4.1 SMART HOUSE #1 - Connected Birdhouse (Arduino Yun project)

The birdhouse is a traditional object, a wooden birdhouse to be placed outdoor, and connected it to a lamp shaped like a nest, to be placed indoor: The connected birdhouse is an interactive object able to communicate to the nest/lamp the presence of a bird inside the house, and accordingly to a color coded signal was giving also some informations about the size of the bird itself. In the event of a bird entering into the house, the nest/lamp remotely controlled via WiFi by an Arduino Yún, was turned on.

http://blog.arduino.cc/2014/09/15/the-internet-of-trees-with-arduino-yun/
  AND
http://acrosseducation.tumblr.com/post/96914866862/connected-birdhouse-arduino-yun-project
AND
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/of-course-there-is-a-smart-birdhouse

The second link contains computer code - http://acrosseducation.tumblr.com/post/96914866862/connected-birdhouse-arduino-yun-project

B-Squares [http://www.b-squares.com/ ] is a start-up creating modular electronic components that allow you to build devices in a Lego-like fashion. The creators have come up with "recipes" for B-Squares to get your imagination going on what can be devised. Here is one recipe any TreeHugger could love: a solar-powered bird house that tweets when a bird enters the house. see also: http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/b-squares-brilliant-plot-to-take-over-electronics-with-lego-like-gadgets.html

The birdhouse is set up with a simple wooden bird house, and a few B-Square modules including a battery module, an Arduino module, a couple solar modules, and a few other basic parts. When a bird enters the house, you get a tweet. How appropriate.

http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/diy-solar-powered-bird-house-tweets-when-birds-arrive.htm

The tiny Raspberry Pi computer records when birds enter and leave the nest box, together with information on the weather. This information is sent over the Internet so activity can be monitored from anywhere.

http://viilaamo.com/birdhousepages/birdhouseindex.html

We've been monitoring a blue tit nest here at Ynys-Hir with the computer. The latest data is shown below. The orange bars show the number of visits per 1.3 hours, the red line shows temperature and the green line shows wind speed. I'm hoping to post more graphs later.

4-4.  SMART HOUSE #4 - Raspberry Pi bird box - Dr Andrew Robinson
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/posts/Raspberry-Pi-bird-box

This project looks promising. We need to contact Dr. Robinson for plans and code  
Manchester University  Email: [email protected]
     OR
Daniel Cochlin - Media Relations Officer
The University of Manchester
0161 275 8387
[email protected]

5.  Key Arduino Links
http://www.arduino.cc/

Arduino YUN  $66.21 + VAT
Arduino YÚN is a member of a new groundbreaking line of WiFi products combining the power of Linux with the ease of use of Arduino.
http://store.arduino.cc/product/A000008

Download the Arduino Software
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

The open-source Arduino environment makes it easy to write code and upload it to the i/o board. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is written in Java and based on Processing, avr-gcc, and other open source soft ware.

This page contains the download links to the latest Arduino integrated develop ment environment (IDE) software, release notes, and additional software not included with the IDE such as system images for the Yún.

Arduino IDE   Arduino 1.0.6
Arduino 1.5.7 BETA (with support for Arduino Yún and Arduino Due boards)
OpenWrt Images for the Yún

PROJECT STEPS 

1.    Learn about local birds. Select bird you want to 
       have use your bird house.

2.    Research the ideal bird house for your bird.

3.    Plan and design your bird house to fit your bird’s 
       habits and preferences. 

4.    Survey your house and yard. Pick a location for the                        bird house.

5.    Create a paper birdhouse. Remember, the design
       must incorporate wood and metal materials.

6.    Optional: Make a cardboard prototype.

7.   Plan your final design. Include wood and metal.  Use of       other materials, including recycleables is encouraged.

        
8.    Research and specify the “smart” technology. You
       will probably have several choices.

9.    Build your bird house and add “smart” electronic
       components and complete wiring.

10.  Write computer code that allows the electronic to
       communicate with eachother. Test the electronics.

11.  Take Bird House home and mount birdhouse in 
        yard. Hook up the electronics.

12. At home: observe birds, record activity and make   
       field notes on bird behavior around the bird house.
     
13. Make a final journal entry on the project. Describe 
      results, and conclusions. Note your successes as 
      well as thinking about anything that could be 
      improved if you were to repeat the  project.

   

NOT ALL BIRD HOUSES LOOK ALIKE

Bird houses come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some are very functional, but not very interesting to look at. Some are nearly as elaborate and a real house or even a castle; and very beautifuly decorated. You have a lot of room to be creative with this project as long as you include wood and metal in the design. 


We should add that while you must  use wood and metal at least, we encourage you to consider plastics, composites, fiberboards. It would also be very cool to add something that has been recycled – like roofing materials, or soda bottle siding. Use your imagination, your creativity, andthink different!


One final thing: you must plan and build in "smart" electronics that communicate wirelessly. Some set-up can take pictures and send them wirelessly to your laptop, some send a Tweet each each time a bird enters the house. There are very cool options to consider, and the opportunity to learn a lot about microcircuitry and coding.
The other extreme. A bird Hosue in the style of a castle. Do birds like this better?Your success will be measured not only by the "design," but even more by the behavior of birds you have chosen to build the house for. Do they like it? Do they nest there? Or is it the wrong design for them? Plain or fancy,
you need to understand what attracts them and what sends then flying away.
Learn About Your Bird


The fact is, not everybody bird in the neigborhood will jump at your invitation to stick around and occupy the new house you worked so hard to build for them. But, don't worry. There are nearly 50 American bird species willing to nest in artificial houses intended for that purpose. Like any house guest, some are less picky than others. Birds will decide to stay and build a nest or move on depending on a wide variety of factors, such as thedepth, overhang, size of the perch outside and diameter of the entrance hole. What's essential for you is research. Knowing the specific desires of the bird you hope to lure to your house and creating a house that's just right for them.




