PRE2025 1 Group1

Name	Student number	Study	E-mail
Robert Arnhold	1847848	Mechanical Engineering	r.w.arnhold@student.tue.nl
Sietse Bosman	1894013	Applied Physics	s.bosman@student.tue.nl
Octavian Astefanei	1836374	Electrical Engineering	o.astefanei@student.tue.nl
Anne Willems	1631810	Electrical Engineering	a.m.j.e.willems@student.tue.nl
Kerim Gjergjizi	1813420	Electrical Engineering	k.gjergjizi@student.tue.nl
Lucas Spronk	1563564	Computer Science	l.spronk@student.tue.nl

Plan

Concept Introduction

This project aims to design and prototype a smart hamster cage. Hamster cages have long featured similar designs, features and limitations. While a hamster wheel may give the hamster the ability to exercise, a water bottle give it the ability to drink and a food bowl the ability to eat, these are all parts of the hamster cage that are long outdated. In our modern world there is a market gap: a hamster cage that can help care for your hamster, teach you more about it, and let you better interact with your beloved pet. If successful, this proof-of-concept opens the door to an expansion towards larger pet enclosures such as rabbits, guinea pigs, and more.

Objectives

• Provide reliable care for the hamster, even while users are away
• Help users more effectively care for their hamsters
• Other, user-defined objectives that will be found via user research

Users

General Target Audience:

The target audience consist of hamster owners themselves, as well as anyone else involved in caring for the hamster, e.g. owner's family or roommates.

People of various ages own hamsters, but they are mostly "millennials, aged 25-39", who "make up about one in three small-pet owners" (also includes fish, birds and some other animals) [1]. There is a strong correlation with younger aged owners, especially the presence of household members under the age of 12; "approximately 72% of hamster owns are under the age of 44" [2], and "nearly 90% of households with hamsters include children, and 87% of those households have children under 12 years old" [3].

While small-pet owners in the U.S. tend to earn lower incomes than other pet owners [2], they actually spend more on their animals. On average, small-pet households spend about 252 USD/month, compared to 140 USD for dog owners. Spending patterns also vary by demographics: men spend slightly more than women, married owners spend slightly more than singles, and younger owners (18–24) spend the most overall (174USD/month), with pet spending declining gradually with age [4]. The exception to this spending trend is the age group of 14-17 with the lowest average spending of 73USD/month [4]. While there is a general willingness to spend upwards of 100USD on small pets every month, this also highlights the need to keep costs manageable for younger owners with limited budgets.

Finally, owners of small pets are most commonly "urban dwellers, particularly those [living] in apartments or smaller living spaces". They "disproportionately own compact pets due to space constraints" [5], and since hamsters are quite restricted in their spacial requirements compared to other larger animals or animals with special living conditions, hamsters are very popular in this demographic category. The majority of families with children live in suburban single-family homes with more space, however the smart hamster cage should not significantly exceed the dimensions of a regular cage to ensure product suitability for those living in more compact environments such as apartments and student housing.

To conclude, a preliminary target market can be narrowed down to users between 12 and 44 years old, typically either children or their parents, who either care for the hamster themselves or live with family who helps take care of the pet. Users will typically be willing to spend upwards of 73 to 137USD/month, which suggests a further increased price range for a one-time purchase.

Example User Profiles:

Emma, 12 years old (student)

• Recently got her first hamster as a pet.
• Parents want her to learn responsibility but also want to ensure pet safety.
• Would benefit from automated feeding/water alerts and activity data.
• Likes fun graphics showing hamster’s daily life.

Michael, 28 years old (busy professional)

• Works long hours and sometimes travels for a few days.
• Wants peace of mind that his hamster has food/water when away.
• Needs reliable notifications and refill reminders.
• Less interested in visuals, more in core “care assurance” features.

Sofia, 38 years old (parent of two children)

• Sarah has two children, ages 7 and 10.
• Children are responsible for daily care but Sarah supervises to ensure the hamster’s well-being.
• Values tools that make pet care educational and fun.
• Wants quick access to reliable information to monitor the hamster throughout the day.

State-of-the-Art

A low-cost automated apparatus for investigating the effects of social defeat in Syrian hamsters [7]

Relevant points/summary:

The article is about an automated apparatus that can used to investigate the effects of defeat in hamsters. They use low power lasers and laser detectors to keep track of the position of the master. A computer measures three things using the lasers\detectors: average position, frequency of visits to each chamberand the duration of these visits, and the frequency of changes in direction of travel in each chamber. The data collection program they use is MEDPC for windows.

An Open-Source, Automated Home-Cage Sipper Device for Monitoring Liquid Ingestive Behavior in Rodents [8] 

Relevant points/summary:

Common approaches for measuring liquid intake:

-       Computer-tethered lickometers

-       Video based systems

-       Measuring or weighing the liquid

In the article they made a photobeam-based sipper device.

Advantages:

- battery powered (battery life of > 2 weeks)

- fits in vivarium caging

- quantifies the intake of two different liquids simultaneously

-  low cost and easily constructed

- provides data with high temporal resolution (allows for detailed analysis of drinking patterns)

- open source

Disadvantage

-       Animal interactions that are picked up by the sensor are not limited to licks

In the article they use the device to measure the volume of liquid ingested, whether there is a preference for chocolate milk vs water and confirm that the sipper device can be succesfuly integrated with in vivo measurements.

A System for Monitoring Animals Based on Behavioral Information and Internal State Information [6]

     Relevant points/summary:

     In this paper, a monitoring system for animals using video image analysis is used. It  extracts features related to behavorial information and the animal internal state via mask R-CNN. These features are used to detect typical daily activities and anomalous activities. This way it can detected when the hamster behaves in an unusual way. The system also combines a new feature extraction method using deep neural network techology and an anomaly detection method.

The systems consists of 4 parts:

-       Signal measurement: a digital hi-vision video camera

-       Feature extraction: mask R-CNN and color information detection

-       State discrimination: one class SVM

-       Display: PC with an HDMI capture device

To test the system a loud sound was generated and the hamsters reaction was measured.

The discrimination rate of non-daily activities did not have a high level of accuracy. Mainly because the hamster shrank during the daily activities and the direction vector was often inverted because of the noise caused by the hamster’s shadow. The training data also includes infrequent situations in daily activities, which makes it possible that the discriminative boundary was not accurately determined

Design and Development of a Smart Pet Feeder with IoT and Deep Learning [9]

Relevant points/summary:

Automatic pet feeder was developed using internet of things technolgy and deep learning to address feeding challenges. The system makes sure the pet receives the right amount of food, regardless of whether the owner is available. This makes sure the animal stays healthy, because an owners busy schedule can often lead to inconsistent feeding, which can cause malnutrition or obesity. It is also offers pet owners convenience and peace of mind by enabling the feeding process in their absence. 

The system architecture:

-       Weight sensor (Tecneu HX711): determines pets weight and food weight

-       Camera: detects which species

-       Ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04): measures distance to the pet from the feeder.

-       Servo motor: controls dispensing mechanism

-       Arduino (mega 2560): microcontroller that handles all the actuators and sensors.

Areas of improvement that were mentioned:

The system could learn from a pets’ eating patterns and adjust feeding schedules and portion sizes over time and adding other pet identification, since only dogs were used to train this system.

A Novel Automated System Yields Reproducible Temporal Feeding Patterns in Laboratory Rodents [10]

Relevant points/summary:

In this article the aims was to develop and validate a reliable method for supplying crushed diets to laboratory rodents in consistent, relevant feeding patterns for prolonged periods.

They used 2 different feeding patterns:

-nocturnal meal-feeding

-nocturnal grazing

The cumulative food intake for both methods was the same.

PiE: an open-source pipeline for home cage behavioral analysis [11]

Relevant points/summary:

In this article PiE is introduced, an open-source, end-to-end, user configurable, scalable, and inexpensive behavior assay system. It has a custom-built behavior box to hold a home cage, as well as software enabling continuous video recording and individual behavior box environmental control. The PiE system reduces environmental and experimenter disruptions by providing fully remote control and monitoring of home cage behaviors. The system was tested on mice. The sensors and actuators that were used were  a ceiling mounted, downward facing, infrared (IR) video camera (Pi NoIR) to allow both daytime and nighttime video recording, (2) white and IR LEDs to illuminate the behavior box (Note: to match the Pi NoIR camera sensor, 940nm or shorter wavelength IR LEDs are preferred for optimal nighttime illumination), (3) a temperature and humidity sensor, and (4) a circulating fan for climate stability, which were controlled by a raspberry pi. Desktop software, called VideoAnnotate, was used to perform behavioral analysis.

CageView: A Smart Food Control and Monitoring System for Phenotypical Research In Vivo [12]

Relevant points/summary:

The article introduces an automated and smart system (named CageView) used to monitor a mouse, detect motion, and control access to food in accordance with experimental schedules. Cageview accomplishes it food control and activity monitoring via:

1. An actuator for linear displacements of the food access door controlled by a custom-designed interface to set the feeding and fasting schedule;

2. A vision unit with visible and near-infrared cameras and a near mid-infrared LED for day and nighttime monitoring, which forms a video streaming and data transmission system using wireless or wired communication networks; It also uses a a Raspberry Pi single-board computer.

3. A trained convolutional neural network (CNN) that detects the animal position in the image which enables movement measurement.

The feeding mechanism is designed to be mounted on conventional cages used in most research centers and has a sliding mechanism that can enable or disable the animal’s access to food. Activity measurement is done via making an activity heatmap and distance measurement.

The CageView technology has been disclosed in the Maddahi Y. and Maddahi A. Methods and apparatus for monitoring, feeding, and checking animals. United States Patent. US 63/321,368, 2022

Feeding Experimentation Device (FED): Construction and Validation of an Open-source Device for Measuring Food Intake in Rodents [13]

Relevant points/summary:

In the article they provide a description of a solution for measuring food intake by mice,  FED. FED is an open-source system that was designed to facilitate flexibility in food intake studies. It is compact and battery powered so it can fit in standard home cages.  The mice are fed using food pellets. When a mouse removes a pellet, a photointerrupter sensor sends a signal to the microcontroller and the time-stamp is logged on the onboard secure digital (SD) card. A new pellet is dispensed via the motor. The feeding can be limited to specific times of the day. The limitations of the FED:

-       SD card can be a cumbersome means to track and store data from many FEDs

-       Pellet jams could occur

-       Users should never leave mice with FED as their only food source without checking FED's functionality daily

A single FED can be assembled for approximately $350.

An open source automatic feeder for animal experiments [14]

Relevant points/summary:

In the article they describe an open source experimental feeder using an Arduino microcontroller. This feeder can be used for most sizes of dry food pellets with the potential modification of a single component;  They also describe the buidling procedure of the feeder. They tested it on pigeons, monkeys and cats. The cost for building this feeder is less than 200 euros.

The Promise of Automated Home-Cage Monitoring in Improving Translational Utility of Psychiatric Research in Rodents [15]

Relevant points/summary:

In the article they describe three of the most commonly used approaches for automated home cage monitoring in rodents and review several commercially available systems that integrate the different approaches. Automated home-cage monitoring records rodent behavior in their home cage over extended periods using minimal human contact.

Approaches:

-       Operant wall systems: detect nose pokes using an infrared beam and deliver food pellets or liquid in response to learned behaviors. Behaviors are directed by light or tone cues controlled by the operant wall.

-       computerized visual systems: CVS monitor behavior at high temporal resolution over extended periods including the dark and light phases of the circadian cycle, and trainable software are publicly available. The trainable nature of CVS allows for extensive flexibility in terms of the behavioral phenotypes it monitors. Limitations of the CVS include the requirement for adequate contrast between the rodent and its background and the need for most systems to house animals individually

-       Automatic motion sensors: use motion sensors to assess locomotor activity.  AMS generate data about distance traveled, velocity, and time spent at specific locations within the cage. They are unobtrusive and are not affected by lighting conditions, allowing for reliable data collection during the dark cycle on locomotor activity and sleep behavior

LocoBox: Modular Hardware and Open-Source Software for Circadian Entrainment and Behavioral Monitoring in Home Cages [16]

This article introduces LocoBox, an affordable, open-source system combining hardware and software to control light–dark cycles and monitor locomotor activity in home cages—ideal for circadian rhythm research. LocoBox empowers circadian researchers with a flexible, scalable, and budget-friendly tool. It allows for custom entrainment experiments and long-term behavioral monitoring—all using open-source solutions that can be easily adopted or adapted.

Key Features

• Hardware: Each LocoBox is a light-sealed Plexiglas enclosure equipped with:
  • An LED (with heat sink and diffuser) for programmable lighting
  • A passive infrared (PIR) sensor for detecting animal movement
  • A silent ventilation fan and real-time clock (RTC)
  • Managed by an Arduino Mega 2560 and daisy-chained power design for easy scalability.
• Software:
  • Arduino-based firmware ensures accurate timing and control of light phases.
  • Python GUI (using Tkinter and pySerial) allows users to define up to 12 sequential lighting “phases”, including flexible T-cycles (non-24-hour cycles), simulate jet lag, seasonal variations, etc. — and replicate schedules across up to five boxes per controller.
• Data Logging & Visualization:
  • Activity and light state are logged every minute in TSV format.
  • Built-in tools enable generation of double-plot actograms and spectral heatmaps to visualize power spectral density and phase angles over time.
• Accessibility & Scalability:
  • Replicable with common, low-cost components (~USD 100–150 per box).
  • Entire system (hardware blueprints, Arduino and Python code) is freely available on GitHub.
  • Suitable for long-term and parallel experiments, democratizing circadian research even in resource-limited labs.

Automated Home Cage Monitoring of an Aging Colony of Mice—Implications for Welfare Monitoring and Experimentation [17]

Overview

This study leverages Home Cage Monitoring (HCM) using a Digitally Ventilated Cage (DVC) system to track activity patterns and rest disturbance indices (RDI) in an aging colony of male and female C57BL/6 mice, offering insights relevant to both welfare and experimental design Frontiers. This research demonstrates the value of high-resolution, long-term automated monitoring of mice. It reveals dynamic changes in activity and rest behavior with age, responses to cage handling, and capability to flag welfare-related behaviors—underscoring HCM’s promise for humane, data-rich research.

