Peck (tap) sensor
JohnR2010
Posts: 431
I'm looking for a way to sense a chicken peck. My goal is to train my wife's chickens to peck a flashing LED to receive a treat. The plan is to mount a LED in the middle of a small block of wood attached to an automated feeder. When they peck on the block near the LED I would like to detect that vibration. I have worked with the the L3G4200D MEMS 3 axis motion sensor and was planning on going that route as it can detect a tap. But it seems like overkill for what I need so I thought I would ask the forum first.
I prefer it to key off of vibration apposed to the physical pushing of a button. It will be easier to train the chickens if they don't have to hit it in the exact place with the correct pressure. I would like any strike on the block to work.
PS Chickens are attracted to the sound of pecking. If one of them is making a lot of pecking sounds by eating food off of a hollowed out block of wood the others will come over and join in. So the louder the sound the block of wood makes the more attention it will get. This will help train the chickens to tap for food. One other thing to keep in mind is they also totally freak out if things move unexpectedly so i need to do this with no visibly moving parts.
Little more background if your interested: The long term goal here is to see if it is feasible to create a feeder the chickens can open by pecking on the sensor. A common problem with feeders is they also attract wild birds. These birds bring in diseases and mites. My wife's rooster had leg mites this summer and we are pretty sure it was from the wild birds that got in the coop to eat their food. Have you ever given your wife's rooster a bath? Well I have several times, but that's another story.
So to address the wild birds issue I built a treadle feeder (they have to step on it to open a door) but only two of the hens figured it out. It was kind of funny to watch them step on it and eat while the other hens just stood and stared at it dumb founded. I want to make a better auto feeder one that all the chickens can operate. Well at least most of the chickens can operate, my wife has a buff orpington (one of her favorites of-course) that forgets where the coop's entrance is half the time.
I prefer it to key off of vibration apposed to the physical pushing of a button. It will be easier to train the chickens if they don't have to hit it in the exact place with the correct pressure. I would like any strike on the block to work.
PS Chickens are attracted to the sound of pecking. If one of them is making a lot of pecking sounds by eating food off of a hollowed out block of wood the others will come over and join in. So the louder the sound the block of wood makes the more attention it will get. This will help train the chickens to tap for food. One other thing to keep in mind is they also totally freak out if things move unexpectedly so i need to do this with no visibly moving parts.
Little more background if your interested: The long term goal here is to see if it is feasible to create a feeder the chickens can open by pecking on the sensor. A common problem with feeders is they also attract wild birds. These birds bring in diseases and mites. My wife's rooster had leg mites this summer and we are pretty sure it was from the wild birds that got in the coop to eat their food. Have you ever given your wife's rooster a bath? Well I have several times, but that's another story.
So to address the wild birds issue I built a treadle feeder (they have to step on it to open a door) but only two of the hens figured it out. It was kind of funny to watch them step on it and eat while the other hens just stood and stared at it dumb founded. I want to make a better auto feeder one that all the chickens can operate. Well at least most of the chickens can operate, my wife has a buff orpington (one of her favorites of-course) that forgets where the coop's entrance is half the time.
Comments
https://www.parallax.com/product/605-00004
I'm curious if this will be problematic in a heavy storm or high winds.
Humm I like that. Do you think they will have to actually peck on the Piezo sensor? Or is it sensitive enough to be glued to the back of the wood and still detect the peck?
The spec sheet says if it is deflected by direct contact it will generate enough output to be detected by CMOS. I'm thinking the hens will have to peck directly on it. I fear I will be back to only a few hens will be smart enough to figure out that they have to peck in the exact spot to trigger the food. I might be wrong or maybe I can amplify the output?
Yea I would like the solution to compensate for that. I don't think basing it on sound would be a good idea, thunder would set it off. However, if they have to peck it twice before it activates may be doable. Not sure once I get my sensor worked out I will do testing to see what works best.
Thought about that for sure and it is in the running but I want to reduce the probability of false triggers. I think I would have to make it trigger on a double peck. That may be doable.
You have a few possible solutions that would probably work for everyone except Buff, she'll just need to toss back her blonde feathers and hope someone buys dinner for her!
Pollo loco, the MMA7660FC accelerometer has a built-in tap detection filter and costs less than a buck. That is the one used in the Parallax badge and described in Jon's g-force Spin Zone article.
Thanks Tracy I like both options. I favor Jon's accelerometer that is the way I was originally going to go but the price was too high with the accelerometer I was working with. But now with the MMA7660FC it is much more inline with what I expect. I'm also going to order a couple of the gold rolling balls they are just too cool and simple to not try. I want to get a feel for how much vibration it takes to set one off. They have omnidirectional and unidir
ectional versions I have ordered one each. Here is a good app note on the balls http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/608256.pdf. It looks like a great fit for putting the prop asleep with a WAITPEQ command.
Thanks
I wasn't aware of the MMA7660FC either until recently. It has very nice low power interrupt modes, agreed, suitable for low-power wakeup of the Propeller.
That looks awesome Tracy thanks for doing that!! I think your screwdriver tap test would be inline with a peck maybe even softer. If I can get the hens trained to peck this when the LED is lit I will be able to use it for several other projects. Have them open and close doors etc. Who knows I may even get in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. <smile>.
John Abshier
I think there was a light that told chickens what button to hit. Then, I think they got some kind of treat...
I read somewhere there was a chicken in a Vegas hotel you could bet against. I think the chicken cleaned up.
John Abshier