LittleBits Candy Dispenser

thingiverse

I got my kids a LitttleBits Smart home Kit and I wanted to create a project to integrate the LittleBits Cloudbit and servo with our Amazon Echo, and 3D Printing (of course!) I used the IFTTT cloud service to integrate Amazon Echo to trigger the LittleBits Cloudbit that activates the LittleBits servo, that in turns turns the spindle of the 3D printed candy dispenser to drop the treats down to the tray. For the clear plastic hopper, I reused the container from those Fruit Jelly treats I got at the local Asian grocery store (If you can't find it locally, here's something similar on Amazon: http://amzn.com/B003TH0C5O). 3D Print Parts Download the five STL "Thing Files" from here. Print CD-Body.stl: I used supports, no brim, 0% infill, 1mm walls on a Lulzbot Taz5 with red PLA. Print CD-Catch-Tray.stl: no supports, no brim, 10% infill, 1mm walls with red PLA. Print CD-Spindle.stl: I used supports, no brim, 10% infill, 1mm walls with black PLA. Print CD-Spindle-Cap-v2.stl: I used supports, no brim, 10% infill, 1mm walls with black PLA. Print CD-Servo-Bracket.stl: I wanted the bracket stiffer, so I used 15% infill, supports, no brim, 1mm walls with black PLA. Post-Printing Assemble LittleBits Circuit Assemble the LittleBits circuit as in the photo below. Any time the circuit receives a signal through the cloudBit, the servo is activated. The servo is attached to the CD-Spindle-Cap. When the servo turns, a few treats drop out of the container and into the tray. You can adjust the spindle hole accordingly depending on how many treats should be dispensed each time. You can activate the servo remotely in a couple different ways. You can either use the littleBits button in Cloud Control to send a single pulse to the cloudBit, activating the servo. Or, you could use an IFTTT channel, like Date & Time to automate the feeding at times you set, or trigger IFTTT using voice command via an Amazon Echo (details below). Integrate Amazon Echo with CloudBit via IFTTT Create an IFTTT account (free) at ifttt.com Add the Alexa channel. Add the CloudBit channel. Create a new IFTTT rule as shown in the screenshot below.