I'm Joseph and here's my team.
We solve annoying problems.
WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?
I'm Alyssa, I'm 11
and I live in beautiful, sunny Wellington...
This is my dog Bella, she is very naughty.
Look at the camera, on the other side.
And this is my cat Pussy Dog, she's very nice.
So what's my problem Joseph? This thing is.
My cat is 15 years old
and I couldn't find a way to stop this fat dog
from eating all her food.
Bella, no!
Help me Joseph. You're my only hope.
Copy that, Alyssa. May the force be with us.
Oh God. Sorry, Adam.
Let's make a machine
to feed Alyssa's cat while she walks her dog.
It will start with a mobile on vibrate mode.
There are already many automatic cat feeders
but they use dry food.
We're gonna do better
by using wet food, which is great
for keeping Pussy Dog hydrated.
Pussy Dog can't be with us, so we're gonna use a stunt cat
my friend's cat Bernie.
We're seeking a way to open the can
so I've set up this pulley and put the can on a vise.
Hopefully it won't wipe but just yank the lid off.
3, 2, 1...
It worked amazingly.
I didn't expect that.
How awesome.
I thought about this.
The can has to be held so tightly when you yank the lid off
and I don't know how to get it out of the fridge and in that position.
It's gonna be way easier if we use a pre-opened can
with a rubber lid seal that can just be pulled off.
You want to make sure that this is at 8 degrees.
8 degrees, now.
It works.
The can rolls out of the fridge and needs to get over this gap.
We've got a little bridge.
You can't leave the fridge door open so our machine will also close it.
This lock pulls on a rope and pulls the door shut.
But I have a slight issue
this track is in the way of the door closure.
I'm adding a rubber band
to snap it right back after the can rolls over.
Let's try it.
Perfect.
The can rolls out of the fridge
then we need to trigger the lock, which is up here
so the machine has to go up.
So I had this cool idea.
We use some fabric and a very light ball.
That goes in there.
And it should pop up.
Like that.
It just needs to go a little bit higher.
Alyssa says another thing in her video.
...and I live in beautiful, sunny Wellington...
Alyssa lives near a conservation area of New Zealand native birds.
I love birds but unfortunately, cats love them too.
To stop a cat from catching birds, you can put a bell on him
but it would only work 41% of the time.
Let's make a machine that works 100% of the time.
We'll train Bernie to not chase birds for fear of punishment.
This might seem cruel, but it's necessary to save birds.
This is Bernie, our stunt cat.
He'll only give us one chance
so we need to test the machine with something his weight.
So we're gonna weigh him.
Come on honey, go on the scale.
Nice.
His hair and paws are covering the scale.
4, point...
HEY!
Oh no, the scale turned off already.
No, no, no.
And with kitchen scale?
I hold the bowl.
Good boy, Bernie.
- YEAH... - Nop.
- Hum, okay. - Good boy.
And this is about 4...
9? No.
- Get a bigger bowl. - Sure.
Good boy...
YEAH...
You like that, don't...
- 5... - 4, 5...
Get your hands off.
It's 4...
Okay.
I've got a good idea.
78, 79...
- 80... - I think it's perfect.
- Wait, let it go. That's it. - Yeah.
- He weighs 80 feijoas. - Woo.
Amazing.
He likes it. Oh no, he doesn't.
Okay. 3, 2, 1...
Perfect.
Let's set up the hidden cameras.
I'm working on a way that Pussy Dog
doesn't have to eat like a barbarian out of a can
but eat like a proper, civilized creature off of a plate.
So to deliver nicely the food from the can to the plate.
It's our first test.
- The cat food launcher. - Yeah.
To throw it out of the tin.
Okay.
Brett made the spatula longer to give us more throw
and get the cat food to hit higher up.
3, 2, 1...
- It's stuck. - Pull hard.
- Sorry, I didn't mean... - It got me.
The cat feeding machine is done and Alyssa has come from Wellington.
- Kia ora, Alyssa. - Hi.
- Tell me more about yourself. - I like doing karate and dance.
You show me?
Okay.
Start again.
I got wrong again.
Okay, enough.
- You want to see it? - Yeah.
Come with me.
Wow.
How am I supposed to feed her with this?
We bought Pussy Dog a phone
so when you call her, she'll be fed.
- How? - I know she couldn't come
because she's old. But we can try it on Bernie.
I put Pussy Dog on your phone.
When you call her, hopefully she's gonna get food.
Okay, that was cool.
So what?
Would you use this machine?
- Oh yeah, I really would. - Yeah?
- It solved your problem? - Yeah.
Sweet. Problem solved.
Adaptation: Junior Agence T2M Université de Bourgogne