Anti-Pigeon Device to Drive Away Feral Pigeons from Windowsills Considering Positive Punishment Strategy

Abstract

We adopted a positive punishment strategy to develop an anti-pigeon device, called APD to resolve the pitfalls of current off-the-shelf devices. The feral pigeon memorizes the unpleasure experience when encountering the APD, resulting in deterring and keeping it away effectively. The APD is a flat device installed on windowsills, not blocking high-floor views. The function mechanism of APD is the same as the electric mosquito swatter. It includes an ultrasonic sensor, a relay, a microcontroller platform, two 3V-button batteries, a MicroSD adapter, an SD card, a 9V PPP battery, a set of circuits, and a set of electric nets. The circuit set includes an oscillation circuit, a transformer, and a voltage multiplier. When the ultrasonic sensor detects a pigeon approaching the APD, the controller directly counts and records them into the SD card. Immediately, the relay initiates the circuits to raise the transient voltage to 1.5kv. Subsequently, the pigeon touches the nets and experiences an electric shock. Once the pigeon leaves, the relay immediately turns off the set of the circuit. The APD was tested in real environments to verify its effectiveness. The result demonstrated that no feral pigeons approached or stayed on the windowsill in the seven-day observation, and the windowsill was still clean without pigeon excrement. The positive punishment strategy operated well in keeping the nuisance pigeons away.