jhr
Well-known member
Say \"goodbye\" to cr@pping seagull misery
On the assumption that, um, not all of you are woolly liberal Guardian readers, you may have missed the article below from today's edition. Sounds like a great idea, but no mention of price. In any event, a special "marine" version will no doubt be available shortly at 3 times whatever the current price is.
Is it a bird? No, it's Robop
The problem of gulls is only getting worse. "Every year they're moving further inland to find nesting sites," says pest control expert Bob McIntyre. "Previously, the only long-term solution was to net and spike the area, which is expensive, restricts access, and looks ugly."
In fact, the pestilent avians were troubling McIntyre so much that, two years ago, he fell to discussing innovative solutions with Allan Davie, a local electronics specialist. McIntyre had a notion, but not the technical know-how to realise his vision. Davie had the expertise to match his inspiration and, two years later, the enterprising pair from Longniddry, East Lothian, have launched Robop on an unsuspecting gull population.
Robop - Robotic Bird of Prey - looks, moves and sounds like a peregrine falcon, one of the most feared predators in the British countryside. Made with an all-weather shell of aircraft-grade fibreglass, it contains a microprocessor that allows it to sense whether it is night or day, activate a realistic-sounding voicebox and dial up its owner via Wap to alert them to the fact that its rechargeable batteries are running low. The bird is also programmable remotely, allowing an almost infinite combination of wing flaps, head turns and calls at timed intervals. Robop is, however, stationary, so the owner must physically shift it from point to point around the problem area in order to prevent the pests from getting used to its presence.
Davie gave up his job at a laser company to work on the prototype. "It was a financial risk," he says, "but it's been fun." After winning the East Lothian business achievement award this year, the pair are anticipating substantial sales as a number of organisations - including Southampton docks and Hibernian football ground - consider its installation. They have thus far sold six.
"I knew it had huge potential because it's a worldwide problem," says McIntyre. He notes that the company has already had expressions of interest from as far afield as Portugal. "There's still a fair amount of scepticism because it's a new product, and people tend to compare it to the plastic owl that just sits around." But in tests on an Aberdeen rooftop, two Robops scared away more than a thousand gulls in only three weeks. "It's nice to use nature to solve a problem created by nature, without harming anything," says McIntyre.
On the assumption that, um, not all of you are woolly liberal Guardian readers, you may have missed the article below from today's edition. Sounds like a great idea, but no mention of price. In any event, a special "marine" version will no doubt be available shortly at 3 times whatever the current price is.
Is it a bird? No, it's Robop
The problem of gulls is only getting worse. "Every year they're moving further inland to find nesting sites," says pest control expert Bob McIntyre. "Previously, the only long-term solution was to net and spike the area, which is expensive, restricts access, and looks ugly."
In fact, the pestilent avians were troubling McIntyre so much that, two years ago, he fell to discussing innovative solutions with Allan Davie, a local electronics specialist. McIntyre had a notion, but not the technical know-how to realise his vision. Davie had the expertise to match his inspiration and, two years later, the enterprising pair from Longniddry, East Lothian, have launched Robop on an unsuspecting gull population.
Robop - Robotic Bird of Prey - looks, moves and sounds like a peregrine falcon, one of the most feared predators in the British countryside. Made with an all-weather shell of aircraft-grade fibreglass, it contains a microprocessor that allows it to sense whether it is night or day, activate a realistic-sounding voicebox and dial up its owner via Wap to alert them to the fact that its rechargeable batteries are running low. The bird is also programmable remotely, allowing an almost infinite combination of wing flaps, head turns and calls at timed intervals. Robop is, however, stationary, so the owner must physically shift it from point to point around the problem area in order to prevent the pests from getting used to its presence.
Davie gave up his job at a laser company to work on the prototype. "It was a financial risk," he says, "but it's been fun." After winning the East Lothian business achievement award this year, the pair are anticipating substantial sales as a number of organisations - including Southampton docks and Hibernian football ground - consider its installation. They have thus far sold six.
"I knew it had huge potential because it's a worldwide problem," says McIntyre. He notes that the company has already had expressions of interest from as far afield as Portugal. "There's still a fair amount of scepticism because it's a new product, and people tend to compare it to the plastic owl that just sits around." But in tests on an Aberdeen rooftop, two Robops scared away more than a thousand gulls in only three weeks. "It's nice to use nature to solve a problem created by nature, without harming anything," says McIntyre.
