Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Startup Plans To Clean Up Cigarette Butts Using Crows (popularmechanics.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the butts-versus-beaks dept.

AmiMoJo writes: A startup in the Netherlands is developing the "Crowbar," a bird feeder that takes discarded cigarette butts as payment for dispensing food. A camera recognises cigarette filters and rejects any other objects placed in the Crowbar. The idea isn't entirely original, a gentleman in the US has already built a similar device and trained crows to deposit coins. The hope is that crows will be able to keep cities clean, sort through refuse and perform other tasks for our mutual benefit.
Popular Mechanics notes that crows "are some of the smartest animals in the world," suggesting this means "we could harness their abilities for the greater good of our planet."

2 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Re:human smokers will be trained by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was in the military back in the 1990s. Each day, two guys would be assigned as the "barracks NCOs". (NCO: Non-Commisioned Officer, enlisted person of corporal or above) They were there to ensure nothing bad happened without it being written down in a log book. Ok, ok, sometimes they prevented bad stuff from happening to begin with.

    One day, I had the barracks NCO duty. It was on a Thursday, which was cleaning day for Friday's inspections. One duty was having a work detail clean the yard around the building, and the common areas in the 4-story building. Usually this was having 15-20 guys walk around the building picking up trash, which was mostly cigarette butts, and 8-10 guys cleaning the TV lounges, walk ways, and laundry rooms. So that would be 2 or 3 guys per floor.

    Anyway, on my day I asked the work detail a simple question: Who here smokes?

    No one raised their hand. I asked again, and again. Finally I said "OK. Nonsmokers, point to the smokers." Hands went up pointing out the 7 or 8 smokers. So only the smokers walked around the barracks that day, picking up all those cigarette butts, and the other guys were ecstatic because they didn't have to touch those nasty things, and they had a lot more help cleaning the common areas.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  2. I do this with dogs. by pubwvj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We have a large pack of livestock working dogs on our farm. I taught one to pickup trash for treats. Others observed this and picked up the behavior. One of them figured out how to increase the price by breaking trash up into pieces and getting treats for each piece. Doganomics.

    http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2011/0...

    It's quite successful.