Project member
(abrahamfinlay.near)
Near Bird Feeder
Idea
Short version
Create a bird feeder that dispenses birdseed when it receives a small amount of NEAR. Point a webcam at the feeder so that the public can see their transaction go through and the seed dispensed into a tray for wild birds to come and enjoy.
Idea
long version
The main idea is to create a bird feeder that someone could send a small amount of Near to and the feeder would dispense some birdseed for birds to come and eat. It could be built so there is a live stream of the feeder that people can watch and send Near to the feeder and the feeder will receive a signal and dispense some birdseed out onto a small platform for birds to come get.
Goals of this project
First I think it’s a great example of turning small crypto payments into real world impact that people can physically see. Being able to send a digital token instantly over the internet and cause bird feed to be dispensed for birds to eat would be really cool to experience.
Second, it highlights the fast transaction speed and very low cost of NEAR transactions. ETH and BTC would not work for something like this because the transaction fees are way too high.
Third, it incentivizes innovation and allows a community to contribute to a project in a meaningful.
People love watching birds and enjoy feeding them. This combines those loves with NEAR.
To Build
One would need to build a bird feed dispenser that could be operated via a raspberry pi and connected to the internet. First version of this would probably use an extension cord.
Make a smart contract that triggered the bird feeder on receipt of a certain amount of NEAR.
Get a webcam pointing at the bird feeder and stream it to the Near Bird Feeder website. The contributions could even pay for decentralized video streaming of the bird feeder during daylight hours.
Bonus: allow investment into the project by multiple parties, who then each get an NFT that enables the person to get a portion of the funds that get sent to the bird feeder.
Conclusion
This project is a great way to get people using Near and feeding birds because anyone who wants to use this feeder would have to have a Near wallet so they could use the bird feeder system. The feeder system could be in someone’s backyard versus a park because it would be much easier to do maintenance on it, especially the daily cleaning the feeder would need. The person that took care of the feeder would get the Near that people sent to the feeder so that person can buy more seed and be compensated a little for their time cleaning the feeder and maintaining the system.
