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Author Topic: Seahorse Feeding Robot  (Read 6582 times)

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Offline DOES.NOT.COMPUTETopic starter

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Seahorse Feeding Robot
« on: June 03, 2007, 05:04:55 PM »
Hey Everyone!
The Intro!I'm a biology researcher who works mostly with plants (orchids) and insects (aquatic beetles, hawk-moths), but I would really like to start working with seahorses.
The Problem!The problem is the species of seahorse I want to work with (dwarf seahorse) requires a daily supply of live brine shrimp (i.e. sea monkeys). The process of hatching and feeding live seahorse would be inefficient for my purposes.
The Question!I have come up with a plans for a simple machine that would automatically hatch and feed live brine shrimp to the tank for up to a week. I have a very crude drawing of this and I think it would not be hard to make. However I don't have any experience or knowledge with robotic mechanics. Do you think you guys could help steer me in the right direction?

Eddie

Offline danjunyi

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2007, 09:18:06 PM »
Perhaps I can help you.But my english is not very well,so i don't know how to express the process briefly.
It's simple , and someong else can help you.

Offline hazzer123

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2007, 03:28:38 AM »
If its just a case of automatically dropping measures of sea monkey eggs, and food into a breeding bowl, and then the alive seamonkeys into the sea horse tank, then im sure it wouldnt be too difficult.

Id use a servo connected to a plastic ball with a hole in it. At default position, the hole would be pointing upwards at the eggs/food supply. The stuff would drop into the ball, filling it up by a specific amount each time. As the ball rotates using the servo, the stuff inside it would fall out into the breeding tank. Im sure this process was used in the very first toilets to drop specific amounts of compost on their waste  :-X
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Offline Admin

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2007, 08:40:24 AM »
Quote
I have come up with a plans for a simple machine that would automatically hatch and feed live brine shrimp to the tank for up to a week. I have a very crude drawing of this and I think it would not be hard to make. However I don't have any experience or knowledge with robotic mechanics. Do you think you guys could help steer me in the right direction?
yeap . . . upload the picture!

the easiest way would be to buy a microcontroller (~$50) that has a ton of sample source code for you to copy, and then a few servos (basically an advanced motor, ~$10 each), and a wall plug for power. hook that up the way you designed, program some timing, and you are done.
go here to look up each:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_tutorial_index.shtml

you might also want to search google for automated feeding machines for ideas (or things to hack), such as this:
http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/116312_outdoor-pond-feeder-an-automatic-feeder-for-the-outdoors.htm

Offline DOES.NOT.COMPUTETopic starter

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2007, 06:04:00 PM »
Thanks a lot everyone  ;D

I will do some research on what you guys have mentioned and perhaps make an updated design. The goal is to make this in the most efficient and basic way possible, but I suppose that's the goal of all engineering?

Offline DOES.NOT.COMPUTETopic starter

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2007, 07:17:54 PM »

OK guys I have 4 pictures of what I have in mind. The first is a picture of what the machine would look like before the shrimp are deposited in the main seahorse tank. The second is just a blow up of the first. The third is what the machine would look like once the eggs are deposited in the tank. And the fourth is a blow up of the third.

I have color coded everything. This design is very early, so don't hesitate to criticize it or offer suggestions they would be greatly appreciated! Also the scale is off!

First lets assume that both tanks are filled with salt water. Let's also assume that eggs are automatically being dropped into machine every 24 hours. (I have the plans for that machine as well, but I want to take it one robot at a time.)
 
Looking at the first two pictures.
1. The machine will hang on the side and very edge of the main seahorse tank.
2. The machine will be plastic and will probably be rectangular in shape.
3. The green circles represent a pair of magnets one magnet on the inside and one on the outside.
4. The magnets on the inside are supporting the purple platform which has many large holes in it.
5. resting on top of the platform is the yellow brine shrimp net that will be used to collect the shrimp.
6. The green magnets on the outside are connected to the aqua bars also on the outside.
7. the yellow net is attached to the red string which is also attached to the red spool.
8. At rest the platform, magnets and net will be at the bottom of the tank.
9. Every 24 hours the brine shrimp would have hatched and a timer will signal the green magnets to move up to the top of the tank. While doing this the yellow net will collect the majority of the brine shrimp.

Looking at the last two pictures.

1. Once the platform, magnets and net are at the top of the tank, the brown arm will push the net into the mainseahorse tank where the shrimp would be released.

