IoT Maneki-Neko (Beckoning Cat, Luck Cat, Winkekatze)

With iot-maneki-neko.ino (https://github.com/Cyclenerd/iot-maneki-neko) and an ESP8266 (like the NodeMCU Lua Lolin V3 Module) you can make a Maneki-Neko (Beckoning Cat, Luck Cat, Winkekatze) to an IoT Maneki-Neko. Let's make a thing to an thing with internet or internet of things. Inspired by the Chaos Communication Camp Project Winkekatze.

Demo

Control my IoT Maneki-Neko: 🐱 iotkatze

Set-Up

You need an ESP8266 and a Maneki-Neko. Open iot-maneki-neko.ino with the Arduino IDE and adjust the configuration:

• cat_name: Your cat name

• ssid: Your WiFi SSID

• password: Your WiFi password

Upload iot-maneki-neko.ino to your ESP8266.

Connect D0 and D1 each with one LED.

Connect D2 to the motor (magnet).

Remote Control

Open index.html with your favorite text editor and adjust the configuration:

• cat_name: Your cat name

Open index.html with your favorite web browser and control your IoT Maneki-Neko.

With the Perl script wave.pl you can also control your cat. With mqtt-subscribe.pl you can see all commands of all IoT cats.

How does it work?

The computer connects to the MQTT broker iot.eclipse.org.

• MQTT is explained in Wikipedia.

• The MQTT topic winkekatze/YOUR-CAT-NAME/command is subscribed. When the text wave appears, the cat starts to wave.

• The ESP8266 connects itself via WiFi and gets by DHCP an IP address.