Automated Raspberry Pi squirrel feeder

Blogger ‘ulfster’ decided he wanted to be kind to the wildlife in his garden. He has some squirrels that come into the garden but they were a little skittish around him when he tried to feed them. So, he struck upon the idea of building an automated feeder. He made up a box and placed a Pi inside which controls a servo motor which deals with the release of a nut. All he had to do was wait until a squirrel came in to see if it worked. You can see from the video below that he was successful! Read more here.

Theatrical endeavour for one lucky Raspberry Pi

Spencer Organ, who teaches at KESH Academy in Birmingham, had a problem: How to give a Tin Man a heart. For his school’s performances of The Wizard of Oz, he decided that a Raspberry Pi was the way to go. Thanks to a Unicorn HAT from Pimoroni he was able to have a very very BRIGHT, beating heart shining out from the actor’s chest. Brilliant stuff.

Update: Spencer has now shared his code on his blog

Robotic otter used for emotional therapy has Raspberry Pi as a heart

Students on an MIT Product Engineering Processes course in 2013 decided to build a product to help patients suffering from anxiety and depression as a result of dementia. It’s a cute baby otter called Ollie who responds to touches from the person holding it. It has robotic arms moved by wires wrapped in silicon and it has a waterproof coat underneath a washable fur coat just in case of spills and accidents. You can read more over at the IEEE site and watch the pitch video here.

The future of the product is in question as nothing has come out of it, but it’s great to see the Pi being used for such a great purpose.