Peek-a-Thief log
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Weekly Logs
- Week 1: This week we focused on the design of our enclosure and we agreed that the best set up is a V-shaped entrance so that the critter can enter from a wide angle and not feel trapped in the process. Also, we spent time between classes observing the behavior of squirrels and how close we can get to them without them running away. We found that if food is provided to the animal, they are more than happy to consume starch products and nuts. Specifically, the Eastern Gray Squirrel prevalent on the WashU campus like to consume walnuts even though we have spotted them "dumpster diving" in outdoor trash cans and eating whatever they can find. We also found a project that is very similar to us on google, except the inventors were targeting birds. Here is the link to their project.
- Week 2: This week we changed our project idea to comply with Washington U. regulations regarding animals. We spent the week planning out our entire project timeline (outlined in our Gantt Chart) and finalizing (pending approval) our design/ set-up. We immediately want to order our supplies and stay on schedule with our timeline. (Our new project idea is to capture thieves redhanded. Every time you open the drawer, a sensor will be triggered that calls upon a hidden camera to snap a photo of the thief. Our plan is to insert this hidden camera inside a teddy bear sitting on top of the drawer. We feel the teddy bear will hide the electrical wires and cameras discretely.)
- Week 3: We got our project approved on the evening of Friday Feb 24th, 2017. We immediately ordered all supplies that we would need for our project and collected inventory of parts that we said we could use from the lab. We also got our own locker for our parts. Since the approval process was delayed, this was the most we can do this week.
- Week 4: We downloaded Python and began coding for our project using a source code from Feeder Tweeter. We also began designing the support for our sensors on Solidworks, so we could get it 3-D printed soon. We have also connected the more hardware onto the breadboard and reconfigured the wiring a little bit. We also edited our wiki page to adjust for some aesthetics and minor typos.