Generally not that interesting on the hardware side, as it is too different from what we want to use. Instead this article can be used for reference for psychological and behavioural data collection and processing.

Methods

• Mice were housed in DVC systems and monitored longitudinally up to 18 months of age.
• Used statistical models (linear mixed models) to assess habituation, aging, and effects of cage changes.
• Stereotypic behaviors were identified through visual inspection of activity spikes Frontiers.

Key Findings

• Upon arrival, mice showed high activity and RDI during the light phase and reduced activity during the dark phase, normalizing to typical circadian behavior after several days.
• Age-related changes: Activity decreased from 5 to 14 months, then rebounded toward baseline levels.
• Stereotypy detection: Cages flagged for stereotypic behavior exhibited sustained activity spikes, especially pronounced during the dark phase.
• Cage changes caused increased activity and RDI during the light phase, but did not significantly affect the dark phase—this pattern was consistent over time across ages Frontiers.

Implications

The findings:

• Illustrate how HCM can detect distinct behavioral changes across aging stages.
• Highlight the potential of automated monitoring systems like DVC to detect early welfare concerns (e.g. stereotypic behavior).
• Support the use of HCM for improving experimental rigor and animal welfare in long-term studies Frontiers.

Rodent Behavioral Assessment in the Home Cage Using the SmartCage System [18]

This system termed SmartCage measures rodents’ behavior in their home cages as a significant endpoint. The SmartCage system consists of multiple instrument platforms that interface with ordinary rodent home cages. Each SmartCage is comprised of multiple sensors including a floor-vibration sensor, an infrared (IR) matrix and flexible modular devices. This system is noninvasive and allows the animal to be tested in its home cage that has bedding, food, and water, making it appropriate to monitor animals for days or weeks. The automated measurements include wake and sleep/inactive states. The active parameters include locomotion, rearing, and animal movement patterns, for example, rotations (cycling).

A System for Monitoring Animals Based on Behavioral Information and Internal State Information [19]

In the current study, a system is proposed that discriminates the state of an animal by combining two types of features: behavioral information, which determines the kind of movement performed by the animal, and internal information, which reflects the animal’s internal state. The proposed system measures biological information from camera images and extracts features to discriminate states using machine learning. In addition, a neural network was used to increase the accuracy of detecting the target, and an anomaly detection method was used to perform discrimination. In the experiments performed, video images were prepared that contain routine behaviors and generated a model that can detect non-routine behaviors using the proposed system. We also prepared video images including non-routine behavior in which the hamster was stimulated by clapping to generate an abnormal sound. In the video, the behavior changed significantly before and after the stimulus presentation, and the extracted feature values also changed according to the behavior. As a result of detection, the system discriminated the behavior as non-routine behavior after the stimulation. In conclusion, the results supported the possibility of using a pet monitoring system to immediately inform the owner when the animal is under load.

The Promise of Automated Home-Cage Monitoring in Improving Translational Utility of Psychiatric Research in Rodents [20]

Type & Scope: Mini-review highlighting the potential of automated home-cage monitoring (AHCM) for psychiatric research.

Key Points:

• Problem addressed: Traditional behavioral tests for psychiatric phenotypes often rely on brief sessions (<10 min), are sensitive to environmental and experimenter-related factors, and yield poor reproducibility and translational reliability.
• Solution proposed: AHCM enables continuous, minimally intrusive monitoring within the home cage, generating large datasets that span circadian and estrous cycles, reduce human influence, and increase sensitivity to behavioral changes.
• Approaches reviewed:
  • Operant Wall Systems (OWS) – Sensors for nose pokes that deliver rewards; suitable for tasks such as timing and working memory.
  • Computerized Visual Systems (CVS) – Video-based tracking for locomotion and exploration.
  • Automatic Motion Sensors (AMS) – Infrared or motion detection to capture activity levels.
• Commercial platforms such as IntelliCage, PhenoTyper, Actual-HCA, and Chora Feeder integrate these methods for group- or individual-housed rodents.
• Advantages: Better reproducibility, high temporal resolution, social-context cued behavior tracking, and improved translational validity.
• Conclusion: AHCM offers a more robust alternative to brief traditional tests, with recommendations to integrate, validate, and expand use of these systems in pre-clinical psychiatric research.

Comparison of automated home-cage monitoring systems: emphasis on feeding behaviour, activity and spatial learning following pharmacological interventions [21]

Relevant points/summary:

This study assessed the effectiveness of three different observation systems as methods for determining strain and pharmacological induced differences in locomotor activity, feeding behaviour and spatial learning.

The test subjects in this study were mice.

Observation systems that were used:

-       PhenoTyper: utilises video-observation to record movement of individual subjects. In the test they measured the total distance moved in hourly bins following drug treatment and the time spent in the food zone

-       PhenoMaster:  relies on infrared sensors for the detection of horizontal and vertical activity. In the test they measured the food consumption and the total distance moved in hourly bins prior to and for the 12 h following drug treatment. It has weight transducers, for food and water measurement.

-       IntelliCage: does the monitoring and registration of activity of micro-chipped animals via antenna-containing tubes for entry into activity corners. In the test they measured the number of visits to rewarded corner in hourly bins prior to and following drug treatment and the total number of visits to all corners.

The benefit of using different home-cage observation systems is that in addition to assessing exploratory activity by way of different tracking parameters each system has distinctive recording features which could be used to complement one another and facilitate characterization of mice and pharmacological induced changes.

Development of Eight Wireless Automated Cages System with Two Lickometers Each for Rodents [22]

Relevant points/summary: In this article they present a low-cost alternative for a lickometer system that allows wireless data acquisition of licks from eight cages with two sippers each.

They present three development and validation steps:

All prototypes consisted of an Arduino MEGA, used for the analog/digital conversion (A/D converter) of the sensor’s signal, a Secure Digital (SD) card module to store the data, a realtime clock module (DS3231) to precisely time the licks events and a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 16 x 2 to show the number of licks and date/time of occurrence.

Prototypes:

1. light dependent resistor (LDR): was discarded, did not have adequate stability because of environmental luminosity.

2. photo electric: precision was 77.02 6 11.69%

3. capacitive (touch): precision was 91.14 6 5%

The prototypes did not statistically differ, the capacitive prototype was chosen.

-        translation to wireless transmission and validation with emulated signals

 The in silico validation step with simulated licks at extreme and typical rates was proposed. It is important to verify whether other wireless equipment is turned off to avoid loss of information.

-        in vivo validation using mice drinking in two-bottle lickometer cages.

Limitations to system:

- The device does not measure volume

- manufacturing the lickometer and installing the software requires knowledge beyond behavioral neuroscience

My friend MIROSLAV: A hackable open-source hardware and software platform for high-throughput monitoring of rodent activity in the home cage [23]

MIROSLAV (Multicage InfraRed Open-Source Locomotor Activity eValuator) is an Arduino-based tool for continuous, non-invasive monitoring of rodent activity in their home cages.

MIROSLAV's key features include, but are not limited to:

• Easily customized for different environments and experiment needs
• Minimizes data loss and reduces disturbance to animals
• Includes modules for data preparation (Prepare-a-SLAV), cleaning (TidySLAV), exploratory analysis (MIROSine – MIRO The Explorer), and statistical analysis of circadian rhythms (MIROSine – StatistiSLAV).

Applied in a rat model of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, MIROSLAV detected circadian disruptions and altered responses to routine stimuli like bedding changes.

In short, MIROSLAV is a flexible, open-source system designed to aid long-term behavioral and circadian monitoring in rodents, with minimal intrusion, robust data collection, and a complete analysis workflow.

Most preferred light color of female Syrian hamster during day and night [26]

This study evaluated the instinctual light color preferences of 18 adult female Syrian hamsters under controlled conditions.

The experiment exposed hamsters to four different light colors - blue, red, green, and yellow - under identical irradiance during both day and night phases.

The time spent in each light zone was recorded and analyzed using chi-square and mixed model type III analysis. Results showed a significant preference for blue light during the day and red light at night.

These preferences align with the physiological needs of hamsters, confirming that previously established light conditions in laboratory settings inadvertently matched their natural inclinations.

Approach

General Approach

Our approach to developing a smarter hamster cage is guided by three main principles: scientific validity, user-centered design, and technological feasibility. From the beginning, the team decided that the hamster’s welfare had to be the main factor in shaping our technical choices. This required us to draw extensively on literature in animal monitoring and feeding technologies, most of which originated from laboratory rodent studies. For example, automated home-cage monitoring systems have been shown to improve the reproduction and animal welfare by allowing for continuous, minimally intrusive observations of rodents in their natural living environment [15][20]. Similarly, systems such as SmartCage demonstrate the feasibility of integrating multiple sensors to track locomotion, rearing, and even circadian activity rhythms in real time, all while leaving the animals relatively undisturbed in their enclosure [18]. These insights inspired our vision of a cage that actively monitors hamster behavior and health and automates their food consumption, without introducing stress or altering its natural routines.

Equally important is the owner’s perspective. While much of the existing research on automated feeding and monitoring technologies come from laboratory rodent studies [8][13][15]][20], our project acknowledges that the priorities of pet owners might be different. To capture these needs, we plan to conduct interviews and distribute questionnaires among hamster and other rodent owners. This will provide a deeper look into personal concerns of home-owners such as convenience, cost, emotional engagement, and educational value for children. We expect these findings to reshape our design towards features that are most meaningful for households.

Potential Features

The technical features we propose are not isolated add-ons but part of a coherent monitoring and care ecosystem. A central element is an automated feeding system. Inspired by devices such as the Feeding Experimentation Device (FED) [13] and CageView [12], our prototype will employ a microcontroller-driven feeder with integrated weight sensors to dispense precise amounts of food. Unlike laboratory feeders, however, our design should emphasize reliability for everyday pet use and safeguards against malfunctions, since in a domestic context there is no research technician on hand to intervene.

Behavioral monitoring is another cornerstone. Systems based on computer vision and deep learning, such as the one described by Shibanoki et al. [6][19], show the potential of detecting unusual or stress-related behaviors by analyzing posture and activity patterns. While a fully AI-driven vision system may exceed the scope of our prototype, simplified methods such as passive infrared sensors, wheel encoders, or low-light cameras can still generate valuable activity profiles.

Environmental monitoring is the third axis of our approach. Inspired by research on home-cage monitoring of aging mice [17], which showed that changes in activity and rest patterns can flag welfare concerns, we plan to integrate basic climate sensors (temperature and humidity) and ammonia detection. This ensures that cleaning and ventilation are triggered by real welfare indicators rather than arbitrary schedules, aligning with best practices in laboratory husbandry.

Together, these systems form a smart cage concept. The hamster’s physical needs are reliably met, its behavior is continuously tracked, and the owner receives actionable information through an app interface.

Expected Outcomes

By following this staged and evidence-based approach, the project will deliver a prototype that not only demonstrates technological novelty but also addresses concrete welfare concerns in hamster care. Integrating insights from open-source monitoring systems [11][16], smart feeding devices [9][13], and automated welfare detection [6][19][20], we expect our design to serve as a model for future smart pet enclosures.

Planning

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
Course introduction and formation of the team	Research on the selected topic	Interview possible users	Interview possible users	Work on and test the prototype	Work on and test the prototype	Finish the prototype and do final testing	Finish wiki
Brainstorming and deciding the project idea	Create interview questions for possible interested people	Update the wiki page with the data gathered from the interviews	Decide additional characteristics based on the interviews	Research	Research	Work on the presentation and demo	Final presentation and demo
Research on the selected topic	Decide some of the main characteristics of the product	Decide a possible price target for the project and realistic objectives	Start designing the prototype	Update the wiki page	Update the wiki page	Update the wiki page
Research for alternatives and state-of-the-art	Update the wiki page with interview questions	Decide additional characteristics based on the interviews	Decide on possible architectures and components
Update wiki page with planning, users and literature study

Milestones

The team's main milestones are:

• Finish conducting the interviews in order to model out prototype based on the opinion of the possible customers;
• Deciding the list of characteristics that our product have have in order to satisfy as many customers as possible;
• Finishing and testing the working prototype;
• Finishing the presentation, demo and wiki page.

Deliverables

To summarize what the product needs to deliver, it is useful to use a MoSCoW list, which specifies the Musts, Shoulds, Coulds and Wonts of the product. This is done keeping the USE-perspectives (User, Society, Enterprise) in mind. The society aspect will be out of scope in this product, since better pet care will likely not be impactful for the whole of society. There can be argued the societal aspect is the increasing of satisfaction of the users, which will be taken into account in the user-perspective. The User aspect will therefore get a lot of attention, as that is what the product will mostly accommodate. The earlier objectives give a solid framework for the list.

moscow list

What does a hamster cage need:

For the following hamster types: Syrian hamster; Djungarian Hamster; Chinese hamster all Syrian hamsters. A hamster cage has to take it's daily activities and needs into account. This results in the following guidelines to make a cage [27]

• Habits
  • Burrow-digging
  • Nest building
  • Active during low-light
    • In lab also daily
• Sensitivities
  • Seasonal changes: Daylight length should be normal
• Needs
  • Human contact regularly
    • When most active
  • Any housing system for hamsters should satisfy the physiological and ethological needs for (Kuhnen G (2002). Comfortable quarters for hamsters in research institutions. In: A Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals. (Eds. Reinhardt V and Reinhardt A), 9th edition. Animal Welfare Institute.)
    • Resting
    • Nestbuilding
    • Grooming
    • Exploring
    • Climbing
    • Hiding
    • Digging
    • searching for food
    • Hoarding (food hiding)
    • Gnawing (biting to trim their teeth)
  • Latrine area on the opposite side of cage to food
  • Hamster cage size needs by european guidelines to be the following (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:276:0033:0079:EN:PDF)
    • Min. 800 cm², 14 cm high
    • As the hamster needs to be visible, multiple levels aren't likely. They would need to be 250 cm² per level.

