No the title is not a euphemism, this really is a doorbell for fish! I stumbled on this recently and found the concept both amusing and ingenious. Here's a description from the website:
No the title is not a euphemism, this really is a doorbell for fish! I stumbled on this recently and found the concept both amusing and ingenious. Here's a description from the website:
Every spring, thousands of fish swim through Utrecht’s canals and waterways, searching for a place to spawn and reproduce. In the heart of the city lies the beautiful Weerdsluis, a manually operated lock. When the lock gates are closed, fish are forced to wait, wasting valuable time and energy – making them easy prey for birds and predatory fish. To help the fish, an underwater camera is installed at the lock. If fish appear on screen, you can press the doorbell! This alerts the lock keeper, who will open the lock when many fish are waiting.
This reminds me of the use of clams to control municipal water supply pumps in Warsaw Poland, turning the pumps on or off depending on the quality of water in the river they're pumping from. I...
This reminds me of the use of clams to control municipal water supply pumps in Warsaw Poland, turning the pumps on or off depending on the quality of water in the river they're pumping from. I can't remember where I first read this, but here's a Bored Panda article on the system. First it was AI taking human jobs; and now it's the mollusks too! Oh well, at least we have our fish doorbells.
Not to be someone who says everything can and should be done with computer vision but couldn't this be done quite easily with computer vision? Or are there non-fish sometimes in frame that you...
Not to be someone who says everything can and should be done with computer vision but couldn't this be done quite easily with computer vision? Or are there non-fish sometimes in frame that you don't want to open the door for?
The door isn't being opened automatically anyway, and ringing the doorbell just sends pictures of the fish to the operator, who waits until it's worth it to open the door for the fish. The...
The door isn't being opened automatically anyway, and ringing the doorbell just sends pictures of the fish to the operator, who waits until it's worth it to open the door for the fish. The decision-making probably takes enough other factors into account that it wouldn't make sense to automate that part. A computer vision model could choose when to take photos of fish to send to the human decision-maker, but that would be a relatively expensive middleman and would fail to take advantage of the opportunity for public education involved in something like the fish doorbell.
Yeah the "hey everyone look at the fish aren't they neat, push the doorbell" is a nice educational addition, plus it seems like something useful in discovering unexpected fish or other wildlife...
Yeah the "hey everyone look at the fish aren't they neat, push the doorbell" is a nice educational addition, plus it seems like something useful in discovering unexpected fish or other wildlife that are present too!
I was thinking the same thing. Shouldn't be too complicated to do this in software, either with a webcam or sonar. But that wouldn't be half as charming! We humans love to help others in need.
I was thinking the same thing. Shouldn't be too complicated to do this in software, either with a webcam or sonar. But that wouldn't be half as charming! We humans love to help others in need.
yeah it's definitely cute but, is it really cute enough that people will volunteer to monitor it 24/7 for years? but I guess they could always switch tactics later if/when interest dies down
yeah it's definitely cute but, is it really cute enough that people will volunteer to monitor it 24/7 for years?
but I guess they could always switch tactics later if/when interest dies down
Lol, computer vision is also probably a really terrible solution for this. If this was a problem you actually wanted to solve, you could just build a passageway small enough to not let a...
Lol, computer vision is also probably a really terrible solution for this. If this was a problem you actually wanted to solve, you could just build a passageway small enough to not let a significant amount of water through, but allow fish to swim up. They're called fish bypasses and they're regularly built alongside dams and other water structures to reduce the impact to the ecosystem.
It doesn't strike me that this is a problem they're actually trying to solve, and instead just a cute education campaign. If it were, both crowdsourcing strangers, and building a computer vision model to look at videos of warer to signal some guy to look at pictures and manually open a massive lock would both be really bad solutions.
I mean, if guy has to be there to manually open lock anyhow, just having a crowdsourced fish button is a pretty cheap addition. I saw a fish. First time in my on/off viewing.
I mean, if guy has to be there to manually open lock anyhow, just having a crowdsourced fish button is a pretty cheap addition.
I am also jealous. I have yet to see a fish... I think. Because I swapped back to the tab and I think I JUST saw a fish leave, swimming up the top of the screen. I actually said "nooooo" out loud...
I am also jealous. I have yet to see a fish... I think. Because I swapped back to the tab and I think I JUST saw a fish leave, swimming up the top of the screen. I actually said "nooooo" out loud xD
Quasi-related: maybe because I'm using mobile and there are background processes, but the video tends to freeze for me a lot, forcing me to refresh. Interestingly, it usually tends to do it when the timer ends in 3.
