Sure, you could dress your dog up for Halloween in some pre-fab hot dog costume or a little French maid outfit, but what’s the fun in that? Hilarious as it may be, there’s no hack there. [Becky Stern] will help you out of your pet costume rut with the tutorial for her latest creation, laser dog goggles.
First things first: the laser she uses is fairly benign. You can safely stare it down for just under 30 seconds, so your pet should be okay. [Becky] offers other helpful safety suggestions, like covering the delicate battery pack with fabric to avoid scratching damage, and waiting until the adhesives are completely dry before outfitting Rover. But hey, if your dog isn’t into eye wear, don’t force it.
These are based on Doggles brand dog goggles and the Adafruit Trinket. The laser is mounted on a micro servo so that it pivots back and forth, allowing your dog to scan the ground like RoboCop or Terminator. As you might expect, [Becky]’s tutorial includes a comprehensive list of tools and great documentation. Check out her video overview after the break.
How is this a Hack?
Dog + Laser
DOG + LASER!!!
That is how.
Since when is hacking a spend $$ and assemble thing? I call that MAKING, hence the whole MAKE thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I like MAKING as much as everyone, but there’s already a site for that, and this could be seen as an advertisement.
Arguably, mere making becomes hacking if you modify and improve the original product offering, for instance, the sleep mode on some cufflinks from a well known company…
https://www.garlicsoftware.com/articles/files/0662584a661f5b1cdb84dc2c17935537-1.php
He gets bonus points for breaking out the AVR assembler.
@David
Well, we’ve finally found an argument less interesting than “is this really a hack?”
Dogs, with frickin’ lasers attached to their heads.
Dr. Evil would be very happy.
I love this so much.
Unfortunately, my pitbull will chase a laser dot until she’s completely exhausted, so this would be pure insanity.
Related: multiple laser diodes on springs on a hat, made by my friend Matt: http://www.attoparsec.com/artifacts/helmet.html because we need lasers everywhere.
Oh I just want to buy them so much!. Great post!!!!
ehmmm just asking, Adafruit pays?
Amaigad, I just discovered I can make them! DIM!!!!
Lets buy everything from Adafruit and assemble!!! Yay!!!
$15.21 + shipping – Doggles ILS dog goggles (with clear lenses for night visibility)
$8.95 – laser diode (dot, line, or cross will work great)
$6.95 – Trinket 3v microcontroller (or GEMMA)
$5.95 – micro servo motor
$5.95 + $5.95 – 150mAh lipoly battery and charger
$0.75 – JST battery plug
$0.95 – slide switch
$1.95 – JST extension (optional)
$4.95 – heat shrink tubing
(uncle/nolink) – black gaffer tape
(uncle/nolink) – hot melt glue
(uncle/nolink) – E6000 adhesive
$11.95 – wire strippers
$7.25 – flush diagonal cutters
$14.95 – scissors
(uncle/nolink) – soldering iron and solder
$4.00 – USB cable
$4.00 – solderless breadboard for prototyping
$3.00 – header pins
How much is that, Can you tell me as I add them on my cart?
Tonight we are so much DIYing.
OWMAIGAD. I am so being to beat smellsofbikes`s friend Matt and his overpowered-already helmet. (shh… we all saw it)
I sincerely doubt it. Wait until the gin wears off ;)
I could be mistaken, but anyone incline to duplicate this they should be able to so so without buying a damned thing from Adafruit. Perhaps if they can’t they probably are not a hacker?
Not recommended for cat costumes…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwB8nbI4TuM
LOL!!!! I love this! More costumes project Hackaday. Our family adopted a shelter dog, we will build this with our daughter. Thanks Becky Stern!
‘safely stare it down for just under 30 seconds, so your pet should be okay’
dog eyes and human eyes are different. this should be obvious.
Dog eyes are wayyyyyy more sensitive to light than our eyes, so how do we know this is safe for the dog’s eyes? I guess we should ask the dog right? Oh yeah…. dogs can’t tell us if this is hurting them for sure… But as long as the humans are amused, right? and how long does it take for damage to occur with reflected laser light, and again, dogs eyes are built for low light, so they’ll be letting in even more laser reflection. It’s bad enough when people treat their kids like pets, but please don’t be a stupid pet parent and treat your pet like you would your kid….
Yes, I was that guy that went there. But maybe someone should go there every now and then….
The eyesight of cats are even more sensitive.
Wont anyone think of the millions of blind felines due to reflected laser pointers?
“Interestingly, some authors have reported the incidental finding in laser workers of peripheral retinal lesions consistent with old laser injuries, although no recollection of such injuries could be evoked (Fig. 5). Presumably, threshold laser injuries to the peripheral retina had been asymptomatic and had gone unrecognized. Accordingly, the number of accidents reported in the medical literature might not reflect their true incidence.”
Barkana, Y., Belkin, M. (2000). Laser Eye Injuries. SURVEY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY, 44(6), 459-478. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6257(00)00112-0
Perhaps it is indeed unreasonable to rely on a pet’s self preservation or blink reflex if injuries can go unnoticed in humans.
Idunno. On the surface it looks like another ‘publish or die’ junk report.
Some injuries on some people who work with lasers could have been from lasers though there is no proof or even recollection of an incident and thus official measures of incidents could be wrong. That sort of thinking can be applied to anything.
who gets the fine when the dog is aiming lasers in the sky?
I highly doubt this is strong enough to affect air traffic. The offenders in those cases were using those $200-$300+, 200-500mW lasers you can see for over 20 miles. ;P
I am Fidocutus of Borg you will be assmelled, resistance is futile.
Hey Becky, great dog you got there, looks a lot like mine. AmStaffs a the best, specially if they are ‘interested ‘ in electronics ….;-)
Take care !
Your forever fan: Trouble6Shooter
This is how people get bitten. Can’t say I would blame the dog.
Pitbulls are well known for biting people. Often badly. That’s why they are banned dogs in the UK.
[Dog]: The stuff I put up with…
Locutus of Bark.
What did the dog to her to get punished this way ?
The video makes it pretty clear this dog does not enjoy the extra headgear: 1:26
#LookAtMeI’mFemale