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Militarizing Your Backyard With Python and AI
mikejuk writes "Kurt Grandis took some cutting edge and open source AI tools, Python, an Arduino and a SuperSoaker and built the (almost) perfect squirrel hosing machine. The project involved Open Computer Vision (OpenCV), an a SVM learning procedure that he trained to tell the difference between a squirrel and a non-squirrel. After 'perfecting' the classifier the hardware came next — a SuperSoaker Mark I was used as the 'water cannon.' A pair of servos were used to aim the gun and a third to pull the trigger."
...but I'm sure it costs a bit more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5YftEAbmMQ
By the way, we saw it first in Aliens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQDy-5IQvuU
No, no no. PITA is the kind of bread you wrap your roasted squirrel meat in. _PETA_ is what you're thinking of.
Actual footage of the device in action starts at 16:00 if you want to skip the tech talk.
Squirrels are persistent.
If you have something they want, they will find a way to get it. If it takes you 3 weeks to build a cage to keep them out, they will search for 3 days until they find or make a hole in the cage. If you put the desired item on top of a slippery pole, they will jump from surrounding objects hundreds of times until they finally get there. If you cut down all the trees around the item, they will try going up the pole until they rub all the slippery stuff off. If you put the item on the moon, they will invent the rocket.
So I would advise against this escalation of the arms race against Rodentia. If we build electronic weapons to keep them away they will probably develop electronic countermeasures, and we don't want that.
Nah, it's not cruelty, it's just an enema.
Now watch PITA call animal cruelty on this dude.
I don't know where this dude lives, but here in Washington state the Eastern Gray squirrel is an invasive non-native species, even though they're pretty much everywhere. They've largely displaced our native squirrel population. In most places you can kill them without problem - you're doing the local ecology a favor, after all - although it's always possible some wacko fringe element will protest the killing. I don't know about locales like Seattle, though; I wouldn't put it past them to have laws against killing animals considered "cute".
Anyway if this guy gets dinged, maybe he just needs to replace the Super Soaker with a .12 gauge...
#DeleteChrome
Anybody remembers the airsoft P90 auto-turrent featured on slashdot a while back ? All I could find was this one done with paintballs...
http://www.pain4glory.com/auto-targeting-turret-sentry-video-8-of-15/
Anyway if this guy gets dinged, maybe he just needs to replace the Super Soaker with a .12 gauge...
And shoot the PETA people?
I approve of this message!
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The People for Eating Tasty Animals? Why would they have a problem with this? Squirrel, the other white meat...
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
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I saw his presentation at PyCon a few weeks ago. During Q&A I asked: "My experience with OpenCV has been that it's nearly impossible to use, poor documentation, documentation of a different version of the API, build issues with the libraries. Was I just on the wrong track, or is this a common experience?"
His answer was that it's true that it's very hard to get OpenCV working.
Also note that after a while the squirrels stopped being annoyed by the water gun and would just sit there while getting sprayed.
He did a very nice job of it though! I particularly like the part about using the bushy tail to tell a squirrel from a bird.
...for Everyon! :D
Uh, Linux geek since 1999.
This could bring a SWAT team. If you're black.
PITA?
People for the Intelligent Targeting of Animals?
thatsthejoke.jpg
Pain In The A-er, posterior.
Add a little ammonia or cat pee, or methyl mercaptan to the water, or maybe some kind of stuff that gets sticky as it dries, to keep the squirrel occupied for a while. Also, since he's mainly interested in keeping them off the feeder, he could mount the gun next to the feeder and fire it remotely, hitting the squirrel at close range with significantly more force and wetness.
I had a friend long ago who had trouble with dogs chasing his bicycle on his regular route to work. By adding a very small percentage of ammonia into a squirt gun, he found that if he squirted the dog right in the face, the dogs weren't hurt, but were stopped instantly in their tracks, and went off to occupy themselves with rubbing their noses and eyes with their front paws. It only took about three trials to stop any dog from bike and car chasing. Lemon juice might work as well. (Plain water did not work.)
If I were more devilish I might suggest nitrogen tri-iodide in the water. I'm not sure that it would work unless in high concentrations, but it might be amusing once it dries on the squirrel - and/or on the roof of the feeder. The experimentalist in me wants to know - purely for the knowledge to be gained, of course!
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
"I see you", "there you are", and "no hard feelings" in a soft robotic voice.
If he can get it to NOT hose chipmunks, he could sell it to the Army.
You miss a vital question: Are grey squirrels cute? Hurting non-cute animals will cause little if any public outrage, but even causing a little inconvenience to the cute ones will summon an angry mob. People are stupid that way.
Why not just use the reptilian version of python and skip the AI?
Possum is "the other white meat". Squirrel is the other other white meat.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ebtj1jR7c
with "dragons breath".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RP4FjODPDFA#t=262s
Better, add a belt feed.
Deleted
I am sorry, a guy from Aperture science called, and claimed they were already distributing promotional videos.
"If a boss demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, give him loyalty." (John Boyd, 1927-1997)
This looks much more appropriate. Gets rid of pirates and fights neighborhood house fires. Wonder if I can get the insurance company to subsidize this or give me a discount on my rates. Although my rates might go up when it starts dousing the neighborhood children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFU6Kn5qrjw
With the quickening pace that American municipal law enforcement agencies are militarizing our collective backyards with (but not excluded to) drones, active denial systems, H&K MP5s, chemical warfare, infrared and x-ray fishing expeditions, roadside electrocutions, armored vehicles, 100 mile wide Constitution-free zones, battering rams, DNA and fingerprint databases of innocents, and propaganda/psychological warfare to turn us against one another (e.g., "see something, say something")... whew... I propose we forget about the fucking rodents, and concentrate on the swine, sharks, donkeys, and elephants.
