My cat likes my desk. I like my desk. I like my cat.
I do not like my cat on my desk.
I’ve been webcam shopping for about six months, so I’m about ready to get one. Haven’t finalized which one yet, so I’m still open.
I’m also willing to purchase a separate camera that’s solely dedicated to this project, especially if mounting it somewhere other than atop my monitor would work out better. Guess if the software allowed it, I could also set other zones in my office to watch the door, the bird feeder in the window, etc…
My idea is to find a piece of software that’ll let me create a box around my desk, and look for my cat within that box. When it sees my cat in the “desk box” it should allow me to trigger… something. Maybe a noise, maybe a magic packet sent to a 50 cal turret, I don’t know. I’m looking for advice.
For the least amount of setup I would use a Grandstream SIP camera like the GSC3610 but any camera in their lineup will work. Then in the camera there is an option to set up an alarm to ring any SIP endpoint when motion is detected in a certain area (you can just put the IP address of whatever endpoint you want) that could be a VoIP phone, speaker, control panel etc. Also the camera lets you have multiple schedules on different days and whatnot. I use one as a driveway alarm and have had pretty good luck (other than a false alarm when it swaps from day to night mode, but that can be worked around). You could also do this with a Reolink camera if you want it to ping an app on your phone (that would also work even if you aren’t home).
Blue Iris allows you to create a zone, in your case, it would be around the edge of your desk,
When an event in that zone happens, it can be used to trigger an alert or action.
https://imgur.com/a/3AZUv0pI’m not sure how you would convert that event in to physical action, maybe you could send an email to a mobile that has a really loud notification and vibration.
I have used Remootio in the past to manage gate, it can send a trigger to a relay. You could use it to trigger a relay attached to a motor that spins a flyswatter or something like that. It would be a bit of trial and error, but its likely one of the easier options to try rather than learning Arduino coding and whatnot.
Claymore.
If you know anything about Python you could probably set up something like OpenCV to detect your cat’s face and when it does, play a loud sound like you screaming “HEY!!! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THERE!!!” on your computer which you would hook up to some loud speakers.
IFTTT is probably the easiest to set up as long as your selected cam and anti-cat device are supported. Easy to set up a noise alert on motion detection.
Most home assistants would also achieve something similar. Can easily connect a camera (like Wyze, Ring, etc.) and have a routine triggered like Alexa max volume, Alexa say get the fuck off my desk, etc.
You can get a motion activated sensor that mounts to a canned air bottle. Check out the “SSSCat” pet deterrent products as one example. When it detects motion, it lets out a loud hiss and scares the hell out of the cat. My cat went from chilling on the desk to just chilling on my feet instead when I sit at the desk.
Put tin foil on your desk
my cats love tin foil, they play/lay on it, and once you make it into a ball because you get tired of the slip and slide they demand play time so that tall tale is just that.
A 50 cal seems overkill for a cat, unless you are keeping a lion or a tiger.
Go for something with a smaller caliber so you don’t ruin your furniture with bullet holes.
Side note, a 50 cal would probably also ruin the furniture in my neighbor’s house.
It WOULD lessen the property value of the whole street, that is a well documented side effect.
One 50 cal shot could get rid of your desk AND cat entirely and then you wouldn’t have this problem at all though… Problem solved?
Check out the free version of Alfred Camera to see if it is what you need. It was designed to repurpose old equipment into a security system, like that old cell phone you have in your desk drawet that was left over from an upgrade.