Use of an IR camera?

[leehambley]

Hi, sorry for the abuse of GH issues, I'm wondering if you had the opportunity to try this out with a Pi Noir? that with some IR LEDs could be a really nice solution to not needing incredibly obtrusive.

[JoakimSoderberg]

Hello!

Not sure what you mean about the "abuse of GH images"? :) You mean the catcierge-samples or something?

Anyway, no I have not tried using IR LEDs instead, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I mean, IR Leds are a bit more expensive I guess, and I don't know if there are many LED strips with them but just as long as you have a uniform light source as the background it should make no difference if it's IR or normal light. The end result that is used by the algorithm is a black and white image anyway.

I'm currently in the process of building a newer "passage" where the detection is performed. This time I scrapped making my own LED backpanel for a ready made one from ebay (since my own kind of broke after a while, a few LEDs got dimmer and so on).

But if you're making your own cat door like this, I'd appreciate if you keep me updated. Would be fun to see how well it works for someone else as well :) Also, I can probably come with some tips...

One tip is to make the floor out of something that is easily cleanable, like a slick surface, since you know, the cat drops the prey just in front of the door at times with resulting pool of blood...

[leehambley]

Hi, sorry for the abuse of GH images

Oopse, I meant to say "issues" – I meant about abuse, since it's called "Github Issues" not "Github Questions" :)

[leehambley]

Anyway, no I have not tried using IR LEDs instead, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I mean, IR Leds are a bit more expensive I guess, and I don't know if there are many LED strips with them but just as long as you have a uniform light source as the background it should make no difference if it's IR or normal light. The end result that is used by the algorithm is a black and white image anyway.

This was my thought too, and, I also came up short looking for LED strips with IR LEDs, but there are some IR LED boards.

[JoakimSoderberg]

• I accidentally pressed Comment before I had finished typing

[JoakimSoderberg]

But yea I would not call this an abuse of GH issues :)

[JoakimSoderberg]

Here are some images of my new version that I have not installed yet:

Doors both in front and back to make it easy to access stuff if they break (Front side):

Backside (to access the backlight):

I tried to make it as modular and cleanable as possible.

This is looking from "inside the house":

Home built double insulated door (which is it's own detachable module):

The acrylic glas I'm using is all removable so everything is easy to access (protection film still on it in this image):

The entrance is from the side so that the cat has to do a 90 degree turn. This is needed from experience, since otherwise the cat might run really fast past the camera and it's just a blur. Also it is good to stop wind blowing directly into the house.

[JoakimSoderberg]

But then don't be intimidated, the thing can be really basic as well. A "weekend hack" if you like...

Sorry for spamming with stuff unrelated to your question :)

[leehambley]

But if you're making your own cat door like this, I'd appreciate if you keep me updated. Would be fun to see how well it works for someone else as well :) Also, I can probably come with some tips...

Actually I bought a door with an integrated IR reader, which works really, really well - and within the first night we let the cats use it, we had a live mouse in the house.

My requirements are a bit different, fortunately the local builders market cuts wood to size, so I can have a tunnel, and a "run" for the wall made up for them.

My setup is in the basement:

So I need to build something slightly different;. Also I took the window off the hinges so I could replace the opening with wood, but it's a "flood protection window" so we plan to re-mount it, and install some wedge to hold it open and direct the cats into the opening so we can quickly close it if the worst happens.

[leehambley]

Thanks for the images of the new build! Great to see a v2 :-D … What was it Brooks said … "build one to throw away, you will anyway" ? :)

[JoakimSoderberg]

Ah ok, looks like a nice setup!

It looks like you could build the entire thing on the inside if you make some room. Is that what you're planning? Makes things easier, especially with network access and electricity and so on :)

Hmm did not know there where versions that use IR as well. All I have seen is RFID... Actually I have the side project of adding support for my RFID readers as well, just need to make my own bigger antenna. My cat has one of those chips inserted in her neck, which is pretty common here in Sweden.

Not that other cats coming inside has ever been a problem, most likely because we're the only ones around here with a cat door anyway, so they don't get the concept, especially if it involves going through 2 cat doors, a corridor and stuff. They only poked their head in front of the camera sometimes...

And yes, my first version was a fast hack... I just wanted something quick so I could start collecting the data, so that I could then start coding the detection algorithm stuff :)

[JoakimSoderberg]

I meant get another (cheap) inner cat door in that case... so the entire thing is on the inside, so if the cat has some prey they are stopped there.

Also, one thing to remember is to make the roof of the corridor pretty low at the detection stage. So the cat can have the head positioned at the same height each time it passes by the camera. But then when it comes near the door, there must be room for the cat to turn around, and the door to be able to open outwards of course (the door that has the shut out mechanism). This is what I mean:

Maybe it's apparent I have been thinking about this a lot lately, I can't stop typing ;)