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bird aquarium

 [sic]
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So... Building on the idea of the flying bird cage (see link), I came up with this.

Imagine a plastic sphere, like a large hamster ball. Only this one is watertight, and has some means of supplying fresh air to the interior. Like a hamster ball crossed with a diving bell I guess. The sphere also has a propellor and some variable floatation device, so that it can function like a submarine. There's a camera inside the sphere, pointing at the centre, and connected to a computer. The computer tracks whatever is at the centre of the sphere, and adjusts the position of the sphere so that the moving thing is always at the centre of the sphere.

Now, what could go inside the sphere? A bird, or course! As the bird flies around inside the sphere, the computer tracks the bird's movement, and hence moves the sphere to match.

Get a few birds inside a few spheres, stick them in a large tank with some fish, and there you have it - a bird aquarium. Obviously the birds couldn't live in the spheres, and would have to return to a proper cage after a while... But still:

BIRDS AND FISH TOGETHER AT LAST!

Can't you see the potential?

Edited to add - apparently the sphere's movement couldn't keep the bird in the centre of the sphere. Well, if that is true then OK, so the bird flaps around in different directions within the sphere, and the computer adjusts the sphere's direction accordingly. The sphere still moves on the whims of the bird, and we're all happy.

—iivix, Jun 06 2004

flying bird cage http://www.halfbake...lying_20bird_20cage
Previous and less ambitious application of same idea [iivix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Ferris wheel version of this idea http://www.halfbake...le_20Ferris_20wheel
[hippo, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

http://www.halfbake...dea/Aquatic_20Fauna http://www.halfbake...dea/Aquatic_20Fauna
If pigeons can pilot missiles, they can drive submarines [iivix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Aviarium http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Aviarium
A bird aquarium. Or a fish cage. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Pigeon-guided missiles http://www.cs.utah....search/pelican.html
If pigeons can pilot missiles, they can drive submarines [iivix, Oct 05 2004]

[link]






       Can we have flying, spherical aquaria too?

I can claim a bit of prior art for this idea (see link). When you think about it, underwater birdcages are such a "HalfBakery" idea it was bound to have been done before here.
—hippo, Jun 06 2004
   

       It doesn't move but...[link]   

       Well, great minds think alike, as they say...   

       [hippo] That would certainly have made the London Eye a bit more interesting... & RE: flying aquaria... Well, that's just silly isn't it? How would the fish possibly steer the thing? ;)   

       [2 fries] I see this bird aquarium as somewhat larger than your charming design - being something of a show piece for a haute-cuisine restaurant or some avant-garde design agency, rather than for domestic use.
—iivix, Jun 06 2004
   

       Basic design flaw [iivix] - if an African Swallow dropped it's coconut in there, the nut would smash your sphere.
—ConsulFlaminicus, Jun 07 2004
   

       Is that an African or European swallow?
—engineer1, Jun 07 2004
   

       //BIRDS AND FISH TOGETHER AT LAST//   

       didn't realise this segregation existed. must be alot of hungry kingfishers out there.
—etherman, Jun 07 2004
   

       [marked-for-deletion] bad science: moving the sphere around as the bird flies around in it will have no impact on the relative position of the bird within the sphere. (Short of sudden accelerations, of course, which will likely leave your bird splattered against the sides, anyway.)
—DrCurry, Jun 07 2004
   

       [DrCurry] ...um. What? The bird flies around as if free, the sphere tracks the bird, as if it were a bubble around it. The bird's relative position to the sphere is supposed to remain constant, with the bird at the centre of the sphere, whereas the bird's relative position to the big tank o'water can change as it moves. The bird is powering the movement, not the sphere.
—iivix, Jun 07 2004
   

       Or to put it another way, if the hamster can do it, so can the bird.
—iivix, Jun 07 2004
   

       The hamster's got friction to work with.
—yabba do yabba dabba, Jun 07 2004
   

       More of a bird submarine, no? Does give me an idea, though.
—phoenix, Jun 07 2004
   

       Well, OK, I'm not convinced on the science... But if you are right and the bird does move to the side, it doesn't matter so much, since the bird moving round in the sphere can still be used to control the sphere's direction. So maybe the bird has to flap at the side of the sphere that it wants to go in, but it could still work.
—iivix, Jun 07 2004
   

       So, if there sphere is filled with air, how can it not float to the surface? You must put something heavy inside, but then the sphere will end up on the bottom of your aquarium. Even if you get it to "cruise" inside the tank, the weight needed to keep it from floating will definitely obstruct the bird-movement-tracking device from adjusting quickly and, as Curry said, have your birth splattered against the sides.   

       I have a better idea: "The S.C.U.B.A. school for birds"
—Pericles, Jun 07 2004
   

       Well a submarine is full of air, isn't it. Same thing then.
—iivix, Jun 07 2004
   
      
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