Warning! This post is laden with euphemisms for cat poop! I also used Radiohead album titles for no particular reason.

Ok Computer

I’m a cat person, but I don’t like cleaning up after them. I hate the stink, the mess, and the wastefulness of dumping out good litter with the (ahem) bad. Our cats privy is relegated to the basement – I even added a cat door through the wall so they can reach it. When I heard that my friends Danny and Laurel had their cat box in the kitchen, I had to know what their trick was.

Here it is - the Litter Robot!

I’ve seen electrical litter boxes advertised and in the “As Seen On TV!” section of discount stores. But they always looked ridiculously chintzy – something you spend $100 on and later regret it. This is another thing entirely. The Litter Robot is built like children’s playground equipment – solid and rugged. And the “refuse area” is large enough to handle more than a day’s worth of “waste”.

It’s expensive, though. A new Litter Robot II with the expanded bubble (for over-fed American cats) is $350. You can cut that down to $270 by buying a reconditioned skinny-cat Original model, but I’m not sure I want to see a “previously experienced” cat box. At least shipping is free.

Hail to the Thief

After six months of robotic clay sifting, I can say that The Litter Robot works. It keeps the litter clean, which the cats apparently like, and doesn’t waste much. It’s not in my kitchen, but at least my basement smells like damp dusty concrete instead of “cat box”.

It works like this: The cat climbs aboard and does his business. On the way out, he trips a sensor in the step, starting a 7-minute timer to trigger the action. The entire barrel-shaped “action station” rolls counter-clockwise, sifting the litter and depositing the clumps in a bag in the base. It then rolls back, over-shooting just enough to level out the pebbles and leave a nice, clean surface for kitty. Don’t worry if your cat is a “repeat offender” or overly-curious, though. The Litter Robot has sensors to stop the action if he jumps back inside or gets his paw pinched in the dual sliding waste doors.

One of the biggest surprises was the difficulty of convincing the cats to use it. We have three: One is old and mean, another is young and clever, and a third is, well, a pussy. The middle one started using the ‘Robot immediately. Even old meanie took to it after a day or two to get used to it. But wuss-master Mike still won’t venture inside so he’s still using the old “hand-cleaned” box.

I do have a few issues, however. The opening is higher than your average furry friend is tall, so it’s a big climb to paradise. Even so, the refuse receptacle in the base is fairly shallow and larger “masses” sometimes won’t fit. Clever and agile kitties also learn to leap, no doubt with unseen grace and style, from the box to the floor. This fails to trip the sensor and start the cleaning action, allowing debris to accumulate inside. Finally, the Litter Robot takes bags that are just a bit wider than your standard plastic grocery bag, so you have to buy 8- or 13-gallon trash bags. We used to reuse the plastic shopping bags for litter, but we had to pick up some new ones instead. We chose vanilla-scented bags, but they’re not tempting in the least when filled.

Amnesiac

I'm a sucker for retro style

All in all, the Litter Robot is a winner, if you meet the following qualifications:

1. You must have one or more cats. The cat-free will get very little satisfaction from the Litter Robot.
2. The afore-mentioned felines must be neither too ancient to climb aboard nor too skittish to try new things.
3. You must have enough spare cash to justify $350 to partially avoid a few minutes of odoriferous labor every few days.

There you have it. Live in the future! Attach your cat box to the electrical mains today!

Note: Attaching cats to the electrical mains results in unpleasant odor and mess as well as possible legal entanglement.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | We Live in the Future: Robotic Cat Litter Boxes!
This post was categorized as Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

LED Display Clock

First up is this LED display/clock. It consists of a series of colored LED lights which flash on and off below a slot cut in the hard drive platter. The perceptual illusion images it creates are just amazing!

Speaker

Next, we have a pair of drives set up as a speaker. They don’t call it a voice coil for nothing!

Music Video

Sticking with the Radiohead theme, here’s a home-made music video, including a recreation of the song, made entirely with old computer junk. Including ten hard drives.

Wind Chime

Not as creative, but still, it’s an old hard drive!

Stirling Engine

Stirling engines are the unicorn of the car-geek community. This one includes hard drive platters!

Eddy Currents With Hard Disk Magnets

Hard disk magnets are awesome. They’re super-strong rare earth magnets – my kids love ‘em! Here is a demonstration of eddy currents using old hard disk and Lego train parts. Double geek!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | Friday Fun With Hard Drives
This post was categorized as Apple, Computer History, Enterprise storage, Personal, Terabyte home, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

I was surprised this morning with an email from Amazon touting “five albums for $5″ on the MP3 store.  Turns out, it’s five albums (today only) for $5 each.  And it’s a great set, too – I already own and love two of them, bought a third, and suspect most folks already have the fourth:

1. R.E.M.’s new album, Accelerate is just great – short, snappy, easy to get into
2. Radiohead’s In Rainbows is an album I’ve written about before…
3. I’d been enjoying songs from She & Him lately, including their appearance in Paste magazine, so decided to pick up Volume One for five bucks.
4. Does anyone not know Hotel California?
5. Finally there’s Dreaming Out Loud from OneRepublic, which I’m not familiar with.

Also, if you like the Black Keys, you can get their new Attack & Release for $2.99…

Like I said, I’m not trying to advertize this.  I’m just happy to see some great music offered legally and without DRM for low bucks.

Note: Some of these links include affiliate codes that help pay for this blog. For example, buying an Amazon Kindle with this link sends a few bucks my way! But I don't write this blog to make money, and am happy to link to sites and stores that don't pay anything. I like Amazon and buy tons from them, but you're free to buy whatever and wherever you want.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | Amazon MP3 Friday 5
This post was categorized as Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.