5 replies to this topic

[Barristan]

 

In his latest video Dominik Doll, a 15-year old student from Germany shows his fully automated 3d-printed nests. After you've selected a species from one of the 63-presets the nest will automatically adjust temperature and humidity for optimal keeping conditions.

 

Manually adjusting these parameters is also possible via a smartphone app he developed too. For his design, he already won a regional youth research competition ("Jugend Forscht").

I love the idea and also his design.
 

[Skwiggledork]

I cringe at the thought of spending ~$100 on a nest from Antscanada or equivalent. I am willing to bet that would sell for a lot more.  Not saying either Antscanada's or his items aren't worth it, just I am broke and not 100% addicted to ants yet. lol

[Barristan]

I cringe at the thought of spending ~$100 on a nest from Antscanada or equivalent. I am willing to bet that would sell for a lot more.  Not saying either Antscanada's or his items aren't worth it, just I am broke and not 100% addicted to ants yet. lol

 

You can always build something on your own. Watch tutorials about Raspberry Pi and integrate sensors etc. However I don't know how much one nest will be, these are prototypes only.

[drtrmiller]

As someone who has done this exact kind of thing in the past, I understood everything he explained and showed in the video, and I also know that it doesn't work so well in practice.

 

For one, I've come to the conclusion that local area heating of any kind produces condensation on plastic or glass surfaces when there is a big difference between the target and ambient temperatures.  A heated enclosure would work much better at mitigating this.

 

In any case, it's great that he's completing this type of work at his young age.  If he continues his experiments, I'm confident he'll come up with something really great in the coming years.

[Barristan]

For one, I've come to the conclusion that local area heating of any kind produces condensation on plastic or glass surfaces when there is a big difference between the target and ambient temperatures.  A heated enclosure would work much better at mitigating this.

 

I place the heating pads on the glass but I don#t use 3d printed nests. Ytong or plaster of Paris will reabsorb the water if it condensates on the bottom of the chambers. Maybe filling the button of the plastic chambers with some sand might help?

[drtrmiller]

Yes, I thought the answer was top/front-side heating, as well.  I actually used indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass in one concept some years ago, which allowed for fully transparent front-side heating.  Before that, I created a removable heated cover which was powered by a magnetic connector.  But as you mention, top/front-side heating only works if the non-heated surfaces in the nest are made of an absorbent material, such as plaster or ytong.  In a plastic nest, heating the top/front side will cause water to condense on the bottom/back.

 

With full-enclosure heating, there is the added advantage of a heated foraging area, which is especially important for species where foraging is more tightly regulated by surface temperature.

Edited by drtrmiller, April 22 2018 - 1:11 PM.