For the User

The cage and system should contain certain parts to fulfill its purpose:

• Multiple data-collection units to draw data from.
• A processing part to convert the data into useful information.
• A user interface to convey the information to the user

From the users perspective there are extra options for convenience as well. To name a few relevant ones:

• A camera to view your pet
• A robotic interactive display to convey the pet’s situation
• A method to change settings (food amount, lighting, etc.)
• An app to show the current and past behaviour of the pet
• A comparison from the hamster with other hamsters in similar situations
• Interactive parts in the cage to play with the hamster
• An option to either follow multiple hamsters, calculate the situation for multiple hamsters or both

Don’ts from the users side will either block the standard parts of a cage or will be a lack of relevant features.

Since the user aspect will be researched, more items will need to be added or edited later in the process, for a more complete image of the end project.

For the Enterprise

Finally to look at the Enterprise-perspective, which also has musts, since the project development has limited work and resources. The project must be done with certain constraints in mind:

• An estimated 840 hours of development
• Be created within 7 weeks, during the timespan of the course
• Have a robotic component
• A wiki page containing all development information
• A final presentation

It should have:

• A selling price affordable for the defined user
• User input and feedback into the project
• A working prototype

There are not really coulds relevant for the enterprise.

The cage won’t be:

• Usable for other pets than specified

Target User Interviews and Surveys

User Interviews

Introduction

User interviews are a core part of the design process. They allow engineering teams to understand real user needs, challenges, and expectations, rather than making assumptions based on own experience or theoretical research. By gathering this information early, we can ensure that the smart hamster enclosure is not only functional but also solves real-world problems faced by target users of the hamster cage. The objectives of these interviews can be summarised as follows:

• Identify current limitations of traditional hamster cages
• Determine common user habits, routines and challenges in caring for hamsters
• Understand priorities regarding factors such as convenience, safety, interaction, education and cost
• Gather feedback that will shape design requirements and features of the prototype

Potential users from the following groups will be interviewed:

• Hamster owners
• Small pet researchers
• Veterinarians

Some considerations for the format of the interview questions are listed below:

• Close-ended questions for specific data, such as information on demographics of the participant
• Open-ended questions to allow participants to freely express their opinions
• Leading questions should be avoided to ensure users provide feedback that is based on their own experience
• Standardised questions on demographics of users should be asked at the beginning of the interview to collect consistent and comparable demographic information

Below, the summaries of the interviews have been added. The full transcripts can be seen under Appendix - Interview Transcripts. A list of suggested features, as well as frustrations with current State-of-the-Art has been included for each interview too. These suggestions, as well as the findings of the survey detailed below, will help guide the decision on which user group will be focused on, and consequently also the design of various prototypes. These will then be presented to users of this user group and feedback will be collected on which designs and feature combinations are most useful to the user.

User Consent and Data Anonymity

For the interviews to be allowed by the TU/e without going through the Ethics Review Board (ERB), the are some requirements that we have to adhere to. Most importantly, explicit informed consent needs to be obtained from participants digitally. To adress this, the interviewee will simply be asked verbally if they agree with their answers being audio-recorded, and to be used for scientific purposes only.

The participants will also be informed that all data will be anonymized and stored up to 10 weeks. To anonymize the interviewee, only a audio recording will be made of the interview for it to transcribed later. Audio recordings will be stored in a password-protected digital folder, and be kept there until the end of the course.

Target User Group: Hamster Homeowners

Interview Summaries

Interview 1:

General Notes

• Interviewee: 56-year-old female consultant, ~20–30 hrs work per week.

• Hamster experience: Owned hamsters for ~13–15 years (one in childhood, four with her children). Last hamster was kept until ~1 year ago
• Household: Husband (56), daughter (14), son, interviewee was mainly responsible for hamster care, though children helped with food, water, and cleaning the cage.
• Daily/weekly care:
  • Daily: Check food/water (~10 mins).
  • Weekly/bi-weekly: Clean cage (30+ mins, 2 people).
  • Occasional: Vet visits, nail clipping, health issues.
• Hamster housing:
  • Large cage (~1m x 40–50 cm x 30–40 cm), two levels with ramps, nest area, wheel, plastic houses, transparent tubes.
  • Extra play area (“gym”) with tubes, small cardboard house, toilet rolls.
• Purchasing habits: Higher-end food (natural, no added sugar), recycled bedding, cucumber/apples for fresh food. Cage inherited but considered high quality.
• Interactions: Direct play, training hamster to trust humans, hamster often out on lap/arms or in gym. COVID increased family interaction.
• Health & vet: Typical signs of illness—eyes, fur, movement issues. Mona lived unusually long (4–5 years), needed vet visits, surgery, eye drops.
• Daily challenges: Cleaning cage, hamster’s nocturnal rhythm, hamster chewing plastic parts, risk of hamster escaping during play.
• Travel: For weekends, used food sticks and water. For longer trips, moved hamster and cage to neighbor’s home.
• Preferred notifications:
  • Would like simple notifications, not overload. Interested in:
    • Knowing if hamster is awake/asleep.
    • Cage cleanliness notifications.
    • Reminders for food/water.
    • Remote monitoring (basic data + optional camera).
    • Potential health indicators or wellbeing assessment.
    • Enjoyable “cute” videos.
• Extra notes: Importance of light (dark underground-like nest). Desire for better hamster-owner education. Frustration at discontinuation of dwarf hamsters in the Netherlands.

Requested/Suggested Features

1. Activity Monitoring
   • Awake/asleep status.
   • Tracking movement/habits (e.g., exercise, play).
2. Environment Monitoring
   • Notifications when cage is dirty (toilet status, bedding condition).
   • Light-level control (simulate underground/nest).
   • Temperature monitoring (especially in winter).
3. Care Reminders
   • Food/water refill reminders.
   • Vet/maintenance reminders (e.g., nail clipping).
4. Remote Monitoring/App
   • Basic hamster health/vital signs overview.
   • Camera feed (for enjoyment + reassurance).
   • Short video/photo updates (cute/engagement).
   • Notifications limited to important/relevant info.
5. Cage Design Improvements
   • Easier cleaning system (modular pull-out parts).
   • Larger, multifunctional spaces (toilet, nest, play, wheel, ramps, tubes).
   • Safe materials (avoid chewable plastic).
   • Integrated “gym” or external play area option.
6. Education Support
   • Info for owners about hamster needs (food, daily routines, care).

Challenges/Frustrations Identified

• Cleaning cage is labor-intensive and stressful for hamster.
• Hamster’s nocturnal rhythm complicates care and medication.
• Stress during vet visits and cleaning due to displacement.
• Temperature control during transport (esp. winter).
• Hamster chewing unsuitable materials (plastic).
• Difficulty judging hamster’s happiness/health without clear signs.
• Owners sometimes unsure about when cleaning is really necessary.
• Hamsters are cheap to buy but proper long-term care is costly.

Interview 2:

General Notes

• Interviewee: 14-year-old female student.
• Hamster experience: Owned 4 hamsters at separate times over ~10–11 years. Mother mainly responsible for care, interviewee assisted with feeding, cleaning, and enrichment.
• Household: Lives with parents (both in their 50s). Hamster often kept in interviewee’s room.
• Daily/weekly care:
  • Daily: Refill food (~5 mins), occasional interaction/play (up to 20 mins).
  • Weekly: ~1 hour total including enrichment/play.
  • Bi-weekly: Cage cleaning (~2 hours).

• Hamster Housing:
  • Large two-level cage (~1m x 50cm x 40cm) with ramps, nest, wheel, food/water stations, and transparent tubes.
  • Food: Medium to high-quality grain and vegetable scraps; occasional food sticks for travel.
  • No smart devices used.

• Interactions: Physical handling with mother and some play outside the cage in additional enrichment area.
• Health monitoring: Observes fur condition, movement (limping/leaning), eye health, injuries, and scratching.
• Travel & remote care: Short trips: food stick and water; longer trips: someone checks on hamster. Remote monitoring considered useful if away for extended periods, preferably via camera or app.
• Cage improvements suggested:
  • Dedicated deep-bedding area for burrowing.
  • Easier-to-clean, rust-free bars.
  • Secure bar spacing to prevent escapes.
  • Larger, multifunctional space for comfort and enrichment.

Requested/Suggested Features

1. Activity Monitoring
   • Awake/asleep status.
   • Exercise tracking (distance run, play).
2. Environment Monitoring
   • Temperature inside the cage.
   • Cage condition notifications (bedding, cleanliness).
   • Care Reminders
   • Food and water refill reminders.
   • Remote monitoring/App
   • Notifications in app about monitoring aspects mentioned
   • Camera feed for live view or videos.
3. Cage Design Improvements
   • Modular or easier-to-clean components.
   • Larger, multi-functional spaces.
   • Safe, chew-resistant materials.
   • Designated deep-bedding area for burrowing.

Challenges/Frustrations Identified

• Cage cleaning is time-consuming and delicate due to hamster nests.
• Difficulty in knowing when cleaning is truly necessary.
• Risk of hamster escaping during play.
• Hamster nocturnal activity reduces time for observation.
• Maintaining proper temperature and environment conditions.
• Need for larger and better-designed living spaces.

Interview Questions: Hamster Homeowners

The following questions will be asked specifically to homeowners, i.e. participants who own a hamster themselves. Where relevant, justifications have been added to explain further what information or insights each question hopes to gather.

1. Are you comfortable with this interview being (audio) recorded and used for our project?
2. How old are you?
3. What is your gender?
4. What is your current occupation, if any?
5. Do you currently own a hamster, or have owned one in the past? If so, how many do/did you own?
6. How many people live in your household, and what are their ages?
   • Useful in determining how many people the hamster cage would actually be relevant for, if not just the user. In case multiple people live in the participant's household, their ages are also important to better understand the potential needs of these household members.
7. Who in your household is mainly responsible for the care of the hamster(s)?
8. (If relevant) Do the children in your household help with the care of the hamster? If so, in what capacity?
   • This question is useful because, while the hamster cage itself should obviously be safe to use for children, features may be added to specifically benefit younger users by making interaction with, feeding/watering of, and learning about the hamster more fun and child-friendly.
9. On average, how much time does your household spend caring for your hamster? (daily, weekly, etc.)
   • Helps to understand how seriously the participant and their household care for the hamster, and whether they treat it very closely or whether they prefer a more laid-back approach, allowing the hamster to remain alone while just providing necessities for it.
10. What type of home do you live in? (house, apartment, etc.)
11. Describe your current hamster cage/habitat. (size, materials, shape, interior geometry, etc.)
12. Do you typically purchase lower-end, or higher-end pet products? Why?
13. What daily challenges do you face when caring for your hamster?
14. How do you usually feed your hamster? (automatic feeder, manually add to a bowl, food stick, etc.)
15. How often do you refill food and water for the hamster?
16. What happens when you travel or are away from home for more than a few days?
    • This is an important question in understanding how we can help users support their hamsters while they are away. If the smart hamster cage could replace tedious and costly processes such as giving the hamster to a pet-sitter, this would be a good opportunity to solve this problem for participants.
17. Have you ever forgotten about, or are worried about forgetting to feed/give water to your hamster?
    • This question determines how important it is for the cage to provide notifications or other alert forms to remind users to feed or give their hamster water.
18. What signs do you look for to check if your hamster is healthy, or what are signs that suggest they are unhealthy?
    • Answers to this may not be entirely medically consistent ways to check for hamster health, and may not be entirely complete ways to ensure a healthy hamster. These answers should therefore be interpreted somewhat cautiously, although they might be useful for giving insights into user habits and indicators of hamster health.
19. Would you like to know more about your hamster's daily habits? If so, in what format would you want this information?
20. How often do you clean your hamster's cage? Are there specific challenges during this process?
    • This is also an important question. If the smart cage were able to make the process of cleaning the hamster cage significantly easier or more efficient, this would be a big problem solved for hamster owners.
21. Do you or your household members play or interact with the hamster directly?
    • If the hamster is very frequently interacted or played with, the cage should feature easier access to the hamster, and in general be designed in such a way that playing with the hamster can occur seamlessly. Potentially, this would include a feature to play with the hamster through the cage itself.
22. If you could receive notifications from your hamster cage about hamster-related information, what would be most valuable to you?
    • If the user is unsure, suggestions could be made such as just receiving basic information like food schedule, water bottle gauge level, etc. or more detailed data such as wake/sleep times, weight, etc. These various sensors could then possibly be implemented in the cage prototypes.
23. Do you currently use any "smart" pet devices?
24. How important is it for your to monitor the hamster remotely? How would you want to be able to monitor the hamster? (e.g. just important data, camera feed, etc.)
25. Have you ever had a hamster-related emergency? (e.g. ran out of food, forgot to give water, health issues, etc.)
26. If you could redesign you hamster's current cage to solve your biggest frustrations, what would you change?
    • This very open question will be asked at the end to allow participants to share any additional, or most important changes they'd like to see made to regular hamster cages. Detailed answers to this question may provide very helpful feedback in designing prototypes to find users' needs.

Veterinarian clinics in Eindhoven that are going to be asked for an interview regarding smart hamster cages

1. Dierenkliniek Gestel
2. Meritha's Veterinaire Onderzoeks Laboratorium
3. Home Vet Eindhoven - Dierenarts aan huis
4. DierenDokters Kalmoesplein
5. Dierenziekenhuis Eindhoven - Dierenarts Eindhoven
6. Dierenkliniek Nossek en Verheijden
7. Petcare Veterinarians
8. Animal Health Center

Interview Questions: Veterinarian

Justification:

Although the veterinarian do not represent a target group for our project, they may offer valuable information regarding the behavior of hamsters and their vital signs. Also, they can share information from their customers in order to get more information regarding the behavior of the owners, the main reasons why they bring their hamster to the veterinarian, etc. As professionals, they can give us advice in terms of what the main features should be, what should we do and what should we avoid and if they find this technology useful.

