Instant camera attached to cat
Instant camera attached to cat - When you attach a camera to a cat and set it up to take pictures of the things it sees, you get to see some interesting things.
Well, I thought the hardest part is done by developing the software and soldering the controller board. But it is more the housing to protect the camera. You can not imagine what kind of requirements have to be fulfilled if you want to equip your cat with a camera. I built a small housing out of plastic plates and put it on the collar of the cat for evaluation purpose. This housing was last seen as the cat walked out of the door… Probably the wires I used for attaching were not strong enough. Or someone released the cat from the interesting looking piece. For the second try I used the plastic package of a child toy (Kinderueberraschung), put a stone in it for loading it with some weight and attached it again to the cat collar. This time the part returned - dirty and scratched outside, water inside. What the hell is the cat doing !? This raised the requirements for the camera protective housing a lot:
- Shock resistant - cat jumps from tree, housing hit ground
- Scratch resistant - Cat cleans itself with claws or sneaks above the ground
- Water resistant - If cat drinks, the piece around their neck will hang into water
- Theft resistant - If equipment draws attention cat will loose it, especially if it is easily removable.
From the looks of the pictures, the work was worth it.