A few years ago, A hardware A designer named Kyle Buzzard saw a viral video The seagull that stole the GoPro And took photos of himself looking into the camera.
“So the wondering and questions started, how can we do that and automate it?” recalls the buzzard, aptly named incidentally for its avian interest.
Buzzard and his collaborators came up with an idea AI powered A smart bird feeder that can recognize and capture photos of 1000s of bird species that visit your backyard.
But there were two immediate obstacles they had to overcome.
“First, try to get high-quality images of the birds up close and personal without disturbing them,” explains Buzzard. “Second, to be able to easily identify the species. Doing both is very challenging and the bird stays in place for a long time. How many times have you reached for your camera or bird book only to have a feathered friend fly away?”
Buzzard’s design pedigree helped them accomplish their goals.
Bird Buddy Launched its first Kickstarter in November 2020, raising $5 million, which, according to the company, placed them in the top 1% of all Kickstarter campaigns and was the most funded campaign in Kickstarter’s gadget category.
The result was an ingenious bird feeder that’s like Pokemon meets The Ring.
How it works: A feathered friend flies over the feeder, and an AI-powered camera notifies you, identifies the species, takes photos and organizes them into a collection.
Related: People continue to lick rare frogs in US national parks. The reason is a real trip.
Nature calls
Buzzard hopes the device will help reconnect people with nature. “Unfortunately, many of us have developed a dysfunctional relationship with the natural world,” he says. With technology taking up most of our attention, we fail to look and see the beauty around us. He hopes Bird Buddy can help solve that by putting the natural world in the palm of your hand.
“We want to give nature its chance in our digital lives,” Buzzard says.
For a fun look at the best photos captured by Bird Buddy users, check out my bird friend Portal.
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