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The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

maxnagy.com

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Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#101

Post by aenis »

dsr_ wrote: post #76
ww520 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s an awesome setup. Curious how do you triangulate using the video from a camera.

If you aren't moving your position and you have a topographic map of your territory, and you have a line-of-sight weapon that doesn't need wind or range adjustments... then you don't really need to know where your target is in 3 coordinates, you only need 2. I would expect that ambient lighting changes are harder to compensate for when selecting targets. It is, however, terribly irresponsible to do this, since tempor…

Yeah, I agree - this was an unsafe system. We lived in a secluded space, and that surely helped prevent accidents, but i'd not set it up like this again even if I lived alone.

As others suggested, a water cannon would be safer (not entirely sure about a sprinkler - in my experience with pidgeons they do seem able to get used to all but most unpleasant defences). Also, an auto-firing high pressure, precise water cannon would be a cool side project :->

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#102

Post by aenis »

MaxikCZ wrote: post #99
aenis wrote: post #66

Did something similar. My wife was upset about the flying rats defecating on her flower pots on the terrace. Those birds are stationary (generally) and slow so I managed to iterate a solution that (a) used a 3w green laser mounted on a webcam with servos and (b) later used a static laser with a mirror that was mounted on a set of servos. I used a stationary 4k webcam. I mapped the whole terrace so I didn't need to us…

3w laser sounds terrifying in itself. Firing it autonomously even more so. Have you made some calculation of how long would direct eye-hit need to last to cause blindness, and how long for a bounced light from bright diffuse object? My guess would be way less than 100ms for direct hit, but I am not sure even diffused reflection would be safe at such power levels.

Nope, I assumed any exposure to the light would cause blindness. The way it operated was it would stop if anyone was at the terrace (as indicated by the door lock being in a closed position, something one could do only from the inside). But yeah, it was a product of frustration, not rational thinking. I'd certainly consider it stupid if someone else described it to me now.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#103

Post by mateo1 »

aenis wrote: post #66

Did something similar. My wife was upset about the flying rats defecating on her flower pots on the terrace. Those birds are stationary (generally) and slow so I managed to iterate a solution that (a) used a 3w green laser mounted on a webcam with servos and (b) later used a static laser with a mirror that was mounted on a set of servos. I used a stationary 4k webcam. I mapped the whole terrace so I didn't need to us…

You better not be anywhere near a residential neighborhood. Posts like this remind of of the annoying necessity of regulating what can be sold to retail consumers.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#104

Post by perfopt »

rglullis wrote: post #6

If you want the low-tech solution, here is a recipe that definitely resolved it for me: - One big spoon of cinnamon - One big spoon of chilli peppers - Half a bottle of cheap, cleaning vinegar Spray it in all the places that the pigeons want to land. I am doing that once a week and it is enough to keep them away. If you clean your whole balcony with it, you might be able to go through most of the spring - when I thin…

No water? Just mix in vinegar?

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#106

Post by yareth »

Had to solve this problem at two separate places and boy was it a journey. The pigeons ignored everything, even the spikes; we later found one sitting in nest built directly atop of them, looking all cozy (place was unoccupied at that time). What actually worked was two things: a net and a cat. The net broke once after some strong winds, so needed maintenance, but otherwise works okay, albeit the ugliness factor. The cat solution was a bit unintentional thanks to ... lets say involuntary adoption, but he takes care of problem with flying stars. The pigeons even seem to have started avoiding the place. This is on the fifth floor as well and he thankfully did not manage to yeet over the railing yet, though I wouldn't be surprised given how enthusiastic he is. We did weave a mesh through the railing in a measly attempt to reduce this risk.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#107

Post by mschuster91 »

maxmunzel wrote: post #2

Hi HN! I commented about this project of mine a month ago [0] and decided to write a more in depth blog post about it. Feel free to ask any questions :) [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31024099

I'm curious, can you share a scan of that police leaflet please?
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