Hands-free flowable material dispensers and related methods

A method of dispensing flowable material from a container using a flowable material dispenser, the method comprising:

• providing the flowable material dispenser comprising:
• a housing;
• an actuator disposed within the housing and configured to translate relative to the housing between a first position and a second position;
• a motor disposed within the housing;
• and
• a drive assembly coupled to the actuator and the motor;
• receiving the container within the housing, the container comprising:
• a reservoir containing the flowable material therein;
• and
• a pump attached to the reservoir and configured to move between an extended configuration and a compressed configuration;
• and
• translating the actuator between the first position and the second position during a dispense cycle such that the actuator moves the pump between the extended configuration and the compressed configuration to dispense the flowable material, wherein the drive assembly translates the actuator between the first position and the second position at a varying rate of translation during the dispense cycle, and wherein the varying rate of translation varies relative to a rate of rotation of the motor and follows a non-sinusoidal waveform.

A flowable material dispensing system for dispensing flowable material, the system comprising:

• a container comprising:
• a reservoir containing the flowable material therein;
• and
• a pump attached to the reservoir and configured to move between an extended configuration and a compressed configuration;
• and
• a flowable material dispenser comprising:
• a housing receiving the container therein;
• an actuator disposed within the housing and configured to translate relative to the housing between a first position and a second position during a dispense cycle, wherein the actuator is configured to move the pump between the extended configuration and the compressed configuration to dispense the flowable material as the actuator translates between the first position and the second position during the dispense cycle;
• a motor disposed within the housing;
• and
• a drive assembly coupled to the actuator and the motor, wherein the drive assembly is configured to translate the actuator between the first position and the second position at a varying rate of translation during the dispense cycle, and wherein the varying rate of translation varies relative to a rate of rotation of the motor and follows a non-sinusoidal waveform.