The following interview questions can be asked the veterinarians in order to obtain their opinion as professionals from their experience with hamster owners

1. How many of your clients have hamsters as pets?
2. Do any of your clients own any kind of smart devices or cages in order to better take care of their pets?
3. What mistakes do people generally make when choosing a cage for their hamster?
4. What do you think should be the main characteristics and features of a smart hamster cage?
5. How can technology support proper exercise, stimulation, and sleep cycles?
6. What health metrics would be most useful to track automatically?
7. What signs do you look for to check if your hamster is healthy, or what are signs that suggest they are unhealthy?
8. Do you think continuous monitoring could actually cause stress for hamsters in some cases?
9. What are the most common health problems you see in hamsters that are linked to housing or environment?
10. What red flags should we avoid in design (e.g., noise, light, overheating, hazards from electronics)?
11. Could such technology help reduce unnecessary visits, or would it mostly complement checkups?
12. How do you take hamster ethics into account at the veterinarian clinic?
13. If there were a product that measures the hamsters habits, what kind of information would you want out of that?

Target User Group: Researchers

Next to individual hamster owners, researchers could be interested in a smart hamster cage, since a standardized monitoring cage would make research likely easier and more accessible. Animal testing sometimes uses hamsters, for which a yearly report is written by the Dutch Food- and Consumer Product Safety Authority,. It states a list of all companies and universities in the netherlands with a license for animal testing [25]. Throughout the list of universities, only LUMC keeps hamsters and has a contact information for this research. From the companies, only MSD Animal Health (Boxmeer) was contacted, since other animal testing did not seem to publish research using animal testing, or do not seem to keep hamsters. In both cases, mostly in universities, mice seem to be very popular in this field and have more research on their behavior during testing [source]. When changing directions to mice, this field would yield a significantly larger interest group than hamsters would.

Interview Questions: Researchers

The following questions could be asked to researchers working with hamsters, to reveal their interest in smart hamster devices and overall standpoint on such an idea.

1. Do you agree to this interview and agree that these answers will only be used in the research and creation of this smart cage-project?
2. Do you work with hamsters, and if you do, do you care for them (and how many)?
3. How many researchers or other caretakers care for the hamsters?
4. How high is the importance of the hamsters being kept alive?
5. On average, how much time does the research team spend on caring for the hamsters?
6. What kind of environment are the hamsters kept in?
7. Describe your current hamster cage/habitat. (size, materials, shape, interior geometry, etc.)
8. Do you typically purchase lower-end, or higher-end pet products? Why?
9. What daily challenges do you face when caring for the hamsters?
10. How do you usually feed the hamsters? (automatic feeder, manually add to a bowl, food stick, etc.)
11. How often do you refill food and water for the hamster?
12. What happens when the caretakers are out of office for a few days?
13. Have you ever been afraid of research results being impacted by your general hamster care?
14. What signs do you look for to check if your hamster is healthy, or what are signs that suggest they are unhealthy?
    1. Answers to this may not be entirely medically consistent ways to check for hamster health, and may not be entirely complete ways to ensure a healthy hamster. These answers should therefore be interpreted somewhat cautiously, although they might be useful for giving insights into user habits and indicators of hamster health.
15. How much information do you keep track of when following your hamsters?
16. How often do you clean your hamsters’ cages? Are there specific challenges during this process?
    1. This is also an important question. If the smart cage were able to make the process of cleaning the hamster cage significantly easier or more efficient, this would be a big problem solved for hamster owners.
17. Are the hamsters ever played or interacted with?
18. How do you measure if a hamster is ill or not fit for research?
19. Do you currently use any "smart" pet devices?
20. How interesting would it be for your to monitor the hamster remotely? How would you want to be able to monitor the hamster? (e.g. just important data, camera feed, etc.)
21. Have you ever had a hamster-related emergency? (e.g. ran out of food, forgot to give water, health issues, etc.)
22. If you could redesign you hamster's current cage to solve your biggest frustrations, what would you change?
    1. This very open question will be asked at the end to allow participants to share any additional, or most important changes they'd like to see made to regular hamster cages. Detailed answers to this question may provide very helpful feedback in designing prototypes to find users' needs.
23. How do you take hamster ethics into account at the research center
24. If there were a product that measures the hamsters habits, what kind of information would you want out of that?

User Surveys

Introduction

User surveys will be done via a google forms survey. This will be done because online surveys have a large reach. It also produces more quantative data, which makes it easier to analyze/visualize. The survey will be posted on the forums stated below.

Forums to post survey on:

- Reddit:r/hamster, r/hamsters, r/hamstercare

- Quora

- Www.thehamsterforum.com

- Hamsterclubhouse.com

- Www.paw-talk.net

- Forum.dehamster.nl (dutch site)

User consent and data anonymity

For the surveys to be allowed by the TU/e without going through the Ethics Review Board (ERB), the are some requirements that we have to adhere to. Most importantly, explicit informed consent needs to be obtained from participants digitally. To adress this a small clause is included at the start of the survey that participants need to click in order to continue. This ensures all submitted surveys are done by consenting adults who are fine with their answers being used for scientific purposes only.

The participants will also be informed that all data will be anonymized and stored up to 10 weeks (or until the end of the course). The anonymization is already built-in with Google Forms, as long as no identifiably information is asked in the questions.

Survey Questions:

The following questions will be asked in the survey. They are focused on current owners of hamster(s):

0. By starting this survey you consent to your answers being used solely for research purposes. All data will be anonymized and stored up to 10 weeks. (Needs to be answered with "Yes" or "I consent")

1. How old are you?

2. For how long have you been an hamster owner?

3. Which gender are you?

4. What is your occupation?

5. What type of hamster do you own?

6. How many hamsters do you own?

7. How often do you interact with your hamster?

8. Would you find it unethical to have your hamster monitored by a camera?

9. Has your hamster had any health issues?(if so, please state which)

10. Which food do you give your hamster?

11. How often do you feed your hamster?

12. How often do you refill the water?

13. What size is your hamster cage?

14. What type of cage do you own? (Options: Wired, glass tank, plastic, other)

15. How often do you clean the cage?

16. What are struggles you encounter as an hamster owner?

17. How do you deal with these struggles?

18. What products or services would you like to exist to make taking care of your hamster easier?

19. Do you own any gadgets that automate part of the taking care process? (for example an automated feeder)

20. If you could redesign your hamster cage what would it look like?

21. if you were to receive data from your hamster cage about your hamster. Via what kind of user interface would you like to receive this?

Survey Results

- Open questions (I.e. limitations to current setup, common problems in day-to-day care, features you would not want and why, and any additional comments or ideas for a smart hamster cage):

From the answers to the open survey question an affinity diagram was made to process the response data. This diagram can be seen in the figure below.

affinity diagram of survey results

- interest in smart features:

1. Automatic feeder with portion control: As can be seen in the survey responses, in the figure below, a majority of the survey responses are strongly against automatic feeders. Reasons that were given for not wanting automatic feeding are the lack of scatter feeding, less human interaction with the hamster and that regular feeding times give the hamster routine.

   

   Automatic feeder with portion control survey result

2. App notifications for water/food low: as can be seen in the figure below the responses on the need for app notifications regarding food/water are divided. Criteria on this smart feature was that it could cause over reliance of owners and, that the water would need to be changed every day either way and the hamster does not drink much.

   

   App notifications for water/food low survey results

3. Activity tracking (wheel distance, movement): As can be seen in the survey responses, in the figure below, a majority of the survey responses are in favor of activity tracking. One current activity tracking issues that was given is that one responders current camera does not pick up wheel movements. One criteria that was given on this feature is that it would be better to check the hamster visually so it does not get neglected.

   

   Activity tracking (wheel distance, movement) survey results

4. Temperature & humidity alerts: as can be seen in the figure below the responses on the need for app notifications regarding temperature are divided. However, no issues/criteria about this feature were stated in the responses to the survey.

   

   temperature & humidity alerts survey results

5. Camera for live monitoring: As can be seen in the survey responses, in the figure below, a majority of the survey responses are in favor of activity tracking, there are also no responses against this feature. Some current activity tracking issues that were given can be found in the affinity diagram figure under monitoring issues.

   

   Camera for live monitoring survey results 

6. Air-quality/ammonia sensor to suggest cleaning: as can be seen in the figure below the responses on the need for an air-quality/ ammonia sensor to suggest cleaning are divided. However, no issues/criteria about this feature were stated in the responses to the survey.

   

   Air-quality/ammonia sensor to suggest cleaning survey results

User info:

1. age range:

   

   age range survey results

2. country/region:

   

   country/region survey results

3. household type:

   

   household type survey results

4. approximate household income range:
   

   

   Approximate household income range survey results

hamster experience:

1. How many hamsters do you currently own?:

   

   How many hamsters do you currently own? survey results

2. How long have you kept hamsters?:

   

   How long have you kept hamsters? survey results

3. Species/breed of hamster(s):

   

   Species/breed of hamster(s) survey results

current products and pain points:

1. current products: The items that were responded under other were the bucatstate 3.0(2x) and a custom made wooden enclosure with glass front(1x). Issues that people had with their current cages can be found in the affinity diagram under cage issues.

   

   Which of these items do you currently use? survey results

2. How do you currently monitor your hamster’s health or activity?:  The methods that were responded under other were feeling for lumps(2x), cameras(2x) and holding and watching the hamster.

   

   How do you currently monitor your hamster’s health or activity? survey results

price range:

1. Would you be willing to pay more for a cage that includes these smart features?:

   

   Would you be willing to pay more for a cage that includes these smart features? survey results

2.  Price range you would be willing to spend, in Euro/Dollar:

   

   Price range you would be willing to spend, in Euro/Dollar survey results

Design Prototypes

Introduction

Having completed interviews, as well as surveys, with multiple potential users from two different user groups, the data collected can now be used to help guide the designs of prototypes for the chosen user group, which is discussed in more detail below. Requested features, along with reoccurring challenges faced by users will be taken into account, while maintaining an appropriate price range and adhering to designs that can be used in a wide range of hamster enclosures, as many differ in their size, shape, and interior features. A more detailed MoSCoW list has been included below, which will later be used to evaluate the design prototypes along with feedback from users. This will be done via a Pugh matrix, which is a matrix comprising a list of requirements, preferences and contraints for a design, along with a weighting based on their importance. Each design then receives a final score, with which an objective conclusion can be drawn on which design is most relevant for the user.

Chosen User Group: Hamster Homeowners

(Justification and discussion on what this means for the focus of the final product.)

Prototype 1:

General features:

• Measure the water and food quantity;
• Measure the weight of the hamster with a weight sensor near the water bowl;
• Measure the temperature, humidity and air quality around the cage;
• Monitor the hamster using the camera.

Building characteristics:

• In order to measure the amount of water and food remaining, we can measure the weight by attaching a scale in a metal casing to the bottom of the bowls;
• To avoid cables that can be damaged, sensors could send the information to the Arduino using eps32s;
• Case of the camera can have hooks for metal hamster cage or suction cups for Plexiglas or glass cases; the case can contain the camera and the main Arduino, while the sensors and the scales can send the information either using cables, or using wifi or bluetooth via eps32.
  

Smart features:

• Water and feeding reminders;
• Tracking behavior of hamster;
• Tracking the amount of food and water left in the bowls;
• Tracking hamster weight over time and compare it with normal weight of similar hamsters;
• The owner will receive notifications if the quantity of the food or water is low;
• The owner will receive notifications if the air quality / temperature / humidity is poor;
• The owner will receive notifications if the amount of activity of the hamster is poor;

Bill of materials:

Item	Quantity	Price [€]	Source
Raspberry Pi/ Arduino Mega	1	60	https://www.tinytronics.nl/en/development-boards/single-board-computers/raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb
Scale	3	30	https://www.amazon.nl/-/en/Digital-Portable-Electronic-Sensors-gemodule/dp/B07F6WZ4H9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21QPRFXNPBI9J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LJGcpA7hoJRU2ku0QSu2sexOAjbdy2wFu4ovae3KE2IakwuXQU-ladhOCbK9G7oJoaBFvCuHXyhlMPlWCUq_1yNN8PQPeL5fAgzsrtvM1UkwHVC4Mj2nfXqDw3gAnpbC-s1pQrsWcJPDvkdUol7mkBkDgfH5m7UL2iaEaVrQtnlFYc1CCfq3C1UjUC93O_WhhunLbGeQIR8Do9bc3iqbk5pjWq_rtlQqSMPYC9HagGvCbKLEPj5C3YGnfIEtCvtD9wVPoNLU4qyH3t3MAyV1Fw_-HLKi4cCWM0Fq9ggvjR4.hpFM2ifyNi9npahCSIQa53GR55DkUGCYrM_ZSKrz-H8&dib_tag=se&keywords=arduino+scale&qid=1759127073&sprefix=arduino+scale%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1
Camera	1	18	https://www.amazon.nl/-/en/Logitech-Widescreen-Correction-Noise-Reducing-FaceTime/dp/B01BGBJ8Y0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2JOUQK94UGZV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.16dohCqDdhZS-8g-GUzFS8qG9xM9OGTwCFbKf7Kr8cltkOEIWaOD2uN5927FVe8lnBsFlNBKCeiA9E7KlGOpoS-kJ_ccboU2PlVSDQgs9sJi4TEwZv1LOswAj69_Cv_W1bEEKcXduhB-q0pE7f5TwduQcmwuthJrMGWRlcggtjgMi81P7u5vfOEbsDsIx8U77R94293x7egg-h7UDwTH6duwVAxCJQEwRq8Gw4b2vtfNFB9dLtOSAUvscp-1wnRYZNyuD5KjpCol3gP1Xad4XkcmyG2VK1zb0Bv01FMfYcQ.hTxJIiP6gP-Ri_vXjSe40uta6394gbv0TpByGX5oTIw&dib_tag=se&keywords=webcam&qid=1759127105&sprefix=webcam%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1&th=1
Case	1	30	3D printed / other form of manufacture
Air quality, temperature and humidity sensor	1	10	https://www.tinytronics.nl/en/sensors/air/pressure/bme680-sensor-module-with-level-converter-air-pressure-air-quality-humidity-temperature
Total		148

Prototype 2

design prototype 2

General features:

- a single board computer (e.g. raspberry pi 4 model b) will be used to process all the data from the sensors.

