Lycari
Desperate to Edit
My brother's something of a digital electronics engineer in training. Next year, he's taking a class where he gets to pick his project and work on it all year long. Since I'm the "idea girl" of the house and have good attention to detail, he came to me for help coming up with an original idea for an "epic" project.
It occurred to me that, while lots of places sell specialized reptile vivs, most of the large ones are heavy and difficult to clean, or the setup is less than user-friendly, or it's hard to get at some component if it breaks.... So, we came up with this. We are still in the planning stage, and we don't even have any drawings yet, but I wanted to share the idea with the community and see what everyone thinks. With a little luck, these might just be available to the public in, say, ten years?
The idea is to have a piece of furniture which would run an entirely or almost entirely self-contained vivarium providing for all of the reptile's needs, while allowing for the easy disconnection, removal, and cleaning of the tank itself, as well as easy daily access without having to remove the tank.
It would be able to regulate heat, light, and possibly humidity, both by the desired range and on a timer--even on a calendar, allowing for day/night cycles and seasonal cooling/warming, either set by the keeper, based on monthly/daily averages, or even tied in to the real conditions anywhere in the world. It would include full-spectrum light by day, artificial moonlight by night, and even carefully-controlled transitions providing an artificial sunrise and sunset.
It would run on a computer running an OS specially designed for the system, and the keeper would be able to easily use any and all of the tank's functions by way of a touchscreen located somewhere convenient... most likely on the side of the unit, or else somewhere on the front. All relevant temps will be displayed in either Fahrenheit, Celsius, or even Kelvins for you nerds out there, along with humidity either on the touchscreen or on an LCD display nearby... not sure yet.
In addition to keeping the whole thing running, the OS would include a tracking/monitoring program that would allow for reptile record-keeping. It will include the ability to manually enter information. It may be able to gather information from iHerp or, if we can manage it, some form of mobile app. With luck, we might even be able to work some form of voice-recognition into it.
The tracking software would include customizable alerts on feeding days, cleaning schedules, "time to change the water" reminders, and predicted upcoming sheds. Any of these can be turned on, turned off, or customized.
The whole thing would have a built-in surge protector and backup battery. It would have its own cooling and ventilation system
For large tanks (and we may not be able to offer anything small), the tank would have some sort of robotic lift that would lower the tank to an easy-to-clean level, as well as allow for RC transportation across a level surface, even plush carpet (the RC controller would have an inconspicuous storage area within the unit when not in use).
A decorative wooden screen can be pulled down over the tank if you want to give your snake some extra privacy or just want to shut out the light without turning it off.
We are still in the planning stage. Ideas, questions, and comments are welcome! Updates will probably be few and far between for a while; this will take at least a year to complete! The prototype will be designed for a corn snake in a 55-gallon tank.
It occurred to me that, while lots of places sell specialized reptile vivs, most of the large ones are heavy and difficult to clean, or the setup is less than user-friendly, or it's hard to get at some component if it breaks.... So, we came up with this. We are still in the planning stage, and we don't even have any drawings yet, but I wanted to share the idea with the community and see what everyone thinks. With a little luck, these might just be available to the public in, say, ten years?
The idea is to have a piece of furniture which would run an entirely or almost entirely self-contained vivarium providing for all of the reptile's needs, while allowing for the easy disconnection, removal, and cleaning of the tank itself, as well as easy daily access without having to remove the tank.
It would be able to regulate heat, light, and possibly humidity, both by the desired range and on a timer--even on a calendar, allowing for day/night cycles and seasonal cooling/warming, either set by the keeper, based on monthly/daily averages, or even tied in to the real conditions anywhere in the world. It would include full-spectrum light by day, artificial moonlight by night, and even carefully-controlled transitions providing an artificial sunrise and sunset.
It would run on a computer running an OS specially designed for the system, and the keeper would be able to easily use any and all of the tank's functions by way of a touchscreen located somewhere convenient... most likely on the side of the unit, or else somewhere on the front. All relevant temps will be displayed in either Fahrenheit, Celsius, or even Kelvins for you nerds out there, along with humidity either on the touchscreen or on an LCD display nearby... not sure yet.
In addition to keeping the whole thing running, the OS would include a tracking/monitoring program that would allow for reptile record-keeping. It will include the ability to manually enter information. It may be able to gather information from iHerp or, if we can manage it, some form of mobile app. With luck, we might even be able to work some form of voice-recognition into it.
The tracking software would include customizable alerts on feeding days, cleaning schedules, "time to change the water" reminders, and predicted upcoming sheds. Any of these can be turned on, turned off, or customized.
The whole thing would have a built-in surge protector and backup battery. It would have its own cooling and ventilation system
For large tanks (and we may not be able to offer anything small), the tank would have some sort of robotic lift that would lower the tank to an easy-to-clean level, as well as allow for RC transportation across a level surface, even plush carpet (the RC controller would have an inconspicuous storage area within the unit when not in use).
A decorative wooden screen can be pulled down over the tank if you want to give your snake some extra privacy or just want to shut out the light without turning it off.
We are still in the planning stage. Ideas, questions, and comments are welcome! Updates will probably be few and far between for a while; this will take at least a year to complete! The prototype will be designed for a corn snake in a 55-gallon tank.
