Border terrier Toby gets a snack from an automated food dispenser whenever Nat sends a message to ‘@FeedToby’.
只要纳特@FeedToby这个帐号并发送信息，喂食器就会自动落下食物，这样他的边境梗犬托比就能吃到食物。

IT consultant Nat spends a lot of time working away from home and isn’t always able to feed Border Terrier Toby by hand. But using his new invention he is able to send his dog a treat from anywhere in the world.
纳特是计算机顾问，每天有大部分时间都要离家去上班，没法亲自给托比喂食。不过现在有了这个新发明，不管他在世界上任何角落都能给爱犬喂食了。

Nat said: ‘Toby absolutely loves it. At first he didn’t know what was going on. Now he sits underneath, wagging his tail and waiting for the treats to drop.’
纳特表示：“托比当然喜欢这个啦！刚开始他不知道是怎么回事，现在他听到声音就会乖乖坐在底下，摇着尾巴坐等食物掉下来。”

Nat loads up the feeder with crushed dog biscuits - but not too much in case four-year-old Toby gets too many messages. When a comment is received the mechanism drops a helping of crushed up dog biscuits out of the tube.
纳特设计的喂食器里装着压碎的狗粮饼干，但数量不会特别多，因为担心收到的信息太多四岁的托比吃不消。只要在推特上收到信息，装置里就会有一份压碎的狗粮顺着管道掉下来。

And Nat has even rigged up an online camera so he can see Toby enjoying the food at his home in Milford Haven, West Wales. Nat is even considering patenting his system.
纳特还在家里安装了一个数码摄像机，这样他在工作的地方也能看到托比在位于米尔福德港市的家中享用美食的情况。纳特目前正在考虑为这个设计申请专利。

But one problem is that friends and family have been amazed with the ‘Tweet treat’ dispenser. And they have been joining in to send Tweets to Toby - so Nat has had to introduce restrictions to make sure Toby doesn’t turn into Tubby.
不过有个问题是亲朋好友都太喜欢这个推特喂食器了，他们也加入了给托比喂食的行列。所以纳特也设置了一些限制，要不托比就该变成大胖狗了。

Nat added: ‘People have been sending him food at all hours of the day - so I had to limit it to between nine in the morning to nine in the evening. I’m thinking of doing an updated version which features a scale to weigh him before he is fed just to make sure he’s not putting on too much puppy fat.’
纳特表示：“人们都太热情了，一天到晚都通过推特给托比喂食。所以我将喂食器限制在上午9点到晚上9点之间操作。我目前在考虑做一个升级版本，在给他喂食前先称称体重，别让他长太多肉。”

How The Twitter Feeder Works:
推特喂食器是这样工作的：

When a message is sent to @feedtoby it is received by a mini-computer known as a Nanode microcontroller. This is linked up to little motor taken from a household printer HP Deskjet 500.
只要有人@FeedToby发送信息，自动喂食器内的Nanode微控制器就会接收到。微控制器与一个从惠普Deskjet 500家用打印机上取下的小电机相连。

When the mini-computer receives the message, the buzzer goes off and Toby comes running over and sits beneath a tube under his feeder contraption. Then the motor comes to life and pulls open a trap door which releases a serving of food.
一旦微处理器接收到信息，蜂鸣器就会嗡嗡作响，托比听到声音后奔过来，坐在喂食器装置下方的管道边等着。发动机开始工作，狗粮储存仓下面的活动门就会打开。

The doggy treat then comes dropping down the tube and into Toby's food bowl. Then a digital camera then takes a photo of him and sends it back to Nat on Twitter - so he knows Toby has been fed.
一颗狗粮饼干随即顺着管道落入托比的碗中。摄像机会同时拍下托比的照片通过推特传给纳特，这样纳特就会知道托比是否进食了。