Check out this link . . .  "All About Birdhouses"
http://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/features-of-a-good-birdhouse/

    Note: 
   the links below will need to be copied/pasted into browser

And this one . . . "Right Bird, Right House" to learn which birds are the best candidates for where we live.
http://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/?__hstc=75100365.05f1afc43689d1feb458b05900dc5cc0.1411331211408.1411331211408.
1411786494467.2&__hssc=75100365.2.1411786494467&__hsfp=2975137007

And . . . "Tips for Making Bird Houses and Nest Boxes"
http://www.birdwatching-bliss.com/making-bird-houses.html

And . . . "Making a Safer Bird House"
http://birding.about.com/od/birdhouses/a/housesafety.htm

We very much want you to use your own creativity. Don't just copy something you have seen. Still, there is no doubt seeing some cool bird houses will inspire you and get your imagination fired up. Here's a link to a website with many many bird houses. Some are pretty out there. Enjoy.
"78 Decorative, Painted, Outdoor & Wooden Bird Houses"
https://www.homestratosphere.com/bird-houses/

The final post for this project [Spring Project. Post 3] will be about the smart house aspect of the project. Stay tuned!
That's going to be really fun and a big challenge.

Okay guys, here’s the low down on our first project. It’s a major one! It will be challlenging and a lot of fun. It will take weeks to complete. 

SMART BIRDHOUSE PROJECT















We’re each going to build a smart bird house to take home when completed and put up somewhere in our yard. And, then, to observe the behavior of our local birds toward this new home. Do they like it and use it, or not?

This won’t be an ordinary bird house. For consturction we’ll need to use wood and metal construction. It should look really cool, so it will need to be decorated. And, it will be smart. What do I mean by smart? Well, it will have electronics that will send us a text message or tweet each time a bird enters the bird house.



We have two main goals for this project. 

First . . . 
to develop your skills in working with a range of tools needed to work with wood, metal, and electronics. Computer coding will also be involved. Don’t worry, we do not expect that you will know how to do everything. That’s what us mentors are for.





Second . . .
to introduce you to the idea of design thinking. Usually when people use the word design they are referring to how something looks. But design thinking is more than that. Design thinking is about wanting to do something and then figuring out how to do it. Design thinking requires a problem solving mind set. Design thinking follows a very specific process. You will be learning this process and applying it in the Smart Bird House Project.

DESIGN THINKING

So What is the Design Thinking and the Design Thinking Process?

Design thinking is user-centric; it’s about understanding the needs and motivations of the person or group that is being designed for. It’s collaborative and requires conversations, brain storming and team work. It’s experimental because it creates a space to try something new. It gives you the permission to unlearn, fail and to make mistakes and come up with new ideas. Getting it right the first time is not essential, or even expected. But learning from your mistakes and correcting them is an essential part of Design Thinking.


In short, design thinking incorporates three main components:

It’s centered on the user.
It is collaborative 
It is experimental. 

To achieve all the three goals we all have to openly participate in the creative process. There’s no such thing as a wrong idea so we can’t worry about that. In other words, we can’t worry about the fear of failure. And to be experimental. We have to innovate. We have to think different.

We’ll use three words to describe phases of the design thinking process:  Immerse. Invent. Implement.

Immerse
When we start with the process of design thinking, the first phase is Immerse. Immerse has two steps — Understand and Map. This phase is about research. Talk to experts, use the internet and map to understand who we are designing for. We can’t solve problems to satisfy everyone so it’s vital that we define our stakeholders – the group we are designing for. We need to build what is called a user profile by focusing on the WHO – who is the user we are designing for? 

Invent
Now we’re ready for Phase II, Invent. Here we need to define the problem clearly and create potential solutions. The invent phase has two steps – Define and Ideate. 

Define means to arrive at a clear understanding of the user and his or her needs based the understanding gained by doing research into the problem and targeted users. Then comes Ideation. Thinking of solutions is what most of us love to do and cannot wait to jump into. The important thing to remember here is without a definition of the problem we are trying to solve and a clear understanding of the intended user, even the most creative ideas don’t have any meaning. It's not enough for something to be cool. It has to be cool to our target audience (birds, in this case). Sorry but it doesn't matter if you think it's cool. The birds have to agree with you for there to be success!

Ideate is a fancy word for the creative process. It answers the question: what are the possible solutions to solve the problem and to meet the needs of the user. The goal of this step is to come up with any and all possible solutions to the challenge. 

Implement.
To Implement means to create working solutions and get user feedback. Here we must select among the ideas we have considered and select the one we feel is best. Then we build, first, a prototype. Following the protiotype (and perhaps revisions to correct mistakes and/or to incorporate good new ideas) comes user tests. 

The word prototype refers to mock-ups, functional solutions, etc. but for us makers what prototype means is building anything that you can receive feedback on. Prototypes lead the way to the user test. It is sometimes hard to conduct user tests as it will be with our birdhouse project before it is completed. In this case, we will need to consult experts and looks at similar projects that have already been done. This phase should not be bypassed if at all possible. It is one of the most critical steps in the design process.

After reaching your goal don’t forget to look back to determine how far you have traveled and judge the value of the journey. We can keep revisiting the Immerse, Invent and Implement phases, as this methodology does not necessarily follow the linear process.

It is a journey to train oneself from being a designer to a design thinker, but this process does not confine itself only in the realm of design. Design thinking can be applied to solving all manner of problems. If you do only one thing in the MakerKids program it should be to learn and understand design thinking. It is a very powerful tool for learning that can be applied to many things.