The Dog Walking Robot

Simone Giertz and Laura Kampf just met each other a few days ago. Being the awesome YouTubers and Makers that they are, it didn’t take long before they came up with their next viral project: a robot that lets Kampf’s dog, Smudo, walk himself by wiggling a sausage in front of his face.

The device was inspired by those cartoons you’ve seen for the “carrot and stick” idiom, which portray a cart driver dangling a carrot in front of a donkey and holding a stick behind it. (And before you say anything, both Giertz and Kampf reassure everyone that Smudo was all for the experiment and nothing was done against his will.)

The mechanism itself consists of an ergonomic harness made of lightweight aluminum that bends over Smudo, while an Arduino Uno and a servo motor dangle the piece of meat.

Be sure to check out the entire build and a demo of the “Dog Walking Robot” in the video below!