- a weighing sensor consisting of a load cell, an amplifier (e.g. Hx711), with some sort of casing around it to ensure the hamster cant chew, it will be used to keep track of the hamsters weight. This will be placed at the spot where the drinking bottle/ feeder of the hamster is put, because that is a spot were the hamster will be stationary for a longer time. A micro controller (e.g. esp 32) will be used to communicate the data to the single board computer via a communication protocol (e.g. wifi).

- an ammonia sensor (e.g. MQ137) will be added to sense, whether the ammonia level is above a certain threshold, to indicate whether the cage needs needs to be cleaned.

- a temperature sensor (e.g. DS18B20) will be added to keep track of the temperature in the cage.

- a camera will be added to monitor the hamster.

- a hamster wheel is added, because the hamster will need some activity to engage in for the activity to be tracked.

Smart features:

- The app will give notification at regular times, to remind the owner to give food/ refill water. the user can indicate themselves at which times they want this reminder.

- Via the app the owner is able to view the hamster.

- The owner will be notified once the ammonia sensor reaches the threshold, thus that the cage needs to be cleaned.

- The owner will be notified once the temperature sensor reaches the threshold, thus that the cage is too cold/warm.

- The app will track the hamsters activity.

- Via the app the owner can track the hamsters weight.

Design choices:

- The cage itself is a glass cage, such that it doesn't promote climbing behavior from the hamster.

- The camera is stationed in center front at the top of the cage to have the best range of view for the hamster. It will be diagonally pointed to the lower back of the cage. This is done with the assumption that most hamster cage gadget (e.g. hamster wheel, hamster house/hideout, etc.) will be placed more to the back of the cage, such that the hamster cant hide behind them, blocking the view of the camera.

- As can be seen in the image of the design the ammonia sensor the temperature sensor and the camera are attached to the top of the cage on the front size, this is done to make sure the hamster cant reach these parts and chew on them. These parts will either be attached via hooks or suction cups. Most glass cages have some sort of raster at the top of the cage to accommodate fresh air and that is where the hooks can be attached, suction cups will be attached to the glass.

-The cage will be larger than 120 cm by 60cm to ensure the hamster has enough living space.

- The sensors (except weight) will be attached to the single board via wires.

- A normal camera is used in this protype design, but depending on the availability this could be an infrared camera, to also include night vision.

Bill of Materials

item	quantity	price
glass cage	1	60
load cell and amplifier, microcontroller and casing (e.g. hx711)	1	30
camera	1	15
ammonia sensor (e.g. MQ137)	1	18
temperature sensor (e.g. DS18B20)	1	5
hooks/suction cups	6	2
single board computer (e.g. raspberry pi 4 model b)	1	65
hamster wheel	1	15
total:		210

Prototype 3

Isometric and Top View of Prototype 3

Design Description:

The design shown above is a small platform of outer dimensions of approximately 150x150mm with an adjustable height. At the base of the platform, there are two small steps leading up to a ceramic food bowl (volume is about 12cm^2) which is removable and is refilled manually. It sits in a small slot in the base which helps prevent it from moving or tipping over. A termometer, humidity sensor, and light sensor, as well as an infrared-capable camera are enclosed in the top casing, the height of which can be manually adjusted along the back rail. In the top casing, an infrared LED is also mounted, which helps illuminate the cage at night (IR is invisible to the hamster and thus does not affect its sleep cycle or wellbeing. The feed from the camera, as well as the sensor data, is collected by a Raspberry Pi 3, which sits in the base of the prototype along with any additional electronics such as step-down converters to help power the sensors and camera. This data is sent via WiFi connection to a mobile app, from which users can then access remotely to check in on their hamster.

Features List:

• Removable food bowl for manual feeding
• Wide base to ensure stable structure
• Live-feed camera
  • Recordings from previous night can be stored and replayed
  • Live feed can be watched from anywhere
  • Infrared capability allows for observing even in low-light conditions
  • Supported by an IR LED which improves night-time visibility
  • Adjustable camera height for optimal positioning for each user
• Sensor array
  • Termometer
  • Light sensor
  • Humidity sensor
• Sensor and camera data is processed and transmitted via an embedded Raspberry Pi for high-quality, reliable video feed and sensor data

Possible Improvements:

• Second camera at the bottom of the back rail to get close-ups of the hamster eating/better view of ground level
• Steps leading up to food bowl can be equipped with a small scale which weighs the hamster whever it eats to track weight
• Product can come with optional suction cups or other fasteners to ensure stability
• Option for automated feeding via mechanism in base

Appendix

Task Division

Name	Study	Task Focus
Robert Arnhold	Mechanical Engineering	Mechanical design and prototyping
Sietse Bosman	Applied Physics	Simulation & modeling of parts and prototype
Octavian Astefanei	Electrical Engineering	Electrical design and assembly of electrical parts/features
Anne Willems	Electrical Engineering	Electrical design and assembly of electrical parts/features
Kerim Gjergjizi	Electrical Engineering	Electrical design and assembly of electrical parts/features
Lucas Spronk	Computer Science	Programming of digital part systems, companion software

Weekly Tasks

Week 1

Name	Total Time Spent [hours]	Task Breakdown
Robert Arnhold	7	Three weekly meetings (1h each), Plan sections (4h, Concept Introduction, Objectives, Users)
Sietse Bosman	5	Two weekly meetings (1h each), Deliverables (3h)
Octavian Astefanei	7	Three weekly meetings (1h each), Planning, Milestones (2h), Research on existing technology (2h)
Anne Willems	14	Two weekly meetings (1h each), part of SoTa (12h, read and summarized articles: [6],[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15],[23],[24])
Kerim Gjergjizi	6	One weekly meetings (1h), Approach (2h), Research and Finding potential features (3h)
Lucas Spronk	9	Three weekly meetings (1h each), other part of SotA (8h)

Week 2

Name	Total Time Spent [hours]	Task Breakdown
Robert Arnhold	7	Three weekly meetings (1h each), writing interview questions (3h), contacting potential interview participants (2h)
Sietse Bosman	6	Three weekly meetings (1h each), Research and contacting animal testing facilities (3h)
Octavian Astefanei	7	Three weekly meetings (1h each), Research for veterinarian clinics (1h), Writing interview questions (2h), Contacting veterinarian clinics (1h)
Anne Willems	6	Three weekly meetings (1h each), writing survey questions and looking for forums to post survey on (3h)
Kerim Gjergjizi	5	Two weekly meetings (1h each), Survey Questions and Making the Survey (3h)
Lucas Spronk	5	Three weekly meetings (1h each), research for ethical approval and implementation into survey/interview (2h)

Week 3

Name	Total Time Spent [hours]	Task Breakdown
Robert Arnhold	8	Two weekly meetings (1h each), conducting interviews with hamster owners (1.5h each), transcribing recordings (2h each)
Sietse Bosman	5	Two weekly meetings (1h each), planned hamster interview with LUMC and finalized questions (3h)
Octavian Astefanei	5	Two weekly meetings (1h each), contacting vets (3h)
Anne Willems	6	Two weekly meetings (1h each), looking into data processing methods(1h), assessing survey results and making affinity diagram (3h)
Kerim Gjergjizi
Lucas Spronk	5	Two weekly meetings (1h each), research usable electrical components (2h), research health indicators, monitoring, etc. (1h)

Week 4

Name	Total Time Spent [hours]	Task Breakdown
Robert Arnhold	11	Two weekly meetings (1h each), summarising interviews, collecting useful features and exploring challenges (2h each), designing prototype (1h), creating CAD model (3h) and writing description and features list (1h), editing the Wiki page (1h)
Sietse Bosman	9	Two weekly meetings (1h each), held interview (1h), finalized transcript (3h), researched hamster cage deliverables (3h)
Octavian Astefanei	9	Two weekly meetings (1h each), designing prototype (3h), making drawings (0.5h), research parts (1.5h), research ways of implementing the prototype / code / similar projects (2h)
Anne Willems	8	Two weekly meetings (1h each), adding survey results to wiki (2,5h), moscow list(0,5 h), designing prototype(3h)
Kerim Gjergjizi
Lucas Spronk	9	Two weekly meetings (1h each), designing prototype (1h), starting on app development (6h)

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Interview Transcripts

Hamster Homeowners: Interview 1 -

Speaker 1 (00:12)

Welcome, this is the first hamster homeowner interviews, as part of research into target user groups. So a bit of background on the project, it's for a course called Robots Everywhere where we're designing a robotic, digital system, where we have chosen to focus on a smart pet enclosure for hamsters. I will be asking you a few questions regarding your experience owning hamsters, as well as details about the hamster enclosure that you currently have and improvements you would suggest.

Speaker 2 (02:18)

Okay, very good.

Speaker 1 (02:20)

As a measure simply for the record, could you confirm that you consent to the interview being recorded and the data gained from the interview to be used in this project to guide design choices and further research?

Speaker 2 (02:47)

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (02:59)

Okay.

Speaker 1 (03:04)

Great, then we can start with some standard introductory questions. This is to categorize the user data that we get in terms of user demographic. Uh, so firstly, how old are you?

Speaker 2 (03:23)

I'm 56 and I had a hamster as a child.

Speaker 1 (03:28)

We'll get to that in more detail in a bit. Gender, female. Current occupation?

Speaker 2 (03:37)

I'm a consultant.

Speaker 1 (03:41)

And how many hours a week would you say that you work on average?

Speaker 2 (03:47)

On average I would say 20 to 30 hours.

Speaker 1 (03:53)

Okay, let's begin. How often do you, or did you, interact with your hamster, or a hamsters.

Speaker 2 (04:05)

Okay. So, it depends on what you mean by interaction. Sometimes it sleeps all day, but there are still things to do so I might access the enclosure to do certain things, such as refill food or water, so I would do some things normally every day and others only every week or more.

Speaker 1 (04:29)

You would do these various tasks once a day?

Speaker 2 (04:40)

Once a day or twice a day.

Speaker 1 (04:45)

And how long have you had hamsters? In total.

Speaker 2 (04:51)

In total I would say, I had one for about 3 years as a child, and then when my children came of age to also get hamsters we had some for 10 years, so I would say 13, maybe up to 15 years.

Speaker 1 (05:16)

How many did you own?

Speaker 2 (05:02)

I owned one in my childhood, and my two children have owned four between them, two of them we got while they both lived at home.

Speaker 1 (05:34)

And this is one at a time at any given moment I assume?

Speaker 2 (05:39)

Yes, a hamster should live alone. It's not good to have 2 hamsters in the same enclosure, at one time, so always 1 hamster, as a child also.

Speaker 1 (06:02)

How many people live in your household and what are their ages?

Speaker 2 (06:07)

There are three now that my oldest child has moved out, who lived here at the time we had hamsters, so four at that time. Apart from him, it's my husband and me, we are both 56 years old, and our daughter [-], she is 14 years old.

Speaker 1 (06:31)

Okay, who in your household is mainly responsible for the care of the hamster?

Speaker 2 (06:38)

In fact, it's me, though the hamsters belonged to the children.

Speaker 1 (06:46)

Do the children your household help with the care of the hamster? And if so, in what capacity?

Speaker 2 (06:54)

Well they did, so I would say things like, [-] did your already feed the hamster, if not, would you give the hamster some food, and also I insisted that we clean up the hamster enclosure together. What I mean by responsibility is mainly that I have the ultimate responsibility for the wellbeing of the hamster, so the kids they did stuff but occasionally there was a reminder, or usually there was a reminder from me.

Speaker 1 (07:28)

Okay, on average how much time would you see the household spends caring for the hamster? So I'd say in a given day or week.

Speaker 2 (07:43)

Okay, there are daily tasks and there are monthly tasks and there are exceptional things. So daily task is you check on the food and the water and you usually give a little bit of food, not too much, and water usually you don’t need to change it every day, but usually you'll take a look and you decide there is a need for action (i.e. to refill or change the water), so this is what you do every day. And then once per week or every 10 days maybe, you'll need to clean the hamster enclosure and then other things concern less common things like going to the vet. So there might be simple stuff, for example, that there are problems with the claws of the hamster and the hamster needs a nail cut, which you occasionally do yourself, but maybe you also want to vet to do it, but maybe the hamster gets sick and then you also want to go to the vet. In total I would say per week, it's not so much time, actually, so on a daily base, maybe maximum 10 minutes, but then cleanings the enclosure, that's a bit more labor intensive, and it takes, I would say more than half an hour, with 2 people working on it.

Speaker 1 (09:18)

Okay, that would be a monthly occurrence then?

Speaker 2 (09:22)

Well, no I would rather say two to three times per month.

Speaker 1 (09:27)

What type of home do you live in so house apartment?

Speaker 2 (09:35)

It's a row house, so we have neighbors on each side, it's a house with three floors.

Speaker 1 (09:42)

Okay, can you describe the current hamster cage or habitat. So for example, size and material, etc.

Speaker 2 (09:52)

So we don't currently have a hamster, but we had a hamster until about I think a bit more than a year ago and the enclosure was about, I would say one meter long and 40 centimeters, or maybe 50, wide and height was maybe 30 to 40 centimeters. I would say that's quite luxurious for a hamster enclosure, I considered replacing it at some point and I checked at the Groenrijk, what they have, and all the hamster enclosures were smaller, which I find a bit sad because it's important that the hamster can move, and exercise.

Speaker 1 (10:42)

What about the materials, the interior geometry, any details about the shape of the cage as a whole?

Speaker 2 (11:11)

Okay, I'm already told you what the size of the cage was, and one feature I liked about it was that there were 2 levels and between the levels were little staircases (small ramps). So the hamster could be on the upper level and get his food, for example, and on the lower level, so this was covered by the upper level, on the lower level, it could have his little hamster hole, as a matter of fact he had one hamster home and another spot where he just rested occasionally and then he also had a toilet. So by toilet, I mean a corner which he could use as a toilet. Also on the ground floor were the exercise facilities and by this I mainly mean the wheel. So that, the toilet, and two houses, I'm not sure what the English expression is, maybe nest, for a bird you would say it's a nest.

