Cheap human-sensing from ceiling - recommendations please!
Dan Williams wrote 04/05/2015 at 19:30 • 1 pointI'm working on an interactive art project. I need to sense people's movement around the gallery (the artwork, hung from the ceiling in a series of nodes, will respond to it).
I don't need high resolution, but I need to cover an area about 10x20m, with 6' tall dividers in it - the ceiling is high, but I can't guarantee covering it with one camera.
Obvious options include camera(s) mounted high up, or a network of PIRs or infrared proximity detectors hung above the space.
I'd like something reasonably cheap (low total cost, preferably < £50, or low cost per sensor, preferably < £2 - assume I've already got a raspi & arduinos or similar, so don't worry about those), something that won't require too much calibration, and preferably something that will spot children as well as adults (so proximity type sensors would need to have the range to spot someone 2' tall, as well as 5-6' adults.
Before I embark on building and testing a few options, I'm sure someone else must have some experience? Big thanks if anyone can share any ideas, recommendations, or even "this failed" type stories.
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Combine with something, to logically OR the detection with this other trigger, like a lighted kiosk with information. Wall off the area somehow, and break IR for entry/exit? Is there a focal zone almost every viewer will seek? Pressure plate? Comment log?
Checkout the gesture controller project:
https://hackaday.io/project/1173-touch-less-gesture-controller-home-automation
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sadly, tagging guests would be impractical, and would detract from the experience (as, apart from anything else, they'd likely be conscious of the tag, and the impression would be that the artwork was responding to the tags, not the people).
Good idea though, thanks
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Is it infeasible to give the guests tags of some sort as they walk in?
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yes, as long as it's not going to leave permanent residue, so tape should be fine.
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Can you modify the floor - like with retro-reflective tape?
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