kit:overview_doc
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| kit:overview_doc [2018/07/31 03:53] – [4. Assemble hardware and configure software] admin | kit:overview_doc [2023/10/03 02:17] (current) – [3. Choose your location and start seeding your local corvid community] admin | ||
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| ====== CrowBox Overview Doc ====== | ====== CrowBox Overview Doc ====== | ||
| - | ===== 05/10/18 v.1 ===== | + | So you want to build a CrowBox |
| - | + | ||
| - | So you want to build a crowbox | + | |
| - Download and cut the housing (or order it pre-cut) | - Download and cut the housing (or order it pre-cut) | ||
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| ===== 1. Download and cut the housing (or order it pre-cut) ===== | ===== 1. Download and cut the housing (or order it pre-cut) ===== | ||
| - | You have basically three choices | + | You have basically three choices: |
| - | * Purchase the pre-made parts from Ponoko FIXME - [[kit: | + | * Purchase the pre-made parts from [[kit: |
| * Buy the materials and cut the parts yourself (laser cutter required) | * Buy the materials and cut the parts yourself (laser cutter required) | ||
| * Buy the materials and cut the parts on someone else’s laser cutter | * Buy the materials and cut the parts on someone else’s laser cutter | ||
| - | Ponoko is the easiest as they provide easy-to-use guidelines and ship everything to you, but note that the biggest price breaks come if more than one person orders at once. We’re not making any money from any of this, so if you can, combine your Ponoko order with a friend' | + | Ponoko is the easiest as they provide easy-to-use guidelines and ship everything to you, but note that the biggest price breaks come if more than one person orders at once. We’re not making any money from any of this, so if you can, combine your Ponoko order with a friend' |
| - | If you want to cut the materials yourself, chances are you already know about the necessary file formats, etc., but do take care to match the plexi thickness (3mm) and avoid bright colors. We don’t have any validated evidence that the birds don’t like them, but generally corvids are scared of new things so matte browns and greens seem sensible. If you’ve got questions, hit up [[http:// | + | If you want to cut the materials yourself, chances are you already know about the necessary file formats, etc., but do take care to match the plexi thickness (3mm) and avoid bright colors. |
| + | |||
| + | We don’t have any validated evidence that the birds don’t like them, but generally corvids are scared of new things so matte browns and greens seem sensible. If you’ve got questions, hit up [[http:// | ||
| Your last option is to find someone who has a laser cutter. [[https:// | Your last option is to find someone who has a laser cutter. [[https:// | ||
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| ===== 2. Order the electronics ===== | ===== 2. Order the electronics ===== | ||
| - | While you’re getting the housing in order place your order for the electronics. We’ve got a full [[kit:crowbox2_v20_bom|Bill of Materials]] (BOM) listing everything you need. You can source directly from EBay (often the cheapest source) or Amazon (especially if you’ve got Amazon Prime) but you can also often find components at places like Home Depot or your local hardware store. | + | While you’re getting the housing in order place your order for the electronics. We’ve got a full [[kit:CrowBox2_v20_bom|Bill of Materials]] (BOM) listing everything you need. You can source directly from EBay (often the cheapest source) or Amazon (especially if you’ve got Amazon Prime) but you can also often find components at places like Home Depot or your local hardware store. |
| - | Note that many vendors offer some of the smaller parts in bulk only, requiring you to buy more than you’ll need to build a Crowbox. If you’re habitually making cool hardware solutions this should suit you fine, but if you’re not, see the aforementioned hacker / maker spaces. They may be willing to sell you parts piecemeal. | + | Note that many vendors offer some of the smaller parts in bulk only, requiring you to buy more than you’ll need to build a CrowBox. If you’re habitually making cool hardware solutions this should suit you fine, but if you’re not, see the aforementioned hacker / maker spaces. They may be willing to sell you parts piecemeal. |
| - | A special note on cameras: right now the crowbox | + | A special note on cameras: right now the CrowBox |
| - | * [[https:// | + | * [[https:// |
| * [[https:// | * [[https:// | ||
| * [[https:// | * [[https:// | ||
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| This can be tricky and requires a lot of judgement on your part. The good news is that you can change your location based on the behavior of the corvids over time. The bad news is you may have to. ;) | This can be tricky and requires a lot of judgement on your part. The good news is that you can change your location based on the behavior of the corvids over time. The bad news is you may have to. ;) | ||
| - | Lucky for you we’ve prepared a complete guide on [[kit: | + | Lucky for you we’ve prepared a complete guide on [[kit: |
| + | Note that many locations suffer from Aggressive Squirrel Issues (tm). You may want to install your box on a pole mount, in which case the community had a lengthy discussion with some advice [[https:// | ||
| ===== 4. Assemble hardware and configure software ===== | ===== 4. Assemble hardware and configure software ===== | ||
