
    }
    
    if(buttonInput == LOW){
        cur = 0.0;
    }
    
}

Credits

Leah M

2 projects • 0 followers

Litterbox detector

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Pushover

Challenges

Schematics

Diagram

Code

Untitled file

Credits

Leah M

Comments

Embed the widget on your own site

Litterbox detector

Litterbox detector

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Pushover

Challenges

Schematics

Diagram

Code

Untitled file

Credits

Leah M

Comments

Related channels and tags