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In an effort to quiet his loud pet parrot, a robotics student has created what must certainly be one of the most complex devices ever to be operated by a bird. The "Bird Buggy" lets the parrot roll safely around the house ? and keeps his beak occupied.
Andrew Gray, an engineering graduate student at the University of Florida, set out to make a device that would stop Pepper, his parrot, from screaming all the time. Deterrents didn't work: A robotic squirt gun ended up just being a scream-activated bird bath; meanwhile,?a device that rattled loudly when Pepper squawked was just ignored.
Gray noticed that Pepper was calmer when they were in the same room. Of course, a big bird like a parrot can't really be allowed to fly around a house willy-nilly. So Gray built the Bird Buggy, a little scooter with a perch for Pepper and a joystick the bird can operate with his beak.
Now Pepper can navigate the house?at a reasonable pace; The scooter has bumpers that respond to collisions by backing up, and an IR sensor that prevents Pepper from ramming anything too hard.?The device uses a camera and computer vision system to automatically return to a docking station when not in use. There's even newspaper set down for the inevitable mess.
Pepper is remarkably deft at controlling the platform: In the video, he moves purposefully and avoids obstacles, and appears (as much as such a thing can be observed in a bird) to be enjoying it. And the best part is that, what?with all the pushing and pulling of the joystick, he doesn't have a chance to make as much as a peep.
More information on Gray and his Bird Buggy can be found here; the program at which he built it is the University of Florida's Intelligent Machines Design Lab.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/bird-buggy-keeps-noisy-parrot-quiet-mobile-1C7499874
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