IoT and Me 2021 - Little Insights into my Project

- 📖🕓 ≈ 3 min -

Last updated on 13.09.2023

A few introductory words for everyone who reads this post later and for everyone who doesn’t know me and the IoT and Me trainee contest 2021 :
I’m Sven Munk, 27 years old and a dual student at Minol and I’m taking part in this year’s IoT and Me trainee contest. As part of this competition, the trainees and students at Minol are taking use cases for IoT in everyday life using sensors, our network and tools such as the B.One Gallery as part of their own project.

In this article I give a few insights into the current status of my project and my considerations and it is still worthwhile for all those who are lazy to read, because there are also a few cat pictures to see. (Thanks to my assistant Monti)

My project is a GPS tracker for pets, more specifically for a tomcat. The cat I mentioned is called Monti and lives with my girlfriend’s parents. He is an outdoor cat and not the youngest anymore and may not always make the smartest decisions. That’s why, in the last two summers in particular, he has allowed himself to be locked up and searches have been pending for days.

And this is exactly where my tracker comes into play.

The whole thing is implemented with the Tabs Object Locator, which we received as part of the competition. This is great for what I’m doing as it’s light enough for me to attach to Monti, yet still provides accurate locations and has a decent battery life.

The sensor regularly sends the current location and can be tracked using the tools, so if Monti is missing again you can narrow the search radius based on the current or at least the last locations.
It’s also interesting to see where the little tiger is jumping around.

But how do I get the sensor attached to Monti now?

The solution to the riddle – harness + sensor

I couldn’t attach the sensor to the collar so that Monti couldn’t endanger himself with it. The solution to the riddle was a suitable harness from the nearest pet shop to which I could attach the sensor.

Anyone who knows cats and their stubbornness knows that the difficult part is now to come.

The fitting

The harness fit surprisingly well and Monti let himself put it on without much resistance, but in the end I still got the short end of the stick. Monti had tricked me by lying down on the floor from the moment I put his harness on and stubbornly not taking a single step.

With the greatest use of praise, stroking and treats (especially treats), he finally forced himself to take a few steps. Despite everything, I was satisfied. He was not bothered by the harness or the sensor in any way and even purred a little. (see treats)

So the next step for me (and Monti) is slowly getting used to the harness and then dealing with the data that he provides on his tours.

Bonus for persevering – Monti outside