BirdBuggy: parrot controlled vehicle

[arnoldus]

I just found this. I don't know if the parrot is clipped.

http://hackaday.com/2012/12/08/bird-bug ... more-91322
https://sites.google.com/site/birdbuggy109/home

[arnoldus]

Oh boy, talk about problem solving!
This guy's hammer-and-nail problem solving always involved technology.

Pepper, the parrot, has been a part of our family for over a decade. However, Pepper produces terrible shrieks when left alone.
To combat the shrieks an automated sound triggered squirt gun was created to deter the bird from shrieking. At first, the squirt gun proved effective. The bird’s screaming would cease after the squirt gun would fire. However, the effectiveness of the water gun did not last.
Pepper started utilizing the water as a bird bath and continued to shriek.

Next, a remote controlled noise maker was placed near the bird’s cage (fig 2). Whenever the bird shrieked, a user could press a button to activate the noise maker startling the bird. This too did not last as the bird became adjusted to the rattling of the noise maker.

Instead of startling the bird into muteness, allowing the bird to roam around the house may be a better option. However, because of the messes the bird leaves behind and the possibility of the bird getting stepped on, roaming the house un-attended is not an option. If he could be placed on a mobile platform that could move about the house, hopefully he would stop screaming. Thus the idea for the “Bird Buggy” was born.

[marie83]

Yes the bird is clipped. I saw this the other day and was going to post it until I realised why the bird needed the buggy in the first place!! Excellent idea for truely disabled birds though- I mean deformities and stuff not poor clipped souls.

[Michael]

I guess just simply being nice to his pet never really cross the mind of this otherwise intelligent engineer...

[pionus]

That is the coolest thing i have ever seen!

Liz, I wonder if Rambo would like one of these?

[Grey_Moon]

As unhappy as I am with the Pepper's clipped wings and his guardian's way of thinking about him and interacting with him, this could be a very interesting invention for some birds who cannot fly or get around as much----plus it gives them a lot of enrichment and a sense of control.

Okay, and its ridiculously cute I admit ^^

[GreenWing]

I delighted upon watching this, thinking it was just another African Grey using its intelligence. Then I read the article from Wired magazine...

“What we normally do is spray him with a water bottle and it shuts him up for a little bit,” Gray told WUFT. “So I built a voice-activated squirt gun. It worked really well at first, but then he started using it as a bird bath and would scream just to get squirted.”

Talk about a backfire. After the squirt gun solution dried up, Gray had to dig deeper to find a fix.