Very serious inquiry about a not-so-serious topic

[Matthew N. Wright]

I'm considering setting up several webcams and Arduino controllers in a room with my big dogs so that bitcoiners can go to a page and basically feed and play with them by simply sending bitcents to certain addresses. I realize it's kind of corny, but I've shared this idea since 2010 on Skype and no one has done it since then, so I figure someone's waiting on me to pave the way.

To tell you the honest truth, the reason I haven't come out publicly with this idea is because I was afraid of people taking the idea and modifying it to abuse animals and eventually torture or kill humans ("To vote for death, send BTC here, to vote for life, send here!", etc anyone else see that movie?).

Anyway, would this project be worth my time? Would anyone be willing to help out who knows what they're doing with Arduinos? Somehow I feel this will be the future of internet entertainment (I've previously discussed with Maagus Iverson back in 2007 about starting a physical tank paintball game controllable online for example, controlling RC helicopters with webcams online, and controlling a human being with a wecamhat, all online, but didn't know about Bitcoin at the time).

I understand this will potentially make no money, I understand this will definitely cost money, I understand this will distract me from other work, but everyone needs a hobby, and it would make feeding my dogs a simple task.

P.S. If I go ahead with this project, I bet some asshole later on is going to pay like 3 BTC and dump a whole container of food on my dogs' heads, ultimately filling the entire room up with dog poop.

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[Alex Zee]

This could be interesting Especially if you place food dispenser in such a way that dogs (or cats) have to do something non-trivial to get the food. At least jump to get it (or would this count as torture? )

Or you could add other interactions. And auction control to the highest bidder for the next 10 minutes.

I'd guess people wouldn't mind playing with a real animal online - you have fun with no downside like cleaning after them or a destroyed couch.

[Matthew N. Wright]

(or would this count as torture? )

Haha

[Alex Zee]

Actually, the more I think about it the more it seems like a brilliant idea!

And if you get really popular you can build a whole animal shelter somewhere with each animal connected to a separate channel so more people could play.

There are games with virtual pets, but AI is usually bad and they are stupid. Many people are also allergic and can't have pets.

And this animal shelter can pay for itself, so you helping animals and entertain people. There's definitely something in here!

[Matthew N. Wright]

Actually, the more I think about it the more it seems like a brilliant idea!

And if you get really popular you can build a whole animal shelter somewhere with each animal connected to a separate channel so more people could play.

There are games with virtual pets, but AI is usually bad and they are stupid. Many people are also allergic and can't have pets.

And this animal shelter can pay for itself, so you helping animals and entertain people. There's definitely something in here!

I actually wouldn't need to build the shelter, I'm a member of a group of shelters here in Korea. If it worked and there was interest, I think it'd be a pretty nifty way of getting donations for the shelters without worrying about the trust issues of sending large amounts etc.

[Joshster]

Someone did this with Twitter, when you tweeted it would give the dog a treat. It was on the news so the owner had to take it down because everyone was tweeting it.

[Alex Zee]

That's why you have to add other interactions and make feeding rather expensive.

Damn, if this thing would be real right now I would drop everything and just sit and play for hours

Imaging, all the people in cubicles - they watch youtube videos of cats, now they can play with cats!

Kids, whose parents don't allow them to have pets.

People who want to adopt a pet can now "try-before-you-buy" them

People, who leave animals in animal hotels while they go on vacations.

Possibilities are limitless!

And as robotics technologies improve, you can improve interactions. Send user's audio/video feed to the animal. Sell kits, so other people could setup this at home and interact with their pets from work...

I think somebody is already doing it. At least some basic kits for interaction with your own pet from work, I think I read a blog about it or something... Can't remember now.

[Alex Zee]

And name it tele-pets

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Someone did this with Twitter, when you tweeted it would give the dog a treat. It was on the news so the owner had to take it down because everyone was tweeting it.

Before I hunt that down, I want to ask: Can't there be a defense mechanism put in place to make sure a ten pound dog isn't being feed more than what's recommended for its daily diet? Seems to me to be just a case of simple programming.