| - | We’ve got a complete hardware assembly | + | We’ve got a complete hardware assembly guide [[https:// |
| + | |||
| + | You should also download and print the paper [[http:// | ||
| - | Once you’ve got your hardware put together, configure the software and set it up for your first phase of training. More on that in our FIXME - [[kit: | + | Once you’ve got your hardware put together, configure the software and set it up for your first phase of training. More on that in our [[kit: |
| ===== 5. Deploy your box ===== | ===== 5. Deploy your box ===== | ||
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| This is likely to be the hardest part of the process, because at first what’s likely to happen is… nothing. It’ll take a while for the local corvids to work up the courage to visit the box and start interacting with it. Be patient, observe, and take notes. If you have a camera, review any footage to get ideas on what changes you might want to make, and wait. | This is likely to be the hardest part of the process, because at first what’s likely to happen is… nothing. It’ll take a while for the local corvids to work up the courage to visit the box and start interacting with it. Be patient, observe, and take notes. If you have a camera, review any footage to get ideas on what changes you might want to make, and wait. | ||
| - | If after a week they’re still not approaching it, try changing one thing and see if that helps. Wait another week, watching closely to see if the change has had an impact. Repeat the process until you see birds interacting closely with the box. This is where the forum is your friend; waiting is not easy, and it helps to get suggestions and ideas from other crowbox | + | If after a week they’re still not approaching it, try changing one thing and see if that helps. Wait another week, watching closely to see if the change has had an impact. Repeat the process until you see birds interacting closely with the box. This is where the forum is your friend; waiting is not easy, and it helps to get suggestions and ideas from other CrowBox |
| + | * Be sure to follow [[kit: | ||
| ===== 6. Conduct observations and iterate ===== | ===== 6. Conduct observations and iterate ===== | ||
| - | After you’ve seen the birds interacting with the Crowbox | + | After you’ve seen the birds interacting with the CrowBox |
| - | For example, at once point a hawk moved into our training area and all the corvids totally ceased to interact with the local Crowbox | + | For example, at once point a hawk moved into our training area and all the corvids totally ceased to interact with the local CrowBox |
| - | In another case, the local crow population we were working with totally refused to move into the final stages because the blue jays were happily grabbing all the nuts and caching them… in the tree where the crows liked to sit. These crows were so clever about robbing the blue jays that they never had to deal directly with the Crowbox. | + | In another case, the local crow population we were working with totally refused to move into the final stages because the blue jays were happily grabbing all the nuts and caching them… in the tree where the crows liked to sit. These crows were so clever about robbing the blue jays that they never had to deal directly with the CrowBox. |
| The moral here is that there is no hard-and-fast rule. These are smart birds, but they’re also pretty unique to each other and to their environment. The goal of this project is to figure out what works and what doesn’t in training the broadest subsection of them. To that end, the most important thing you can do is... | The moral here is that there is no hard-and-fast rule. These are smart birds, but they’re also pretty unique to each other and to their environment. The goal of this project is to figure out what works and what doesn’t in training the broadest subsection of them. To that end, the most important thing you can do is... | ||
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| We’ve built what we hope is a rugged, relatively approachable design to interacting with corvids using nuts and coins. But the hard work is really yet to be done - working with the corvids and the box to figure out how to get them to use it in it’s final format: fetching their own coins for peanuts. | We’ve built what we hope is a rugged, relatively approachable design to interacting with corvids using nuts and coins. But the hard work is really yet to be done - working with the corvids and the box to figure out how to get them to use it in it’s final format: fetching their own coins for peanuts. | ||
| - | To that end, the more carefully you document your results (including # of cycles per phase, length of time in each phase, number of corvids using the box in your location, the weather, notes on the environment, | + | To that end, the more carefully you document your results (including # of cycles per phase, length of time in each phase, number of corvids using the box in your location, the weather, notes on the environment, |
| (Note that another feature not yet included is a cloud-based data logger to automate data collection and facilitate sharing. More on future features we’d like to include [[kit: | (Note that another feature not yet included is a cloud-based data logger to automate data collection and facilitate sharing. More on future features we’d like to include [[kit: | ||
| - | ==== Summary ==== | + | ===== Summary |
| - | The future of the crowbox | + | The future of the CrowBox |
| See you on [[http:// | See you on [[http:// | ||
kit/overview_doc.1533034416.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/07/31 03:53 by admin