Edit: Opened it on my laptop, the problem continues there. A quick search brought up a Reddit post from last month reporting the same problem. It also mentions a Youtube livestream which I can't find.
Either way, I am sad because I have not seen any fish. And the site will presumably be closing any day now, since the site mentions it usually closes in late May, with a possible extension into early June depending on the migration. That absent youtube live feed might be related to that...
Happy update: I saw a fish! No clue what it was because it was very brief, but it was slim and long-ish and had an eye that looked like it glowed. I can now move on with my life and have no...
Happy update: I saw a fish! No clue what it was because it was very brief, but it was slim and long-ish and had an eye that looked like it glowed.
I can now move on with my life and have no regrets whenever the fish doorbell shuts down for the year.
No idea to be honest. I'm no dam expert, but maybe it's the kind of situation where false positives might cause a problem? It also seems from the FAQ they don't open for just a single fish but...
No idea to be honest. I'm no dam expert, but maybe it's the kind of situation where false positives might cause a problem? It also seems from the FAQ they don't open for just a single fish but once a bunch are there. They might rely on someone making a judgement call on when it's an appropriate time to open. Also, as CannibalisticApple said, this is more fun :P
Honestly, considering that it's asking you to identify the fish, I'd guess this is a method of collecting training data. The water is pretty turbid so it's difficult to tell the difference between...
Honestly, considering that it's asking you to identify the fish, I'd guess this is a method of collecting training data. The water is pretty turbid so it's difficult to tell the difference between fish species.
I doubt a computer vision model is actually worth the cost for them, but yeah, you'd want exactly the data being produced by fish doorbell to train such a model anyway.
I doubt a computer vision model is actually worth the cost for them, but yeah, you'd want exactly the data being produced by fish doorbell to train such a model anyway.
I found an article about this in the NY times, in case that’s of interest. Notably it sounds like they considered a fish ladder, but it was considered too expensive.
I found an article about this in the NY times, in case that’s of interest. Notably it sounds like they considered a fish ladder, but it was considered too expensive.
Mr. van Heukelum is also aware that his fish doorbell is not as efficient a solution as a fish ladder, a tiered system that would allow the fish to migrate without crowdsourced help. (It is, however, significantly more charming and a lot less expensive.)
This is so cool! I just caught two on the screen at the same time! EDIT: Got two other solo ones. This is such a great site to have up in the background. One nice quality of life feature would be...
This is so cool! I just caught two on the screen at the same time!
EDIT: Got two other solo ones. This is such a great site to have up in the background.
One nice quality of life feature would be if ringing the doorbell showed maybe three snapshots: current image, half a second ago, and a second ago. I’ve missed a few because the fish are so quick!
I mean, I kinda get it. I had some unnecessary philosophical moments while watching it, thinking “is this actually real, or am I just in a Skinner box pressing a button to an AI-generated video of...
I mean, I kinda get it.
I had some unnecessary philosophical moments while watching it, thinking “is this actually real, or am I just in a Skinner box pressing a button to an AI-generated video of some murky water?”
I feel like that's mostly the beer and the side by side companionship IME Which hey, I'll drink a cider and sit next to someone but not in the outdoors by chez mosquito
I feel like that's mostly the beer and the side by side companionship IME
Which hey, I'll drink a cider and sit next to someone but not in the outdoors by chez mosquito
No the title is not a euphemism, this really is a doorbell for fish! I stumbled on this recently and found the concept both amusing and ingenious. Here's a description from the website:
This reminds me of the use of clams to control municipal water supply pumps in Warsaw Poland, turning the pumps on or off depending on the quality of water in the river they're pumping from. I can't remember where I first read this, but here's a Bored Panda article on the system. First it was AI taking human jobs; and now it's the mollusks too! Oh well, at least we have our fish doorbells.
I remember seeing this some time ago, it's quite ingenious in its simplicity. And I for one welcome our new mollusk overlords.
Not to be someone who says everything can and should be done with computer vision but couldn't this be done quite easily with computer vision? Or are there non-fish sometimes in frame that you don't want to open the door for?
They probably can, but this is more fun and helps raise awareness and interest in the environment. This is also probably cheaper overall.
