The MagPi - February 2020

Xander prefers it when

the room is

completely dark

unreachable as possible, but cats are extremely
skilled,” says Enzo. “So, he was able to reach the
device few times. And the best way to save the
device from cat attacks is to make it is as still as
possible, so the cat loses interest.”
Therefore a tilt sensor was added to the device, to
cause it to shut down if triggered by an inquisitive
Xander, thus reducing the risk of damage.
This isn’t the only feline-focused project from
Enzo, who has also built an IoT food scale to
monitor when and how much Xander eats, sending
the data to a Google Cloud online dashboard. He’s
now working on a wheeled robot to track the cat
with a camera and perform a few interactions – we
wonder what Xander will make of that.

> oject took a The pr

couple of months

to complete

> A Pan-Tilt HAT

handles the main

laser trajectory

> Three lasers are

used to produce

micro movements

> The software is on

GitHub: magpi.cc/

ghtrilasers

> 3D print designs are

downloadable from

magpi.cc/trilasers

Quick FA C T S

Three laser diodes

are set into a

3D-printed holder

and mounted on a

Pan-Tilt HAT to move

the laser dot between

random points

Xander is a curious cat who

likes to be entertained

A PIR motion sensor turns

on the laser when triggered

by Xander’s presence

The device features three

laser diodes mounted

in a holder on a Pan-Tilt

HAT to move it around

Tri-Lasers for Felines magpi.cc 19

PROJECT SHOWCASE