After becoming interested in the activities of local squirrels but wanting to keep a distance, Ulf Bögeholz turned to the Raspberry Pi platform to solve the problem in several ways. Ulf made a device which is controlled by a servo that dispenses nuts or other treats upon activation - controlled by the Pi.
By using a camera above this the Pi can detect movement and then dispense the food when required. However this created some false positives, so the system was altered to use an ultrasonic movement detector which was only activated by a physically closer animal. Overall the system is a success, and demonstrated in the following video:
For more information code and updates visit Ulf's interesting website. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.
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This is a great way to add your own electronic components, circuitry, sensors or other devices to your Raspberry Pi model A+, B+ or 2 Model B - any of the current Raspberry Pis with a 40 pin GPIO header. The PiBreak Plus also includes a GPIO female header to solder yourself, and a pair of nuts, bolts, washers and spacers to ensure a a great fit.
And in the Freetronics fashion we've used a quality gold-plated (ENIG) PCB for durability, brought out all the power rails along with the GPIO next to the prototyping area to make adding circuits a breeze. Furthermore the pinouts are labelled on both the top and bottom of the PCB to save time referencing the right GPIO pins. For more information and to order - visit the PiBreak plus page now!
