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Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

raspberrypi.org

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Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#11

Post by mrlala »

jrace wrote: post #5

The problem is cats get no reward from catching the red dot. For some it can be a stressful as they need to catch the prey. The key is top reward them with a treat or toy once they have caught the dot. Just like humans, endlessly chasing something that gives no rewards can lead to undesirable outcomes and behaviours.

I get what you are saying, but one of my cats is really fucking lazy so the only time she runs around is to chase the damn laser pointer. Yeah I guess I could also give her treats. But she's so fat, I don't know if that's good either.

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#12

Post by IMTDb »

mrlala wrote: post #11
jrace wrote: post #5

The problem is cats get no reward from catching the red dot. For some it can be a stressful as they need to catch the prey. The key is top reward them with a treat or toy once they have caught the dot. Just like humans, endlessly chasing something that gives no rewards can lead to undesirable outcomes and behaviours.

I get what you are saying, but one of my cats is really fucking lazy so the only time she runs around is to chase the damn laser pointer. Yeah I guess I could also give her treats. But she's so fat, I don't know if that's good either.

Well if a child loves to play mario kart with you, but very rarely plays mario kart against the AI, the key takeaway should not be "I will lock myself in a room to build a mario kart AI that plays like me". Just spend time with the living creature if you love it.

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#14

Post by mrlala »

IMTDb wrote: post #12
mrlala wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you are saying, but one of my cats is really fucking lazy so the only time she runs around is to chase the damn laser pointer. Yeah I guess I could also give her treats. But she's so fat, I don't know if that's good either.

Well if a child loves to play mario kart with you, but very rarely plays mario kart against the AI, the key takeaway should not be "I will lock myself in a room to build a mario kart AI that plays like me". Just spend time with the living creature if you love it.

My two offspring take up every breathing second of my life after my wife & work.. cat comes after all that which doesn't leave much time.

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#16

Post by ebalit »

asdfman123 wrote: post #4

I built this using an Arduino board once for my roommate's cat. It played with it for a little while quickly lost interest, despite how much I tweaked the randomization algorithm. (I tried stuff like truly random points, random jumps, slow movement, etc. etc.) I figured out that she played much longer when I did it by hand. I realized that when I did it manually, I'd wait for her to catch the dot and then move immedi…

I think you might be able to detect that the cat caught the dot by identifying an unplanned motion of the dot itself.

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#17

Post by rckoepke »

tzs wrote: post #3
mattferderer wrote: post #2

Side note: some dogs also seem to enjoy & request laser pointers. We bought our pets a pre-built version of this for Christmas. They seem to enjoy it randomly going off during the day when we're not around or busy.

Side side note: Eastern gray squirrels, Steller’s jays, and assorted chickadee and junco species completely ignore my green laser. I expected them to chase it, run away from it, or at least look at it a bit to determine if it was a threat, but no, I have not see any reaction at all.

These are animals in the wild? I personally think that pets are generally understimulated and more likely to respond to artifices like laser points.

Like how rats were shown to get addicted to cocaine/morphine and waste away due to ignoring food/etc....when the rats were housed in tiny boxes with no other rats to socialize with, and no objects/toys to interact with except for the cocaine/opiate dispenser. However, when provided with a vibrant community of other rats and a highly stimulating environment, rats seem to generally not get addicted to narcotics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

It's likely that for an animal which spends most of its time in an apartment where most of the time everyone is either gone (at work) or sleeping, a laser pointer is highly stimulating. For animals who spend their lives outdoors, sensory signals related to predators, prey, food, habitat, companions, mates, and enemies....could be much much more stimulating than a laser pointer.

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#18

Post by asdfman123 »

ebalit wrote: post #16
asdfman123 wrote: post #4

I built this using an Arduino board once for my roommate's cat. It played with it for a little while quickly lost interest, despite how much I tweaked the randomization algorithm. (I tried stuff like truly random points, random jumps, slow movement, etc. etc.) I figured out that she played much longer when I did it by hand. I realized that when I did it manually, I'd wait for her to catch the dot and then move immedi…

I think you might be able to detect that the cat caught the dot by identifying an unplanned motion of the dot itself.

That's an excellent point and it sounds very easy to implement.

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#19

Post by dreamcompiler »

tzs wrote: post #3
mattferderer wrote: post #2

Side note: some dogs also seem to enjoy & request laser pointers. We bought our pets a pre-built version of this for Christmas. They seem to enjoy it randomly going off during the day when we're not around or busy.

Side side note: Eastern gray squirrels, Steller’s jays, and assorted chickadee and junco species completely ignore my green laser. I expected them to chase it, run away from it, or at least look at it a bit to determine if it was a threat, but no, I have not see any reaction at all.

Jumping spiders (yes, wild ones) will chase lasers. They have excellent eyesight, unlike a lot of spiders.

https://youtu.be/mQpZEwGxn7I

Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi

#20

Post by pbhjpbhj »

tzs wrote: post #3
mattferderer wrote: post #2

Side note: some dogs also seem to enjoy & request laser pointers. We bought our pets a pre-built version of this for Christmas. They seem to enjoy it randomly going off during the day when we're not around or busy.

Side side note: Eastern gray squirrels, Steller’s jays, and assorted chickadee and junco species completely ignore my green laser. I expected them to chase it, run away from it, or at least look at it a bit to determine if it was a threat, but no, I have not see any reaction at all.

Have you tried red laser?
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