As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 9 December 2012

'Bird Buggy' keeps noisy parrot quiet — and mobile


In an effort to quiet his loud pet parrot, a robotics student has created what must certainly be one of the most complex devices ever to be operated by a bird. The "Bird Buggy" lets the parrot roll safely around the house — and keeps his beak occupied.

Andrew Gray, an engineering graduate student at the University of Florida, set out to make a device that would stop Pepper, his parrot, from screaming all the time. Deterrents didn't work: A robotic squirt gun ended up just being a scream-activated bird bath; meanwhile, a device that rattled loudly when Pepper squawked was just ignored.

Gray noticed that Pepper was calmer when they were in the same room. Of course, a big bird like a parrot can't really be allowed to fly around a house willy-nilly. So Gray built the Bird Buggy, a little scooter with a perch for Pepper and a joystick the bird can operate with his beak.

Now Pepper can navigate the house at a reasonable pace; The scooter has bumpers that respond to collisions by backing up, and an IR sensor that prevents Pepper from ramming anything too hard. The device uses a camera and computer vision system to automatically return to a docking station when not in use. There's even newspaper set down for the inevitable mess.

Pepper is remarkably deft at controlling the platform: In the video, he moves purposefully and avoids obstacles, and appears (as much as such a thing can be observed in a bird) to be enjoying it. And the best part is that, what with all the pushing and pulling of the joystick, he doesn't have a chance to make as much as a peep.

More information on Gray and his Bird Buggy can be found here; the program at which he built it is the University of Florida's Intelligent Machines Design Lab.

No comments:

Post a Comment