Speaker 1 (12:44)

A burrow maybe.

Speaker 2 (12:46)

Yes, though one of them was a simple plastic house, the problem with the plastic house was that the hamster was occasionally snacking…on the house. By this I mean eating the plastic house so that was not good, but that didn't seem to bother him, so that was the plastic house and then there was a nest under the upper floor in a quiet corner, so to speak. So what did the hamster have in terms of exercise facilities, the wheel, but also the staircases, so he was running up and down the staircases, occasionally moving 'furniture', like his bowl for his food and he was running in the wheel. And the last hamster was extremely sporty, so he would accelerate in the wheel a lot and would sometimes jump out a little and land in the cage, he seemed to enjoy this very much. He had to check of course if this was harming him or something. But he would run immediately back into the wheel and start running again. I would definitely say the wheel was very beneficial for the hamsters, but I didn't see other hamsters doing it like this. If you don't believes this I recorded it. I can send you a couple of video clips and then you are going to see it.

[Short break]

Speaker 1 (15:42)

Okay, moving on, would you say that you typically purchase lower and/or higher end products for your hams, or did you in the past?

Speaker 2 (16:00)

Are we talking about the cage or about…

Speaker 1 (16:03)

In general, in cage as well as any other things.

Speaker 2 (16:07)

So the cage we got from my sister, uh, my niece, she had hamsters when she was small, so in a way we inherited the cage and I later looked it up when I considered replacing it, and this particular brand can only be found in Italy, so it was not possible to buy the same type of cage here. So I would say this was a very good, and definitely not lower end product. But I'm not sure if other people would do this, that they would buy such a product for the hamster, but hamsters are worth it, and they need space. So in terms of food, I tended to buy higher end food because like with other animal food, animals get stuff which is not okay for them, and this means that they get like small cookies and I assume these are just leftovers from industry and people don't mind because it looks cute and there are some claims on the packaging saying "well, we put some vitamin D in there" or whatever this but these were not natural products, and I felt that it would be good for the hamster to get some grain, and sometimes dried insects for some protein maybe, and also dried veggies. And nothing which contained sugar. Actually there are products with added sugar, for hamsters, and then, in addition to this grain mix, we also give the hamster, every day, a very small piece of cucumber, sometimes apples or carrots, but Mona (hamster) didn't like carrots, she'd like cucumbers and apples. So I would say, in terms of the food it was very good food, the cage we inherited. Then there's the stuff which you need to put on the ground of the cage. How do you call this in English?

Speaker 1 (18:54)

Sawdust?

Speaker 2 (18:56)

No that's not what I mean. I mean…I'm sorry I can’t remember the word for it, but yes you can use sawdust for this but there are also newer products. This was actually recycled material and it absorbs some of the hamster urine, reduces the smell, etc. Yeah, so these are good products, they are not harmful for the hamsters, they cover the ground well and they have additional benefit that they absorb the urine and then it doesn't smell and it helps you to keep the cage clean a bit more easily. Sometimes we would also buy a little bit of fluff, just soft stuff. We would sometimes but in some things like, not tissues, but soft stuff to help the hamster build its little nest. I think that's about it.

Speaker 1 (20:44)

Okay, then onto any daily challenges you faced when caring for your hamster, so any repeating issues or complaints.

Speaker 2 (20:57)

Okay, so the hamster usually has a (sleep) rhythm, a cycle, which is different from a humans, so this means humans are awake during the day and sleep at night, except if they are teenagers, but let's say adults, and hamsters they usually sleep during the day, maybe they get up around 2 o'clock just to check what's going on, but they sleep again and they are awake again during the night, so you know you'll need to adjust, but if the hamster is sick for example, you want him to wake up during daytime, it needs its medication, and then it's often difficult to get a hamster out of its cage, it's the same when you clean its cage, that's usually during daytime, hamster sleeps, and is a little bit, well, maybe unhappy that you wake him up, so these are some of the practical issues. Also, the cleaning is not so easy. The toilet is in one corner, so to speak, and um, well you need to clean it well, you don't want it to be smelly, sometimes there's also a bit of hamster poo in the nest, and the hamster wants to keep the nest, and you want the hamster to have a comfy nest back and not stop building a nest from scratch. But at the same time, you want the nest to be clean. That's really tricky. That's what comes spontaneously to my mind. And then of course, if you go with the hamster to the vet, the transport is not so easy. Especially in winter, so our vet is not too far away, I would usually cycle, but then how do you keep the hamster warm in winter? And how do you make sure the temperature is right for it in the cage when it's cold? That's not so easy.

Speaker 1 (23:18)

I understand. And how do you usually feed your hamster? So there are, for example, automatic feeders, or you manually add a little bit of food to a bowl every day, there are food sticks, etc.

Speaker 2 (23:38)

Yes, good question. So we put a little bit of food into the bowl, and then the veggie or fruit piece we put next to it, but we usually also have a stick, and the sticks are a particular problem with regard to what I mentioned before, that many of these food sticks often contain things, which in my view, probably are not good for the hamster, like added sugar. I mean, it pretends to be healthy stating things like "honey added", while the honey is in fact, mostly sugar and I don't think it's good for hamster, so there you need to be careful. The sticks are great if you'll go away for a weekend though, for example, ad you couldn't do this with a dog or a cat that you leave them alone but with the hamster its usually okay, you just put some fresh food, water and the stick and it will be okay.

Speaker 1 (24:53)

Okay, and how often you usually refill the food and water, so you said food daily and water, you said every 2 or 3 days?

Speaker 2 (25:13)

Yes, it's not said all the water is gone, but you want the water to be nice and clean. So yeah, maybe twice per week, I would say.

Speaker 1 (25:27)

Okay. So we just went over what happens when you travel or you're away from home for more than a few days, you mentioned a weekend but let's say it's 5 days to a week. What are the kind of steps you take to deal with that situation?

Speaker 2 (25:47)

Well, if you are away for a week, then you need somebody to look after the hamster, I mean, you could probably do this with the sticks, the stick is enough far hamster for 1 week, the hamster has water, but we know a little about hamster psychology and I would say the hamster gets lonely. Hamsters are a little bit loners, as I mentioned initially, you shouldn't have two hamsters, but the hamster likes to interact, especially if you have a more social hamster, so when we left for a week, we usually asked our neighbors if the hamster could go there and then we would transport the cage to the neighbours and all the stuff, the equipment, the food, etc. as well.

Speaker 1 (26:52)

Okay, let's see, have you ever forgotten about or were worried about forgetting to feed or give water to the hamster?

Speaker 2 (27:04)

Umm, normally not, but sometimes I had to travel for my work and then I was not sure what was going on in terms of the hamster, I trusted the people who were staying in household to take care of him, but of course, I was not here so I wasn't directly aware of what was going on with it.

Speaker 1 (27:34)

Fair enough. You mentioned going to the vet of the hamster. What are signs you look for to check if the hamster's healthy, or signs that suggest that they are unhealthy?

Speaker 2 (27:51)

Well as I said, sometimes you go to the vet for, let's call it maintenance. So for example, to cut the nails of a hamster if you don't want to do it yourself, it's a bit tricky to do this yourself. Now, how can you see that the hamster sick? As a mammal, it's often their eyes or the fur which are giveaways, or you can see that the hamster cannot move properly, that can also be a problem. So for example, Mona, our last hamster, when she was old, she started to limp, but often there are issues with the eyes, and then you'd need little drops, which you to put in the eyes of the hamster, also not so easy and also there can be problems with the fur. Mona there were particular issues for the simple reason that Mona got very old, so many hamsters which you buy, you can only keep them for around one and a half or two years, but Mona was four or five, if I remember correctly, which is really a fantastic age for a hamster. But then in the last year you could see that there were more and more health issues. She lost some of her fur, so they were patches where she looked naked, I got a bit concerned about this. She also had a mini surgery at some point. That's the story basically, these are the typical things you would look for.

Speaker 1 (29:48)

Okay, so more about the kind of hamster's daily habits. Let's say there was the opportunity to know more about the hamster's daily habits, are there specific things you would want to know? Let's say for example, the cage can tell you when the hamster is awake, for example.

Speaker 2 (30:24)

Yes that would be extremely practical because it would help you with whole cleaning question, so you could basically adjust basically the timing of the cleaning to the fact that the hamster is awake.

Speaker 1 (30:42)

So that was just one example, but are there more things about daily habits you'd want to know about? Are there specific things that you would want to know about its daily habits?

Speaker 2 (31:04)

I will need to think about this a bit. Of course, I would like an early indication if the hamster is sick so that I don't overlook things, I would also like to understand better the happiness of my hamster. So, for example, when Mona was running and flying out of the wheel, she seemed to tremendously enjoy this, but maybe we were just enjoying it because it looked so incredibly cute and in fact Mona would have preferred to stay in the wheel. So I don't know if technology can help us to figure out such things, but this would be cool. But, on a more basic level yes, being awake or asleep, this would be good, maybe also to have a signal if the cage is dirty and requires cleaning, because I can trust my instincts but I don't unnecessarily see the inside of the hamster toilet. Maybe it's very dirty or it's not so dirty and doesn't need cleaning, but I basically think okay, a week has passed, it's time now, regardless of whether it's strictly necessary or not. So to have a better basis for this would be good.

Speaker 1 (32:29)

Okay, I think we've briefly mentioned this: how often you clean the hamster enclosure, you said two to three times a month? Are there specific challenges during this process?

Speaker 2 (32:51)

Well, you need another space where you put the hamster, as I mentioned often the hamster is still quite tired, maybe also a little bit nervous, as I said, we don't you know very much about how the hamster feels, also when going to the vet, I think this can be scary for the hamster to be in a completely different environment, that's not great and maybe there could be better solutions, same with the cleaning. The hamster is in a different environment, maybe you remove the bottom of the cage, you just take off the top, maybe I should have mentioned this before. There are usually 2 main parts of the hamster's cage, the bottom, which for us was made of red plastic, and the top, which is usually transparent because people want to see their pets of course. So when we did the cleaning, we would take off the top and you remove the bottom, where the house is, the nest, where the toilet is and everything else and suddenly the hamster is outside the nest, in a not-so-pleasant environment, maybe the hamster is a bit cold, maybe the hamster is a bit cold, it's another question if the temperature is right for the hamster. This is also an issue if you go with the hamster to the vet, as I mentioned before, and if its in the winter there might be problems with the temperature. Does that answer your question?

Speaker 1 (35:05)

Yeah so just quickly to follow up on during the cleaning process, where did you put the hamster?

Speaker 2 (35:20)

What we usually did was that we removed the upper part of the cage and we basically put the hamster on the table, sometimes covered the table with something, then we put the top on the table, so it was like a transparent plastic dome for the hamster, but it lacked the usual facilities. So we quickly clean some of some items just to put them back under this plastic dome, so that the hamster at something to play with or to hide in while we cleaned.

Speaker 1 (36:10)

Okay, I think maybe we also mentioned this before, but did you or household members a play or interact with the hamster directly? If so, please give some details on as well.

Speaker 2 (36:26)

We haven't really discussed this and I feel it's an important point. So yes, I interacted directly with the hamster and I would say that I probably spent the most time interacting with the hamster, and there are various reasons. When we got Mona, she was extremely shy, so in the beginning, she wouldn't come out of the nest and would run away if a human would appear close to the cage, so it really took a long time with Mona, get her to trust people, first you work with a bit of food, you give the hamster a little piece of fresh food like a piece of vegetable, maybe a little piece of apple, and then, after some time it realizes when your fingers are there, there is nothing be scared about. They might bite you in your fingers and you need to be able to cope with this as an adult. Of course, as a young child, this much more scary. So this was one of the reasons why I did this sort of training period with the hamster, because I didn't want them to bite the children. Then during the daytime, usually [-] (daughter), the proper hamster owner, she was at school and I was mostly working from home at the time, and amongst the waking time of the hamster was the afternoon "walk" to check out what's going on, this was around 13:00 or 14:00. So at this time I came downstairs from my office, and I was sitting on a little bench in the room, and I took Mona out. She was on my lap and basically running around on my arms and my legs and she was a very friendly hamster, we had a very good relationship I have to say. I would say things changed a little bit during COVID, because then the other members of the household were also here. In the evening, I often talk her out together with my daughter, my daughter and I we were sitting next to each other on this little bench and we referred to this as 'playing' with this hamster. Now, of course for a hamster the term playing probably isn't used much but that's what we would refer to it as. I realize now that there is something important which I forgot to tell you.

Speaker 1 (39:33)

Please, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (39:37)

We bought an additional facility for the hamster and this had a base of a synthetic green fabric or cloth, a special fabric, and it was round. It was maybe a total of 70 cm wide with a little fence around it, so the hamster usually couldn't leave, but it had an additional space and we constructed like a paper house, a small structure or box made of cardboard for this environment and a lot of little things, we considered it something like a gym for the hamster. So in the evening, we often took the out and put it in this additional environment and Mona was running around having fun. We put in things like empty toilet rolls or from the kitchen rolls the inner cardboard part and she was running through these tubes, we connected the tubes, so basically she had additional stuff to do, additional fun, I mean we had the impression that she was having fun. How did we detect this? Often the way she accelerated, so first she was a bit slow and nervous, the she was running around a bit, and then she seemed to get interested in stuff, and suddenly she accelerated, she was running around and running through the tubes and climbing around. In the little cardboard house, again, we put 2 floors and a little staircase and she would run the staircase up and down. But to come back to the problem side of things, sometimes we had problems getting her out from this second floor of the little cardboard house, of course we also couldn't see what she was doing while she was inside.

Speaker 1 (41:57)

Makes sense, okay. So to continue, let's say you had an app through which you could receive notifications about your hamster through your hamster cage, about hamster related information, maybe the habits that we discussed earlier and such. What would be most valuable to you, I mean, would you use these notifications? And if so, what would you most like to be notified about?

