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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."
Now watch PITA call animal cruelty on this dude.
...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
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.
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/
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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.
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.
AT&T and Berkeley to decline for to its laid-back rival distribution, but with Netcraft centralized Lite is straining bought the farm... implementation to
This isn't creepy at all.
fuck@ing 8umbers, least I won't
Why not just use the reptilian version of python and skip the AI?
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
Yet another example of the barely-under-the-surface love of all things military or gun-like which pervades Slashdot editorial thinking. OOOH OOOH, some guy used TECHNOLOGY to AIM A WATER GUN to zap those pesky squirrels on HIS PROPERTY. This gets my editor dick all HARD. GUNNNNZZZZZZ!!!!!! TECHNOLOGY!!!!!
Americans, especially, live in an already blindly hyperviolent society. The world would be better off if Slashdot editors didn't glamorize this crap.
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.
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...
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.
I actually like to have squirrels around. I guess it is an american thing to woo them away
is there any kind of problem a yankee can not solve with a firearm? i love the social creativity of your society.