Stray Pooch

Abstract

They say dog is man’s best friend; for the elderly this is exceptionally true. Finding a way to allow those who have pets but are unable to interact with them do to limited mobility is the whole goal of the Stray Pooch Dog Toy. The Stray Pooch Toy itself comprises of micro-controllers, two hobby motors, a gearbox, and a single axle support frame. To be included in the overall process is the XBee transmitter and receiver set; this allows the toy to be controlled by a laptop or desktop computer system. For the software, there are two programs: one for the micro-controller and the other for the computer to send commands to the ball via the XBee set (i.e. push the “s” button for forward movement and the “w” button for the opposite direction). It is the idea that this new concept of interacting with a dog will work on an acceptable level given the right breed combination, (meaning the size of toy is not intimidating to the dog,) and some encouragement from the dog’s owner. Interest in the Stray Pooch design has been addressed among family and friends of the designers and improvements have been acknowledged and not yet implemented based on the comments provided to the designers.