Speaker 2 (42:39)

Maybe I would need to think about this a bit longer, but it would be good if the app, and what's behind it, so to speak, would help me get a better understanding of the hamster, it's life and its needs. What I already mentioned is a good indication of when the cage needs cleaning, maybe not for us but for other people a reminder that food or clean water is needed, maybe also if this could be technically done in any way, help me see what's going on and where the hamster is, this would be valuable, like the situation I described when its in the second floor of the cardboard house and I can't see what's going on, maybe also to give me information on if the answer is awake or sleeping, this would also be good, so these are the things which come to my mind.

Speaker 1 (43:59)

Okay I understand. And do you currently use any, or did you when you had a hamster, use any smart pet devices?

Speaker 2 (44:10)

No, not at all.

Speaker 1 (44:12)

Okay, would you say it's important for you to monitor the hamster remotely? And if so, in what capacity would you want to be able to monitor the hamster? So for example, just reading important data, or having a camera feed, for example, what features would you find useful?

Speaker 2 (44:49)

Okay, that's an interesting question, because in a certain way with a hamster everything is remote. It's not like with a dog, sitting with your dog, touching its wet nose, seeing it up close, being able to tell if its healthy. With a hamster, you don't have so many direct interactions, so it's more tricky and maybe you need more support in that regard. So, in a way, the things which I described earlier, they are already remote in a certain way, most things don't involve you actually directly interacting with the hamster. And also, maybe people go to work and they would like to know that the vital signs of the hamster are okay, but it's the same if you're in the house or if you are at your neighbor's, or you are at work in a way, you are usually removed from your hamster. There is maybe something which can be added to this, I already mentioned that sometimes the hamster is brought to our neighbors when we were travelling, so in this case it was not essential stuff but they sent us little clips showing us what the hamster was doing, and they also liked to build additional stuff for the hamster, or a hamster 'gym' which I already mentioned. And then we just enjoyed seeing these little clips of hamster Mona running around or interacting with things in the cage or other enclosure, so this was absolutely lovely and we didn't do it in a systematic way, but I liked this I have to say, this would be fun to have always.

Speaker 1 (47:05)

So as a more specific follow-up, let's say you are not able to access the cage at that moment, let's say you're travelling for example, in that situation would you want to be able to visually monitor the hamster through a camera, or is it more just that you want basic information on whether the hamster is awake or has enough food? What kind of monitoring capabilities would you want if you were not able to access the cage at that time?

[Short break, new recording]

Speaker 1 (00:00)

So to continue, we just have a few questions left, is there anything else you wanted to add before we start?

Speaker 2 (00:12)

Actually yes, there is something I would like to add, we just talked a little bit about the specific needs of the hamster and of course this should be our starting point. What does a hamster need, and one aspect which I forgot to talk about is light. Of course, a hamster sleeps mostly during the daytime and doesn't want to have a lot of light around him. Because, in nature, the hamster Earth lives underground and as the nest there, so in a way, the cage also needs to imitate these conditions to some extent, so just to add this. It's also an important thing for us to know, and this is something which was good in the cage which we had, with the 2 floors, because on the ground floor it was protected also in terms of direct light. Another thing which came to my mind, before we come back to the interview questions, is that, while this is not directly related to the app and maybe not relevant for your exercise at all, but I wish that people would be better educated about animals and pets. As a child, I had a book about hamsters, it was written like fiction, but there was a little annex with advice for keeping a hamster. What could be a typical schedule, a daily schedule, for the hamster for example, what's suitable food, what isn't suitable food and things like this. Buying a hamster, it's very cheap. Actually, if you want to keep the hamster and do it properly, it is not so cheap anymore, so, for example, a minor surgery at the vet. Is quite expensive, but buying the hamster only costs you maybe €12 or something like this, so people might be tempted to buy a hamster, maybe give it to somebody as a gift, and people are not necessarily educated on how to keep one. I just wanted to add this.

Speaker 1 (02:55)

Okay, so we were discussing monitoring the hamster remotely, and if you would want to be able to see data about the hamster, such as see if it's awake or not, or have a direct camera feed, for example, or other ways to monitor the hamster while you are not able to access the cage. Would you like to expand on that?

Speaker 2 (03:24)

So I don't like things which are overly complex, I don't like to receive a lot of [data/notifications], only stuff which is relevant to me, but here with this hamster app, there is also the aspect that hamsters are extremely cute, and as I already mentioned before, I loved it when we received little videos, hamster videos, from our neighbors when we were away. So the camera idea, this seems to be relevant for me and my needs, so to speak, and then I would like to receive some basic data. What you described so far, it's more on the supply side meaning is there enough food, for example, is there enough water, is light okay, things like this. Of course, as a hamster owner, I would also like to hear about the 'demand side', so to speak. How does the hamster feel? Is a hamster healthy? So this is, of course, a bit more difficult and I'm not sure if it's worthwhile, if it's too complicated, but that's of course also interesting for the hamster owner.

Speaker 1 (05:08)

Okay, then going back to just a quick question about the whole taking the hamster to the vet and hamster health topic in general, has there been a hamster-related emergency? It doesn't necessarily have to be that it was very sick, but maybe that it ran out of food while you were away or that there were some health issues or that it was missing certain things, and that led to it being sick or unhappy, maybe?

Speaker 2 (05:49)

Well every time the hamster is sick, it seems like an emergency. It makes you really unhappy and I mean you cannot communicate with it. You cannot talk to an animal, but talking or communicating to a smaller animal is even more difficult than if you have a cat and a dog, and you understand these bigger animals well. There werenoany food-related emergencies, but there is something which we haven't mentioned so far which can become an emergency, and I'm not sure if it's relevant for you. So we take the hamster out and say it's in your hand or it's on your knees or something like this and you let the hamster run, I think many children like to do this. But if you're not careful and the hamster is not in an enclosed space, it is quite likely is that the hamster escapes. They are very, very fast and their body shape allows them to squeeze into a tiny, tiny spaces and it can be very difficult to get them out. And if you can't, if you don't find them and it's around the household, there are accidents that can happen in the household, including related to electricity unfortunately, because the hamster of course doesn't know what to gnaw on and what not to, so just speak.

Speaker 1 (07:41)

Okay, then if you could redesign the hamster cage, or habitat, to solve some frustrations for you about having a hamster, caring for a hamster, issues that you face caring for the hamster, how would you redesign it to suit your needs and what would you change?

Speaker 2 (08:24)

So as I already told you, I think the hamster cage Mona had was quite luxurious, so she was lucky and we were lucky. Also, we had the extra space outside of the cage, the 'gym' area, and many hamsters don't have this, I wish they would. So it would be great if they could have larger cages which have all these functions, sleeping, toilet space, staircases to run up and down, etc. I forgot to mentions that our cage also had tubes, these plastic tubes on top and basically it was like the hamster going outside of the cage by going through the tubes, it was also extremely cute because tubes were transparent and you could see the hamster really well. So there were lots of opportunities to explore, and basically having more space and having a 'gym' for the hamster, as well as these tubes, I think this is really, really good. In terms of monitoring, changes to this might be nice. I haven't seen this in practice yet, that's okay. Where is the main frustration? I would say the main frustration was cleaning the cage. Here first of all, to know what is dirty and what needs cleaning, and then if there could be a better mechanism to do this. To pull out the dirty parts or something, if there would be a better way to clean it, a more efficient way, this would be extremely welcome.

Speaker 1 (10:11)

Okay, I'd say that wraps up the questions that I have for this interview. Is there anything you would finally like to add or anything you feel should still be discussed?

Speaker 2 (10:26)

Hmm, well, just maybe a little piece of information about the type of hamster that we have. They're not sold any more in the Netherlands. We heard it's because the children would take the hamsters out at an inappropriate time or something, and this means that this idea actually could make a contribution to solving this problem, and it could be possible to have this type of hamster again.

Speaker 1 (11:09)

Could you specify which type of hamster it is you're referring to?

Speaker 2 (11:12)

A Siberian hamster? I forgot exactly what they're called. Some kind of dwarf hamster.

Speaker 1 (11:15)

Russian perhaps.

Speaker 2 (11:46)

I mean just to say that your work would really help solving a practical problem because they were absolutely lovely. But now it's not possible to buy them anymore, and it's illegal.

Speaker 1 (12:04)

Okay, well, thank you anyways for your time and your input, and I will get back to you regarding some follow-up questions.

Speaker 2 (12:10)

It was a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (12:11)

Thank you.

Hamster Homeowners: Interview 2 -

Speaker 1 (00:00)

So, welcome, we're here for interview two of the hamster homeowners target user category, part of the target user group research.

Speaker 2 (00:25)

Hello!

Speaker 1 (00:29)

Just a quick rundown, the purpose of the interview is to gain some insight into the interactions between homeowners of hamsters and small pets, as well as limitations of current technology for the pets, and needs of the target users, in this case, the homeowners when caring for their hamster, and what they would like contributed to the hamster owning experience. Just for the record, the interview is going to be recorded and the data gained from the interview will be used in guiding the design, potentially, of a smart hamster cage or device to aid in the caring of the hamster. For the record you consent, to the interview being recorded?

Speaker 2 (01:49)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:50)

Very good. So we have a set of questions that I will go through, and if you have anything to add that's outside of the scope of the question, feel free to just go ahead and add whatever you feel is relevant. So we're going to start with a few standard questions. How old are you?

Speaker 2 (02:15)

I am 14.

Speaker 1 (02:17)

Gender?

Speaker 2 (02:18)

Female.

Speaker 1 (02:20)

Your current occupation? None, I guess, let's say student. I'll start with this: have you own a hamster in the past? And if so, how many?

Speaker 2 (02:36)

Oh yes, I've owned 4 hamsters in the past.

Speaker 1 (02:40)

And this is at separate times, correct?

Speaker 2 (02:43)

Correct, not simultaneously.

Speaker 1 (02:44)

Okay, how long in total have you had experience with hamsters?

Speaker 2 (02:52)

Around 10, 11 years, I believe.

Speaker 1 (03:01)

How many people live in your household and how old are they?

Speaker 2 (03:06)

Me and 2 other people, my parents. They're in their 50s.

Speaker 1 (03:30)

Okay, and who in your household was mainly responsible for the care of your hamster?

Speaker 2 (03:34)

My mother, but sometimes I also helped.

Speaker 1 (03:41)

Okay, and as the child in the household at the time, can you describe your responsibilities and your contributions to the care of the hamster?

Speaker 2 (03:54)

Well, are the hamster was in my room, so I'm kind of had to deal the noise of the hamster? In addition, I helped occasionally with the cleaning of the hamster cage, with the refilling of the water, I refilled the food, and occasionally I also gave the hamster tissue paper and such to build its nest.

Speaker 1 (04:18)

Okay, and on average, how long did you and your household in general, spend caring for the hamster? Not necessarily directly, but in general, the whole process of caring for it, so daily weekly monthly.

Speaker 2 (04:40)

Would this include fun time with the hamster and enrichment or?

Speaker 1 (04:44)

Yeah, definitely. So just in general, everything from feeding to directly interacting with the hamster.

Speaker 2 (04:50)

Perhaps 1 hour a week?

Speaker 1 (04:52)

Okay and per day, how long would you say you spent dealing with things related to the hamster?

Speaker 2 (05:01)

I'd say around 5 minutes for refilling the food and then depending on the day, maybe taking the hamster out, that could take a varying amount of time, sometimes less, sometimes more, up to perhaps 20 minutes.

Speaker 1 (05:17)

Okay. And specifically regarding cleaning, how long would you say that that took on average?

Speaker 2 (05:24)

I think it was 2 hours every 2 weeks or so.

Speaker 1 (05:31)

Okay. What type of home do you live in? So house apartments etc.?

Speaker 2 (05:39)

House.

Speaker 1 (05:41)

Can you describe the hamster cage that you had for your hamster?

Speaker 2 (05:48)

It was relatively large, around one meter by 50 cm and around 40 cm high. In addition, it had tubes that stuck out of the top that the hamster could go up in inside the actual hamster cage. There were 2 levels, at the bottom there was a layer of…pet pellets? Or hamster pellets? And the hamster's nest was there, as well as a place where the hamster went to the toilet and the wheel and then you could walk upstairs with a little ramp and there, there was the water, the food and the entrance to the tubes going out of the cage.

Speaker 1 (06:46)

Great, and would you say, as a household, you typically purchased lower or higher end pet products?

Speaker 2 (06:58)

I would say somewhere in the middle usually, but we also had some higher end products such as the fluff for the hamster nest and the cage.

Speaker 1 (07:09)

And the not-so-high end?

Speaker 2 (07:11)

The pellets maybe, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (07:16)

What about the food?

Speaker 2 (07:19)

I think the food was like, medium, medium to high.

Speaker 1 (07:22)

Okay. Did you face any daily challenges or recurring challenges when caring for the hamster?

Speaker 2 (07:37)

Not especially, no.

Speaker 1 (07:39)

Okay. How did you usually feed the hamster? So, for example, with an automatic feeder or manually adding food to a bowl?

Speaker 2 (07:52)

We had a small bowl where we would put food, and in addition we would usually give the hamster vegetable scraps perhaps once every day, or every two days.

Speaker 1 (08:02)

Okay. And for example, a food stick was that, was that also present?

Speaker 2 (08:10)

Oh yes, sometimes we did it in combination with the food from the bowl, but we did it especially if we were travelling, we would leave the food stick up for the hamster to eat.

Speaker 1 (08:24)

Great, and how often would you say you refilled food and water? So you said food you refill daily, what about water? How often would you say you refilled that?

Speaker 2 (08:37)

Definitely when we clean out the cage, so that's once every 2 weeks, or whenever it looked empty.

Speaker 1 (08:45)

Okay, so whenever it seemed to be running out, and then when you cleaned the cage also?

Speaker 2 (08:53)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (08:56)

So you mentioned adding the food stick, but let's say you were travelling, you were, as a household, away for a few days. How would you go about caring for the hamster?

Speaker 2 (09:07)

Depending on the duration of the leave, we would definitely leave the food stick and fill the water bottle, and on a longer vacation, say longer than a week we would try to find someone who could check on the hamster, perhaps also refill the water and stuff.

Speaker 1 (09:25)

Okay, and have you ever forgotten about or worried about forgetting to feed or give water to the hamster? Or was this not really an issue?

