Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today, I am moving along towards a feline safety program for my Raspberry Pi. Let’s get started!
For starters, I was even having doubts if my Pi was even powerful enough for computer vision applications. A quick search gives plenty of harry tutorials on how to install it. I’m following one here: LINK. I’m on the Raspberry Pi 3B+, and word has it the Pi 2 was pioneering the field for its kin.
I also watched some tutorials to get an idea of how OpenCV works, and I think it should track the cabinets and counter. If it tracks something moving on the counter and there is no occlusion (nothing is blocking) of the cabinets, register a hit. On a hit, save a picture for future evaluation, and sound the alarm to get the cat off the counter if it’s a strong enough hit.
I started installing OpenCV, but I ran into some issues. First of all, I am very glad I went it to that workshop I’ve mentioned before, because the tutorial just gives me wall of text. It helps to have someone knowledgeable to take a look at things when they stop working. It also would have helped if I had seen the troubleshooting section before I went and searched for one particular error I came across and ended up on another tutorial for the same thing.
Conditions were challenging. the mouse was crazy sensitive, and if I didn’t select and copy with the mouse, I ran the risk of typos in the keyboard. In the end, I believe I got a virtual box for Python 3 to run computer vision, but I ran out of time there.
At the beginning of my post, I mentioned feline safety. It turns out, my father spotted him walking on the stove top, and I really don’t want him getting burned, let alone the health risk.
Final Question: Have you ever used automated deterrents on animals?