Fox and Dog Defense With Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

[ChickenSoft]

Hello! I'm a software engineer from the Midwest who has started several companies with a focus on mobile devices, gaming, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.

Everything changed with covid closing down the office... My wife and I bought a 15-acre farm last year, started a flock, and are becoming full-time farmers.

...But that hasn't stopped me from creating software and automation solutions!

Check this out:

This picture was sent to my phone last week by an automated fox detection system I designed!

We've seen this guy four times in the past. He has killed almost all of our neighbor's chickens, but we've been lucky enough to scare him off from our girls.

I was extremely stressed out over this fox, obsessively checking the chickens every 30 minutes, and decided to do something about it: I used my experience in machine learning to build a fox and dog detection device! It's a water-proof box about 8" by 4" with a little Raspberry Pi computer inside.

Using the latest advances in neural AI object recognition, it constantly analyzes a video feed from a built-in camera, looking for anything shaped like a dog.

When it sees a dog or a fox, it sounds a high-pitched alarm, activates a strobe light, take pictures, and sends text messages to my phone. It does all of this locally within the device, so it doesn't require any outside services or subscriptions, or even internet (except for the text messages). It works daytime or night, and has a response time of about 2 seconds upon detection.

It's a completely closed system that requires no technical knowledge, hardware, or professional installation. You literally just plug it in and point it where you want a fox alarm, and it works out of the box. It broadcasts a wifi signal which you connect to with your phone or computer for setup -- No app is required.

I've shown this project to several people who own chickens, and all of them have demanded that I build them one, right this minute.

I believe that a kickstarter campaign is probably the best way to proceed, which is why I've made this post! I really enjoy this community and have found it to be invaluable over the last year. I'd love to have your thoughts before I get started:

1) How interested are you in this -- Is it unnecessary, interesting, or a must-have?

2) What price would be too expensive? (This helps determine hardware goals)

3) How important is it to be solar powered with a battery backup? Would you pay $125 extra for this option?

4) How important is it to have cellular mobile for text message alerts, instead of wifi? Would you pay $100 extra for this option?

5) It can be configured to detect people, bears, cars, cats, bicycles, plus 60 other things. How interested would you be in using this for intruder detection, such as people and vehicles?

6) What other features would make this more interesting to you?

 

[dennisma1]

That's pretty cool. However I have dogs. I could see it having a lot of other uses though. Good luck!

 

[azygous]

Genius. But will your AI be able to teach the predator to go away and stay away? We have electric hot wire that does that.

 

[ChickenSoft]

Genius. But will your AI be able to teach the predator to go away and stay away? We have electric hot wire that does that.

No, unfortunately. We also have an electric fence, and so do our neighbors. Foxes have jumped theirs and gone on a killing spree. He keeps testing ours, and actually made a run when our lawn service removed it for just 2 hours.

Sadly, I have my rifle by the door, waiting for the next alert... That's the only permanent fix.

 

[ChickenSoft]

That's pretty cool. However I have dogs. I could see it having a lot of other uses though. Good luck!

We have 5 dogs. They aren't left alone to mingle with the chickens, though. That's a recipe for disaster.

This actually lets us know if one got loose and is somewhere he isn't supposed to be.

 

[Punkyrooster16]

We have 5 dogs. They aren't left alone to mingle with the chickens, though. That's a recipe for disaster.

It really depends on the breed and the individual dog. We’ve never had issues with our dogs. The only time we were between dogs, though, we pretty much became a fox drive thru - I ended up selling the rest of the flock because it was just a matter of time. I think this is something that would be more helpful with predators that are more easily deterred by light and sound. This is only going to help if you’re always on site and can intervene whenever the fox shows up.

 

[azygous]

Do you use bait on your hot wire? For bears and dogs I use peanut butter. For bobcats and foxes, I wire a tiny wire "burrito" containing a chunk of canned mackerel onto the hot wire. The mackerel eventually dries out, and I just leave it to do its job. Once a predator inspects the bait with tongue or nose, it's the last time they will be interested in your chickens as the pain supersedes any interest they might have in your chickens.

I think your AI computer surveillance is terrific, but baiting your hot wire will save you a lot of effort running out to defend you flock. It will "teach" even when you aren't there.

 

[cmom]

I also have electric wires around my coops and pens and so far nothing has gotten past the electric wires. I check my power daily to make sure it's hot. If your voltage is too low the predators will learn it only hurts a little and will go through it or over it if they can. I have a very powerful fence charger. I want anything that touches the wire to know it and to hurt.
This may not be too pretty but it works. My voltage is 10,000+ volts. It doesn't kill but does hurt.

 

[WestTNriverrat]

It’s a great concept. Would probably be concerned about them getting used to it and ignoring it. May need to hook up some auto bird banger. Not many animals get over gun shots.

 

[azygous]

Bears get over gun shots very quickly.