This is a birdbox by maker Hans Forsberg. This bird box has nothing to do with Netflix’s and it is way more cooler than not McDonald’s. Using his knowledge on robotics on industrial applications for artificial intelligence, Fosberg made a bird feeder that will reward his backyard magpies with food whenever the birds deposit a bottle cap in it.
If this idea sounds vaguely familiar that is because, a Dutch company Crowded Cities has proposed to do the same, leveraging the growing number of crows in the Netherlands to clean up cigarette butts on the streets. Crowded Cities’ contraption was in turn based on Crowbox invented by an American inventor.
Forsberg apparently did not took inspiration from Crowded Cities or Crowbox. The light bulb moment struck when he saw the magpies finagling with the locks of the outdoor lanterns and thought perhaps he could do something to train this avian creatures to do something, you know, more meaningful.
Forsberg was right that, while the concept is not new, it appears that there’s no maker’s version around and so, decided to make one. The result is a high-tech bird feeder that involved Raspberry Pi system, a camera with some electronics and sensors, and one which most people can pull off.
We shan’t dig into the inner workings. Keep on going for a video in which Fosberg walks you through the workings of the birdbox.
Images: YouTube (Hans Forsberg).
Source: Bored Panda.
