My wheel from OneFastCat needed something. I wanted my cat to be able to compete on Strava with other cats but there was nothing available. Strava is a website and mobile app used to track athletic activity via GPS.

So, I made this system.

It is a breakbeam sensor connected with a Raspberry Pi computer. A fin on the outside of the wheel breaks the path of the sensor. Each rotation is mapped into a GPS location in the real world, moving 3.5 meters per rotation. After 100 seconds of no activity, the Raspberry Pi automatically upload’s to Toonces’ Strava page. The system resets automatically for the next wheel run.

Next up: Figuring a way for Toonces to run on the wheel without interaction from me. He can drive a car, but can’t run on a wheel.

Do you even Strava, cat?

3d Printed bracket for break beam sensor from Adafruit connected to Raspberry Pi breakout board.

Raspberry Pi B

Breakbeam sensor and Raspberry Pi installed under the OneFastCat cat wheel.

3d printed fin in PLA. Needed to cover the fin in gaffe tape so the IR beam would reflect.

Thanks to CrashSpace for giving me the push to get it done and the sweet writeup!