Am I joking? It depends on if you laughed. To paraphrase Lincoln, if I don't laugh, I'll cry.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
+1 funny
Nooooo...
PORK is the other white meat. Babies are the other other white meat.
I want my baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back ribs. *Chili's* Baby back ribs.
You monster! What kind of man are you? Don't you care about the environment? Do you have ANY idea how long it takes one of those tofu eating tree huggers to degrade? Use a flame thrower powered by natural gas, its clean AND it gets rid of the bodies! Sheesh, kids these days, always with the guns when killing it with fire has been good enough for thousands of years.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
regardless of a watercannon of that caliber being mostly harmless and regardless of the fact the PETA is a bunch of annoying morons, this might actually qualify as illegal cruelty to animals under your local jurisdiction.
I don't know where this dude lives
North Carolina, IIRC. Mentioned in the video right after the part where the squirrels get hosed down... didn't watch the rest.
Not so different from a May 2010 pioece in IEEE Spectrum where they built a laser targeting system for backyard mosquitos.
What we really need is the marriage of both products -- a laser canon that automatically tracks and vaporizes squirrels. And starlings. And grackles. And cowbirds...
North Carolina, IIRC. Mentioned in the video right after the part where the squirrels get hosed down... didn't watch the rest.
Be careful dude! I realize people will, on occasion, accidentally read the linked articles here - but you're not supposed to admit it publicly!
Have you no shame?
#DeleteChrome
Peter Wiggin, you here? Proposing to use a Little Doctor device on sentient Sciuridae? (And BTW we thought your display name was Locke rather than RandCraw...) ;-) As if your brother hadn't been enough trouble lately... Now what's Val up to next?
A bit of engineering would be required to re-arm a squirrel slingshot but it might be more effective than water. This squirrel gets modded up for style while in flight.
Why not just use the reptilian version of python and skip the AI?
Probably because its targeting system may not discriminate as well between squirrels, birds and small children.
Pain In The Ass, man.
No one has read their Jargon recently?
pellet guns are very quiet,, even in freemont and ballard.
They're cute until they start wrecking your garden, getting into your attic and chewing on wires, and all the other lovely tricks they have. They are actually interesting creatures that appear to have good problem solving skills. I saw a show (Nature?) where the researchers placed food in increasingly difficult places to reach, including spots where the squirrels would have to think steps ahead to reach it, and they always managed to reach it.
a .12 gauge ...
There is no decimal point. It is not a fraction of anything. Only bullets are measured by their approximate diameter in inches. The modern term might be '12 meter' because it means one gets 12 'bullets' from a pound of lead. This means each shell contains 41.25 grams of lead.
bah, hit the wrong button.
Submit?
When I was an undergrad at UMN, I used to sit outside and eat my lunch in the summers on Northrop mall. One summer, we had a particularly nasty yellowjacket season, and of course they swarmed the trash cans looking for bits of sandwiches and what not. I saw one of those fat grey mother fuckers go head down into a trash can, no doubt expecting to get his grey ass even fatter. ABout 10 seconds went by, then a high pitched screeching chattering, as if a gatling gun loaded with nails grazed a chalkboard. And I swear that bushy tailed acorn fucker shot six feet straight up out of that trash can. OMG. I pissed myself like Marie Osmond. Take that you rabies carrying buck toothed nut burglar.
.12 gauge? That would be almost a 3 1/2" bore, a bit overkill for a squirrel.
My spoon is too big.
It's what kept YOU alive when you were a smelling, ingrateful bag of isht, stupid :-)
Defining Statistics and Social Research
I wonder whether I find it funny or frightening that this is at 5, informative...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I actually like to have squirrels around. I guess it is an american thing to woo them away
Well, there's always a few nerds in training, who are still in the phase of just liking SF and OS Wars and need some easing into using your brain for creating superior weaponry, I blame it on forgetting John von Neumann's example.
What's worse, where's my Obligatory Xkcd Reference? Shotguns are nice, mind you, but I found them somewhat lacking in comparison with kilowatt laser.
Troll 2.0 Fear my asocial networking!
Depends on how seriously you want the squirrel DEAD.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Dude, guns are just cool. Did you take a look at the mechanics of an AK47? Now that's brilliance! Simple, sleek and so easy to make, very few moving parts and still self powering.
Sure, it has the nasty side effect of killing people standing at the wrong end of it. But hey, just be careful with it and you sure have a great, nifty tech toy there.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
No, no no. PITA is the kind of bread you wrap your roasted squirrel meat in. _PETA_ is what you're thinking of.
Not sure the real PETA would be against this. They'd probably want one set up on the premises to help them reduce the number of staff needed to euthanize 97% of all the animals brought in.
invasive non-native species [...]. In most places you can kill them without problem - you're doing the local ecology a favor
A native American could tell the same thing for you!
Flamethrowers are good... so long as they die before reaching something else flammable and lighting up your house or messing up your car.
Perhaps a 2 round-system, an overdosed tranquilizer dart to drop them before they can escape followed by the flamethrower. Of course, you could leave it a gun and burn them weekly yourself. The automated sentry doesn't have to do EVERYTHING itself.
is there any kind of problem a yankee can not solve with a firearm? i love the social creativity of your society.