Also, you can't have too much play, too little water, too much activity going on at the same time.

Thus, several dogs (and other animals) would need to be available around the world due to the different time zones people and animal live it. It may be Noon here now for me, but in Korea it may be some sleeping hour.

Overall, I see it working, but controls will have to be put in place, but all doable.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

And name it tele-pets

You're halfway there!

Bitty-Pets, with Satoshi-Pets being too lame.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Someone did this with Twitter, when you tweeted it would give the dog a treat. It was on the news so the owner had to take it down because everyone was tweeting it.

Before I hunt that down, I want to ask: Can't there be a defense mechanism put in place to make sure a ten pound dog isn't being feed more than what's recommended for its daily diet? Seems to me to be just a case of simple programming.

Also, you can't have too much play, too little water, too much activity going on at the same time.

Thus, several dogs (and other animals) would need to be available around the world due to the different time zones people and animal live it. It may be Noon here now for me, but in Korea it may be some sleeping hour.

Overall, I see it working, but controls will have to be put in place, but all doable.

Well, the dude in this thread was talking about using it at kennels for example. If that's done properly, people could just choose which cage to start streaming, and the arduino could show which dogs have already been fed (and block them from being fed more etc).

I've always thought it would be a wonderful project, but like all large scale projects, it costs money and has absolutely no guarantee of ever receiving any kind of profit, so I think I need to start on my own dogs first and see where the technology (and cost to profit ratio) goes.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Since you guys are already rushing through talking about names and such, I got the idea to call it "PeTroller" (Pet + Controller, not pet + roller. Ouch!).

Took the liberty of registering petroller.org where I should probably upload any progress to this project if it ever starts. Maybe make it a developers blog of sorts.

If it did ever get to a point that kennels could use this to help increase donations, I would be honored for them to be listed on that site as well!

[Alex Zee]

I am not a native speaker, but petroller for me reads either like something connected to petrol, or like Pet Troller (which will probably be partially true). Not that I'm peddling my jokingly suggested tele-pets - it was a horrible name

[Matthew N. Wright]

I am not a native speaker, but petroller for me reads either like something connected to petrol, or like Pet Troller (which will probably be partially true). Not that I'm peddling my jokingly suggested tele-pets - it was a horrible name

No worries, everything requires proper branding and every word at first sounds weird. I personally think "Windows" is a ridiculous name for an operating system, and "Linux" sounds like a disease you wouldn't want to catch.

[Alex Zee]

No worries, everything requires proper branding and every word at first sounds weird. I personally think "Windows" is a ridiculous name for an operating system, and "Linux" sounds like a disease you wouldn't want to catch.

True that.

You know, I think you don't even need Arduino. Since you would need a server to connect webcam and stream audio/video anyway, you can simply get something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/USB-4-Port-Relay-Control-Preassembled/dp/B004JWW1GQ

or this:

http://www.yoctopuce.com/EN/products/usb-actuators/yocto-relay?gclid=CMq4z-Wj3LYCFeF7cAodMQ8Avg

and write a program to control it from your home PC, the same you would run server on.

[Alex Zee]

And for streaming video they now make IP-cameras, which include a mini-server in it and have a network port or wi-fi:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-5860038-8380361?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ip+camera

[Luno]

Maybe it would be better if people could pay for virtual adoption rights? The girl paying the most gets exclusive rights to care for the dog for the duration of her subscription?

A live Tamagoschi.

It could be a charity for stray dogs also that way, lots of positive press.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Maybe it would be better if people could pay for virtual adoption rights? The girl paying the most gets exclusive rights to care for the dog for the duration of her subscription?

A live Tamagoschi.

It could be a charity for stray dogs also that way, lots of positive press.

Awesome idea on its face, but people probably won't want to care for a dog they can't even pet. That is one more thing to discuss with a kennel if it ever gets to that point. Not sure if it'd be financially viable though as one single person would need to offset a small portion of the equipment, streaming access, food, etc.