Faced with critters trying to get in and a cat that loved to show them her latest kill, the folks at Quantum Picture came up with a system that unlocks the cat door based on image recognition. As you can see above, it uses a camera to capture the profile of anything approaching the cat door. That image is compared to stored positive identification sets, making up a feline positive identification protocol. Don’t think this is necessary? In the writeup there’s a couple of images showing the outline of a skunk. Sounds like this system is a necessity.
We wonder if this lucky cat also has an Internet enabled cat feeder?
[Thanks Stephen]
This is AWESOME!
Keeps out the skunks and squirrels!
I remember reading this web page 10 years ago. Quite and old project, but one of my favorites to this day.
I wish I could find that old webpage, recall it also from the mid-late 90’s. I’ve told so many people about it. If you ever find it pls let me know!
So, there’s a wayback machine for that: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.quantumpicture.com/Flo_Control/flo_control.htm
You should actually be proud of his new non-breathing friends; When a cat brings you a dead animal they just kill, they’re showing you appreciation and admitting you’re the alpha male. I hate it when I see dead lizards and when I saw my neighbor’s dead goose, but let him know I’m “grateful”…
while being excessively cool, this is as old as the internet :)
I would combine ist with a rfid reader which only opens for my chipped kitteh..
I like it, but somemone send these guys an rfid kit pls.
I personally think this is overkill. Simpler would be make an RFID reader on the door and it would open the door when it detects the tag on the cats Collar. That way it works 100% of the time and you don’t have your cat stuck outside because of a bad facial angle or something.
The problem is cats who like to bring other things in with them. One of my cats recently brought in a 5′ long snake (still alive) and they’ve brought in mice, voles, birds, frogs, and lizards. The RFID reader would still pick up their chip and let them in. The camera however, would recognize they had something in their mouth and block them out.
Unfortunately my cats have a way of “losing” collars on a semi-regular basis. I’m thinking it would be great if there was a reader for their implanted RFID chips which could work at a distance of a few feet. I’ve seen projects to hack up RFID readers for better range but they are still pretty expensive compared to this alternative.
RFID can’t do what this set up does. Facial recognition won’t allow kitty in if she is carrying an dead mouse or lizzard.
I would add a clock to it so that she can’t get out at night when the cyotes are about.
the point was to stop the cat bringing animals inside, RFID wouldn’t prevent that at all
RFID won’t detect if the cat has a dead rodent in it’s mouth as it comes back in the house. Which seemed to be part of the criteria they used when building this contraption. Still RFID does seem like a cheaper solution than a side profile camera setup.
Still I don’t think this setup would prevent laser cats from entering your house… nothing can stop laser cats.
wouldnt this let stray cats in with similar profiles
No prawns allowed huh?
Super cool! Just what the wife and I need. We also need a non black cat lol. It is so hard to take “regular” pics of her. Again, builder, awesome job :)
Just as an FYI, I don’t think RFID was even available when this project first came out. Also, it’s true that it doesn’t help with the rodents. I’ve considered trying to mimic this project, but none of the sources are available…
Schrödinger’s cat could have used this to it’s advantage.
I spy a thundercats logo!
thunder, Thunder, THUNDERCATS, HOOOO!!!!
— Dave
The 90’s called they want their website and computers back…
Pedrick: Schrödinger’s cat could have used this to it’s advantage.
LOL! Maybe it’s in the house and outside at the same time. So you wouldn’t need the pet door?
Hmmmmm …
This old project is very nice, but it should be improved:
-add RFID so you don’t open the door to other cats.
-make everything embedded, there are uC now that are powerful enough so you don’t “burn” all that electricity with a computer.
Anyone else get completely annoyed when people do not RTFA.
Yeah, el_walto, it’s a rerun. Featured here on Hackaday a few years ago.
http://hackaday.com/2005/06/06/hackaday-monday-sipping-7/
Here at “This day in History” we thrive at dredging up the very best of crap so old your parents were still kids when it happened.
Check back tomorrow when we review the Rotary Phone Speed Dial apparatus.
I brutally torture kill all the cats I can find in the hoods. You should invent some cat luring device to make my job easier.
@catkiller
иди јеби се
wow cutting-edge technology+cats=awwezome!!!
i’m in ur cam haxxing ur face recognition!
@catkiller
NEDM!!!
i’ll build the NEDM ultimate machine,i was building an helicopter with flamethrower,now i know why:
it was ceiling cat asking me to build the NEDM ultimate machine!!
@catkiller, if you’re racing off to google translate, you’ll want the serbian->(your language here) setting.
wow. dude!!
FWIW, when cats bring you animals they are not being grateful or showing appreciation, they’re trying to teach you how to hunt, like a cat would teach its kittens in the wild. They expect you to play with the dead thing like you’re hunting it or chase it if it’s still alive.
Maybe your cat. Most cats just want you to acknowledge their kill. If you try to take it from them, they won’t let you.
Yeah, at least glance the article before you give us your “expert solution”. Unless you meant to give every rodent in the area an RFID, then RFID means nada.
@mrgoogfan When using Google to give someone a well deserved direction, try for a language that won’t be misinterpetted.
@catkiller You have had one too many disco biscuits.
I remember this long ago too, but it was a great read, and i’ve thought about it from time to time. Thanks hackaday.
Thats brilliant!
So I guess you could kinda call this a CAT Scanner!
Wow, I definitely ned this. My cats bring back alive and healthy rodents. I never chased so many mice and birds in my house since I have cats, which is a pity.
you should continue to develope it and make a patent. thats if there isnt already one. who knows. good job.
@Unouhu
You got it backwards.
The cat is trying to teach you how to hunt, and starting from the beginning. Basically, the cat thinks you are on the ‘baby’ level.
@j_at_chaperon
Same deal as wil Unouhu, but you are a bit further along. The cat is confident you’d eat the rodent (so.. er, yea…) but doesn’t think you know how to hunt/kill.
… animal behavior is fascinating :D
Odd concept to think a cat is teaching the person that supplied food its entire life thinking they needs teaching how to acquire food, flawed logic.
In my experience cats bring it in as a social act and to ‘brag’, and because they like to play with their prey in a comfy safe environment.
I second Whatnot – our cat does bring in half-dead and fully alive prey, but he will not let you near it, it is his!.
It once took three of us to separate him from a rat so we could dispose of it.
Someday hack-a-dupe will be able to spot this using a quantum computing Schrödinger cat
This was definitely posted a few years back.
Been waiting for this to become a product for years, but now I’m looking at this as a prime candidate for a raspberry pi project…
Raspberry pi project anyone?
archive.org shows that this page has not been changed since it was first crawled in 2000.
seriously, this page is over a decade old. this should/could have been posted on day one of hackaday.
Well I just read it in 2021! Thank goodness for archive
So we rfid all the critter in the yard? Is that it?
Is it possible to buy this prey detector flap?
Where could I buy one? Anyone in the Uk who could make me one?