The door isn't being opened automatically anyway, and ringing the doorbell just sends pictures of the fish to the operator, who waits until it's worth it to open the door for the fish. The decision-making probably takes enough other factors into account that it wouldn't make sense to automate that part. A computer vision model could choose when to take photos of fish to send to the human decision-maker, but that would be a relatively expensive middleman and would fail to take advantage of the opportunity for public education involved in something like the fish doorbell.
Yeah the "hey everyone look at the fish aren't they neat, push the doorbell" is a nice educational addition, plus it seems like something useful in discovering unexpected fish or other wildlife that are present too!
I was thinking the same thing. Shouldn't be too complicated to do this in software, either with a webcam or sonar. But that wouldn't be half as charming! We humans love to help others in need.
yeah it's definitely cute but, is it really cute enough that people will volunteer to monitor it 24/7 for years?
but I guess they could always switch tactics later if/when interest dies down
considering this has been going strong for several years now I'd say the answer is yes. ;)
I believe it’s seasonal and doesn’t actually need to be monitored 24/7 even when in-season.
I believe it said it started March 3rd this year (every year?)
It goes from March through May or early June, according to their website -- it has to do with breeding season, which is just in the spring.
Lol, computer vision is also probably a really terrible solution for this. If this was a problem you actually wanted to solve, you could just build a passageway small enough to not let a significant amount of water through, but allow fish to swim up. They're called fish bypasses and they're regularly built alongside dams and other water structures to reduce the impact to the ecosystem.
It doesn't strike me that this is a problem they're actually trying to solve, and instead just a cute education campaign. If it were, both crowdsourcing strangers, and building a computer vision model to look at videos of warer to signal some guy to look at pictures and manually open a massive lock would both be really bad solutions.
I mean, if guy has to be there to manually open lock anyhow, just having a crowdsourced fish button is a pretty cheap addition.
I saw a fish. First time in my on/off viewing.
Ah I'm so jealous, I haven't seen one yet!!
You see them now? There's lots, June 4 16:25pm visduerbel time
Yes I just saw a few right now!!! I was starting to think I was cursed :P
I am also jealous. I have yet to see a fish... I think. Because I swapped back to the tab and I think I JUST saw a fish leave, swimming up the top of the screen. I actually said "nooooo" out loud xD
Quasi-related: maybe because I'm using mobile and there are background processes, but the video tends to freeze for me a lot, forcing me to refresh. Interestingly, it usually tends to do it when the timer ends in 3.
Edit: Opened it on my laptop, the problem continues there. A quick search brought up a Reddit post from last month reporting the same problem. It also mentions a Youtube livestream which I can't find.
Either way, I am sad because I have not seen any fish. And the site will presumably be closing any day now, since the site mentions it usually closes in late May, with a possible extension into early June depending on the migration. That absent youtube live feed might be related to that...
Happy update: I saw a fish! No clue what it was because it was very brief, but it was slim and long-ish and had an eye that looked like it glowed.
I can now move on with my life and have no regrets whenever the fish doorbell shuts down for the year.
No idea to be honest. I'm no dam expert, but maybe it's the kind of situation where false positives might cause a problem? It also seems from the FAQ they don't open for just a single fish but once a bunch are there. They might rely on someone making a judgement call on when it's an appropriate time to open. Also, as CannibalisticApple said, this is more fun :P
Honestly, considering that it's asking you to identify the fish, I'd guess this is a method of collecting training data. The water is pretty turbid so it's difficult to tell the difference between fish species.
I doubt a computer vision model is actually worth the cost for them, but yeah, you'd want exactly the data being produced by fish doorbell to train such a model anyway.
I found an article about this in the NY times, in case that’s of interest. Notably it sounds like they considered a fish ladder, but it was considered too expensive.
Thank you, the article adds some interesting information!
This is so cool! I just caught two on the screen at the same time!
EDIT: Got two other solo ones. This is such a great site to have up in the background.
One nice quality of life feature would be if ringing the doorbell showed maybe three snapshots: current image, half a second ago, and a second ago. I’ve missed a few because the fish are so quick!
This is so true! I wanted to do this at work but alas our firewall blocks the site (says it's a "gaming website" lol).
I mean, I kinda get it.
I had some unnecessary philosophical moments while watching it, thinking “is this actually real, or am I just in a Skinner box pressing a button to an AI-generated video of some murky water?”
of the world's skinner boxes, sitting around waiting to see a fish is at least a pretty harmless one.
maybe that's why people like fishing... 🤔
I feel like that's mostly the beer and the side by side companionship IME
Which hey, I'll drink a cider and sit next to someone but not in the outdoors by chez mosquito