Peek-a-Thief
Overview
Have you ever tried to Peek at a Squirrel really closely and maybe even try to take a picture. Doesn't it suck that whenever you get close enough, the squirrels run away. We learned of the amount of students in the WashU community who's days were ruined because they were not able to capture close up pictures of a squirrel and we really wanted to simplify and improve their lives forever.
Introducing Peek-a-Squirrel, a new invention with the sole purpose of capturing high definition, close up images of these cute critters. Our end goal is to simplify picture taking for everyone, so that no more students have to have a bad day because of a picture.
Team Members
- Michael Pichardo
- Derick Speltz
- Will Luer (TA)
Objectives
Sense an animal that comes into an enclosure and send a signal to camera to automatically take a picture of the animal.
Challenges
- Design Enclosure. Box structure, Sensor placement, camera angle.
- Study Squirrel Behavior with food, diet, to optimize use of our structure.
- Construction: Build Enclosure. Box Enclosure with open side and mesh roof (blocks leaves, twigs etc.) from falling inside.
- Hardware: Test sensors to see if they work. Place sensors into box after having it already connected to Raspberry Pi and calibrate sensors.
- Software: Learn Python language of Raspberry Pi, Learn to share our media with cute message.
- Safety: Fire safety, no harm will be done to squirrel, just giving food and taking pictures.
- Privacy: We are certain squirrels will not complain of our pictures.