2. After a few minutes the spool will reel the net back into place.

3. The platform, magnets and net would slowly move back to the bottom of the tank for the cycle to continue.

There you have it!

As you can see this is all concept no real mechanics. I would like to know what you guys think of my design, how you would get it to work and  any changes.

Eddie






Offline DOES.NOT.COMPUTETopic starter

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2007, 05:47:23 PM »
Any suggestions?  ;)

Offline KambeiX

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2007, 07:09:10 PM »
What about this?

You have the main tank and a secondary small tank with conical base at the bottom. You pump some water from the seahorse tank into the small tank, drop a measure of eggs into the small tank and set a timer for them to hatch.

At the end of the period, the small tank will have a valve on bottom and will let the shrimp into the main tank.

Another alternative is having a shrimp tank inside the main tank and when the timer goes off it can open a small door along with a net (so the seahorse can't enter the separation) and the shrimp will swim into the seahorse tank.


Offline sotu

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #8 on: July 04, 2007, 03:46:22 AM »
The timer is going to be on 24 hours right? So it drops eggs every 24'th hour?
If you program in C++ or C i might be able to help you out with the timing between each drop. C++, C (Programming language, incase u dont already know)
To be honest i haven't really read through everything on this topic but you could make an robotic arm (simple version) coulden't u?
I haven't really got what method you want to use here but is this right: U have 2 tanks of water, one with the seahorse the other with the feeding eggs.
Im not familiar with this but the eggs will lay on the buttom of the tank right? So maybe u could make a robotic arm with a fish net or something attached to the arm so:
U can program the arm to reach with the fishing net and catch a egg..

Edit: LoL i see now how ba idea this was, to program the arm u will have to have different codes for every time its going to feed the seahorse, if else it might catch more then one egg. And this might be to advanced anyway, go for the other ideas.. :P
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Offline DOES.NOT.COMPUTETopic starter

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2007, 05:45:51 PM »

You have the main tank and a secondary small tank with conical base at the bottom. You pump some water from the seahorse tank into the small tank, drop a measure of eggs into the small tank and set a timer for them to hatch.

At the end of the period, the small tank will have a valve on bottom and will let the shrimp into the main tank.



I really like this idea. Any idea where I can get such a valve? I was thinking of having the conical base end in a rubber tube and having the valve attatched to the tube.


Offline robotvisionary

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2007, 12:07:28 AM »
Perhaps I can help you.But my English is not very well,so i don't know how to express the process briefly.
It's simple , and someone else can help you.

Why can you speak very well English, were are you from?

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Offline RobotBuilder

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2007, 05:49:21 AM »
Good Idea. But I have a question, is it going to drop the shirmp in the tank? Because the seahorses may not come up to the machine.
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Offline Poolrad

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2007, 06:55:08 AM »
I've raised seahorses many times before in my life, this is a very common problem that many do not know how to resolve. What I've done (and many others as well) is to build a three stage waterfall tank mechanism. First stage is a very small acrylic box above your main tank that has some small live rock in it, you put a very small pump near the surface of this tank (very very small just to move a bit of water). Have an exit from that tank down into another larger holding tank with some larger algae/salt water plants with some lighting. This is your brine shrimp growing container. This container then feeds into the main display tank where the seahorses are and the brine come & go regularly (providing ample food).

Takes a bit to get the flow right (you have to feed water from the main display back to the original small hatching tank to keep the cycle moving) and you can automate it once you get the flow setup and right current angles.

Anyways that's a brief description, you can work on the details (or let me know if you need specific details on any steps).

The bot sounds cool though..

Offline Poolrad

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2007, 11:41:17 AM »
Here I made a drawing, this works once you've figured out the right flow:



If the image is too small you can go right to the link to see it:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-7/1267605/Shrimp.JPG
« Last Edit: July 10, 2007, 11:41:55 AM by Poolrad »

Offline robotvisionary

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2007, 10:26:25 PM »
That may just work.
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Offline sotu

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2007, 05:22:43 AM »
Here I made a drawing, this works once you've figured out the right flow:



If the image is too small you can go right to the link to see it:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-7/1267605/Shrimp.JPG

Sry but the quality of that picture was shitty, i cant see what the words on the top of the page is saying...
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Offline Poolrad

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2007, 12:32:35 PM »
Click the link it takes you to a larger rez picture that you can see everything clearly.

Offline sotu

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Re: Seahorse Feeding Robot
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2007, 02:09:12 PM »
I did but i still dident see it, now i see i can zoom on the picture, now i see it!
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