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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."
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.
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
Anyway if this guy gets dinged, maybe he just needs to replace the Super Soaker with a .12 gauge...
And shoot the PETA people?
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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.
PITA?
People for the Intelligent Targeting of Animals?
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.
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?
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.
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.