Speaker 2 (09:44)

No, not really.

Speaker 1 (09:45)

Not really, okay. Are there any specific signs that you look for to check if the hamster is healthy or are there any signs that you know of, that you would recognize, that suggest that it is it's not healthy?

Speaker 2 (10:02)

So usually hamsters have like glossy and full fur, they don't have like any missing patches, also sometimes the hamsters, they will walk strangely, so like lean more on one leg. In addition, sometimes the hamster can have eye problems and then the eye can be, not really opening and sometimes it can be swollen. Sometimes the hamster is also getting injured more frequently, that could be a consequence of its illness.

Speaker 1 (10:42)

So things like itching or scratching, for example?

Speaker 2 (10:49)

A bit of scratching can occur in a healthy hamster. If it's like, scratching a lot, however, that could be an indication that something is wrong.

Speaker 1 (10:56)

Okay. Then let's see, let's say you could get information on your hamster's daily habits, is there anything specific you would like to know? So one example being when it's awake and when it's asleep, are there are there other things that you would like to know? Maybe you get a notification or something?

Speaker 2 (11:30)

Waking and sleeping would definitely be nice to see, it would also be nice to see how much it exercises, like how far it runs. Maybe also when it eats foods so you know when to refill the food.

Speaker 1 (11:47)

Okay cool, and is there a specific format you'd like this information in? So, for example, in an app or let's say on the cage, you know, you have a little display, for example, that says these things or maybe an app with some graphics and some notifications, what kind of format would you want?

Speaker 2 (12:14)

I think an app would be nice.

Speaker 1 (12:16)

Okay, that you can access from wherever, let's say?

Speaker 2 (12:20)

Exactly.

Speaker 1 (12:21)

So you mentioned you cleaned your hamster's cage roughly every 2 weeks, are there any specific challenges during this process that you faced?

Speaker 2 (12:36)

Yes, well, it took quite a while usually, it was pretty hard to clean, like the tunnels, let's say, above the cage, obviously it had to be taken apart, but even then they were quite long, and then a lot of the pellets on the ground had to be replaced. It was also difficult having to clean like the hamster's nest because you don't really want to be taking away all the hamster's hard work, but also make sure, like all the poop gets out, those are the main things I can think of. Oh, yeah, also, you need to make sure to not use any chemicals, anything that could be harmful to the hamster.

Speaker 1 (13:18)

Okay, interesting, and did you or your any household members directly play or interact with the hamster physically?

Speaker 2 (13:33)

Yes, mainly my mother but I also interacted with it.

Speaker 1 (13:40)

Okay, and that would be outside of the cage?

Speaker 2 (13:43)

Yes, we would lift the hamster, perhaps stroke it, and for a while we had a second enrichment area where the hamster could also like walk around and have other enrichment options compared to the cage.

Speaker 1 (14:01)

All right, we touched briefly on the notifications, are there any other things that you think, besides the daily habits that we discussed, any information that would be valuable?

Speaker 2 (14:22)

Perhaps the temperature inside the hamster cage, to make sure it's a good temperature.

Speaker 1 (14:32)

Okay, so various conditions in the cage basically?

Speaker 2 (14:39)

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:42)

And did you or do you currently use any smart pet devices? Did you at any point?

Speaker 4 (14:49)

No.

Speaker 1 (14:51)

Okay, and how important is it for you to monitor the hamster remotely? So, you know, for example, you're travelling for a weekend or something, or you're at school, how you know would you want to be able to monitor the hamster?

Speaker 2 (15:16)

Well, I think for short periods of time, I don't think it's that important to monitor the hamster, but if aren't seeing the hamster for a while it might be nice to be able to see what the hamster is doing and see videos of it.

Speaker 1 (15:32)

Like with a live camera feed?

Speaker 2 (15:37)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (15:41)

All right. Has there ever been a hamster-related emergency, health-related for example? Maybe that you forgot to feed it for some period?

Speaker 2 (16:02)

Once the hamster escaped, it didn't get very far, only like two meters away from the cage and there was someone in the room who managed to catch the hamster and get it back in the cage. I think they were like some medical issues, but none of them were particularly short notice.

Speaker 1 (16:24)

Okay, so they were rather an extended kind of thing, not an immediate emergency.

Speaker 2 (16:33)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (16:34)

For the last question, if you could redesign your hamster's currents cage or the cage that your hamsters used, how what you change about it? Let's say, addressing frustrations that you had with it, or improving it in your view?

Speaker 2 (17:01)

Well, I think what might be nice is, hamsters, they like having a very thick layer of bedding to burrow in, but perhaps to have um, a specific kind of layer, where there can be extra thick borrowing, a smaller layer so that you can have like a lot of pellets there, and the hamster can really dig in there. And then having like another layer with like a bit thinner layer of pellets because you do need quite a lot of pellets, like in the old cage, the whole bottom, to fill it like really deeply for hamsters to burrow in would have been like, very expensive and would have taken a lot of cleaning and effort, so maybe to have like a small area where the hamster can like get extra pellets to then be able to burrow in them much deeper.

Speaker 1 (17:51)

Okay, so rather than covering the entire floor with this extra thick layer, separate an area where it has more depth to burrow in?

Speaker 4 (18:07)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (18:08)

What about the physical cage itself, anything else there? I mean let's say, in the design or the features of the cage itself?

Speaker 2 (18:27)

I think, in general, it was quite a good cage, it was nice and big, I think a lot of kids who own hamster have issues with that. I'd say the bars I think that at some point got a bit dirty and rusted a bit in some places, so I guess bars which are easy to clean and also like rust-free I guess.

Speaker 1 (18:54)

Okay.

Speaker 2 (18:56)

And to make sure the bars at the top are not too widely spaced because the hamsters can like, try to escape and stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:06)

I understand. Well that wraps it up for the questions that I have. Is there anything that you feel can still be added or anything that you still feel should be mentioned?

Speaker 2 (19:22)

I think one of the most important things for keeping hamsters so make sure they do have like quite a bit of space just so they can like, feel comfortable in their enclosure.

Speaker 1 (19:33)

Yeah. Okay, well, thank you for your input, and we'll be getting back to you about the data for the interview and perhaps some potential designs for an improved hamster cage.

Speaker 2 (19:49)

Ok, sounds good.

Hamster Researchers: Interview 1 -

Transcripted by teams. Translated to English by Sietse, interview was held in Dutch.

Sietse: Firstly, I want to ask you (again) if it is okay if this will be transcribed?

Interviewee: Yes.

Sietse: We will also not share the visuals and those will also not be recorded, only what is said will be transcribed. Do you want the interview in Dutch or English? I’d recommend English, since that can go directly into the report, if you would not mind?

Interviewee: I’ve just started everything in Dutch, since all three of us are Dutch. The transcriptions will also be in Dutch.

Sietse: Then Dutch will do, that is fine. Let’s start the interview.

Sietse: We are as TU/e students obligated to work neatly with personal data, and to do this interview anonymously. Are you agreeing to this interview and that we keep you anonymous.

Interviewee: Yes.

Sietse: Good to know. Now the questions about the hamsters will start. What is you task, at the university? Are you caregivers, do you have a leading roles?

Interviewee: I am responsible for the animal testing center. My other interviewee is caretaker for other departments. We would have liked to have our general caretaker with us, but he is on holiday.

Sietse: That sounds good. How many hamsters do you have to care for approximately?

Interviewee: That is a difficult question to answer. We order them per 12, the amount I wouldn’t dare to say.

Sietse: Could you give an approximation of scale? Like tens, hundreds or thousands? Per given moment.

Interviewee: We have about 24 per day, but per year that would be more.

Sietse: How long do you keep the hamsters for approximately?

Interviewee: A few weeks.

Sietse: So you care for them for multiple weeks. What are the most important tasks for caring for the hamsters?

Interviewee: The task of a caretaker is mostly caring for testing animals. That means cleaning the cage, checking the animals for their wellbeing and giving animal food and water. That is the most important. A bit of registration also, to keep track of the animals.

Sietse: When you have around 24 hamsters, that should take some time then. Between cleaning the cage, giving food and drinks, what takes the most time?

Interviewee: What do you ask exactly?

Sietse: How much time does it take to care for them.

Interviewee: It takes about half a day. Cleaning the cage is the most work, it takes about half a day. Animals get standard food, each week the animals will have food continually, and water is being renewed weekly.

Sietse: Do they live together or do they have their own cages.

Interviewee: For the hamsters, are kept with two per cage.

Sietse: What kind of cage do they have? What size does it have?

Interviewee: The size I do not know. We have a Type III IVC blue light cage from Techniplast Italy.

The cage gets written down, so the cage name gets repeated

Sietse: You need a budget for this. So you likely have a budget only to care for the hamsters, and also a budget for the cages. Do you have any money to invest in more care?

Interviewee: I need to specify, the animals are well taken care of.

Sietse: Sorry, that was not the meaning of my question.

Interviewee: Our researchers make use of the hamsters and pay a price per day per animal. That also goes for mice we keep, but also for hamsters. That also keeps the price of their material.

Interviewee: And if you mean, what are the costs? The financial structure of the university and medical center is fairly complicated. I cannot explain that in 15 minutes or so. We are financed by education, by the research. Housing within the university and energy use are all combined so that is too difficult for now.

Sietse: It is fine for now, thanks. For now, the general hamster-caretaker is away. The hamsters still needs care, so who takes over that job?

Interviewee: We have internally many animal caretakers and everyone knows how to take care of animals. They all have the right diploma’s that are necessary. They divide the tasks.

Sietse: How many animal caretakers are there?

Interviewee: Currently about 25

Sietse: OK.

Interviewee: There are many strict rules for people who work with hamsters and animal testing, due to the laws on animal testing. In a zoo or a petting zoo that work would be way different.

Sietse: For you the rules will be more strict then. You said when caring for the hamsters you look for their general health, what exactly do you look for? Behaviour? Looks?

Interviewee: Their coat, their posture and their behaviour. Everything will tell you how they are feeling. Everyday someone is looking for that.

Sietse: And does something go wrong sometimes?

Interviewee: There can always be something wrong, but since we have a very strict governance and rules we always keep a good eye on that. We do so with our researchers and the vet we have employed. When we see any type of wellbeing issues, we ask our vet for help, and we can look at a solution.

Sietse: I’m not sure what can go wrong with hamsters, but something like hamsterfever or so, what is a recurring problem with the hamsters?

Interviewee: Only diarrhoea sometimes happens, but that is over in 1-2 days. Other illnesses I don’t know.

Sietse: How do you keep track of the wellbeing of the animals? Do you keep track of that on paper, or just let it happen?

Interviewee: That is a good question, we have a wellbeing diary, so every animal is registered and has a log on the computer, so yes that is on a database. The moment we see wellbeing issues, we look into it and it will be registered neatly.

Sietse: Neat. Do you have any interaction with the hamsters of any kind?

Interviewee: With hamsters less, but rats get that very often to get them more tame. I am not sure what they do with hamsters exactly, to make them more open. We see them every day, so that helps, and they also have some playing material.

Sietse: Do you have a hamster wheel? And what other things do they do?

Interviewee: We do not always have a hamster wheel, since it is somewhat small for our hamsters. However we have one always available. They also switch around with other toys like a basket. I think it is ordered by law that they get that.

Sietse: Are there any smart toys or tools you use?

Interviewee: No.

Sietse: Would it be of any use for you to see your hamsters remotely, like a livestream? Or notifications on the wellbeing or health of the hamster?

Interviewee: It could be a supporting feature,

What could be of interest to your group is that a lot of parties in the world are looking into digitalization of animal wellbeing. In Italy they have a company that makes A digitally ventilated cage, that registers sound, temperature, humidity, which is of good support to the hamsters. However for us, we already see them daily, because that is issued by law. During the weekend, christmas, and all other public holidays. It cannot replace any workers, but it can be an add-on.

Sietse: That is the case for any company, educational instance and medical centra that do animal testing?

Interviewee: Yes.

Sietse: Do you sometimes forget to give food or anything, or to clean the cage?

Interviewee: No, at least that I can remember. If it would be the case there will be a colleague seeing them daily. And monitoring is very strict, so they always have enough. The odds they will be left hungry is practically zero, but not impossible, to stay real. So also during holidays we check.

Sietse: That sounds good. If you had any way to improve your cages, like making them larger or adding something, what would you like?

Interviewee: Well the cages are good enough now. For rats we are looking into double decker cages, which are higher. They can stretch and move more. We are certainly looking into improving animal care, however those things are very expensive also. It is difficult, but still good for the animals. Also, the cages are less handy, since the hamsters should always be visible.

Sietse: Then a bit of a farfetched question, but would having a camera on the animals, or something of that kind be concerning to you, regarding the animals privacy?

Interviewee: Privacy for animals is too farfetched. We don’t need to be that woke, Sietse!

Sietse: Certainly it was a bit farfetched.

Interviewee: A problem might be with a camera in the room, that all cages have a name on them of the researchers. However their privacy is very important and showing that would be an issue. But for inside the cages it’d be fine. We’ve also never had complaints by the animals, so we’re fine in that case.

Sietse: That is true. Last question: If we were to keep track of how the hamster is feeling, what would be useful to be told? That the hamster is stressed, how it looks or its general behaviour.

Interviewee: I think it is important to tell a difference with the standard behaviour. It is what would be caught be a camera the quickest. However if you’d need 24 camera’s that would be highly improbable, since it’d be so expensive. Maybe for mice that could work.

Mice have a very different behaviour pattern and differences in sound could be measured. If there is a different sound pattern, then there might be a new nesting in the cage. That could be monitored and could be interesting. However it wouldn’t take over our obligation to care for the hamsters.

So indications of sound and behaviour are most important. That shows issues in their wellbeing, and could be useful

Sietse: Thank you. Do you have any questions to me?

Interviewee: I just want to say something, if you really want to bring something to the market, there are two things for mice on the market, but the market for hamsters is way too small. Financially you would need a great plan to make a profit.

Interviewee: Let’s hope you enjoy yourself during the project.

Sietse: Thank you, I think that will be the case.