DIY developer builds 3D printed cat TV with Raspberry Pi 5

Ever wanted to give your cat a dedicated TV for entertainment? Becky Stern has made it easier to make one by yourself. The DIY maker and developer created a feline-friendly television powered by the popular Raspberry Pi 5 SBC.

At the core, the project is a tiny computer setup designed to loop cat-friendly YouTube videos right after startup. While that may make this DIY Raspberry Pi 5 build sound simple, it's really the design that makes it unique. Stern housed the SBC, which is connected to an LCD screen, in a custom-made chassis. It's 3D printed with PLA and has a grille for the cats to get a better listening experience.

For audio, Stern is using a USB speaker. Also, while this cat TV project uses a touchscreen LCD, the DIY developer found the touch functionality a bit problematic as her cats would pause the video playback while trying to catch what's on screen. To fix it, Stern replaced the display cable to disable the touch functionality.

As for the software, this Raspberry Pi 5 build relies on the Pi OS, which makes the DIY project easy to implement. Stern only had to program the SBC to automatically launch the default web browser after boot and start playing cat-friendly videos from YouTube. But you can program the TV to play different media if you want to.

Speaking of which, if you want to build a similar DIY cat TV with a Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB curr. $94.33 on Amazon) or an older model, Stern has compiled a comprehensive guide for the project accessible via this link. You can also check the project in action in the video attached below.