Man Builds Bird Feeder That Accepts Bottle Caps As Payment For Food And The Birds Have Figured It Out
Magpies, just like their relatives crows and jays, have a reputation of getting attracted to and stealing shiny objects. A brilliant robotics expert took advantage of this and created a bottle cap bird feeder to put this bird behavior to good use. In exchange for a kibble, birds have to collect a bottle cap and drop it into the designated hole. So, it’s essentially a vending machine for birds that accepts bottle caps as payments for the snacks.
The bottle cap bird feeder project relied on mechanical design, electronics, software, and 3D printing technology. In other words, the ambitious project was no easy feat. Furthermore, there wasn’t any other similar devices that he can look up on the internet.
Magpies, just like their relatives crows and jays, have a reputation of getting attracted to and stealing shiny objects. A brilliant robotics expert took advantage of this and created a bottle cap bird feeder to put this bird behavior to good use. In exchange for a kibble, birds have to collect a bottle cap and drop it into the designated hole. So, it’s essentially a vending machine for birds that accepts bottle caps as payments for the snacks. Hans Forsberg works with industrial applications of artificial intelligence. The idea of a bottle cap bird feeder occurred to him when he noticed a pair of magpies that just decided to reside in his backyard. He often catches them trying to pick a lock on his outdoor lanterns in order to steal the glowing candles inside. Forsberg thought that if the magpies are smart enough to pick a lock, they could definitely pick something else.
And that’s how the idea of training them to collect bottle caps in exchange for foods popped into his head.
So, he had to come up with his original plan and design for his one-of-a-kind invention. It took him several years to complete the project. But all the effort and time he spent on the device was all worth it.
Forsberg used a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as the main unit for the device. It controls the mechatronics of the food dispenser as well as the input/output from the sensor and actuator. A unit called Arduino Uno is used as a sensor and actuator interface within the device. The bottle caps are detected with a metal-detector based on Arduino code.
Forsberg created a simple GUI for the Raspberry that allows the unit to control a vibration feeder based on a rotating feeder screw. The GUI also allows him to attach a wide angle camera to monitor the experiments.
