Change

Dear readers all new posts will be published at: SLAP

I will make this side billingual like: Friendly Hairy Creatures

Into the lake

... and having fun!

Behind Moritz

I was looking for the scene when we go into the lake for splashing and found this one. Moritz took a view of the lake. I did not understand why we stopped, so I searched for my view. And found out, that Pepe behind us decided to roll.

It looks quiet and peaceful. With SLAP I get an never seen view of us and our hanging around.

Across the street - Moritz and Sabine

I plan to ride Moritz and we are both wearing the GoPro.

Cheerful, at least me

I wanted to visit one of my favorite places: The picnic meadow, and therefor I have to cross a frequented street. When I looked at the videos I saw that I move my head from left to right to increase my field of view and Moritz before me is just moving his ears.

Of course Moritz has no understanding of 'How to cross a street'. He would just move froward if this is the direction he wants to go. I tried it with my G. I drove slowly towards them, but they continued to come closer and closer. The possibility of a crash seems not to exist. I tried to remember how they deal with it among themselves, with and without me: They avoid to bump into another, but when they do it, it has a different meaning. There are no coincidences. Bumping has a meaning.
Besides his flexible ears he has an almost 360 degree field of view. Just in front and behind him there is a blind spot, which is easly to observe with a minimal movenment of the head.

A bike trip with three Ponys and the E-FatBike_1

I made this bike trip a while ago: 31.10.2016.
Again and again I looked partly at the videos, but this material is huge and I surrendered.

But I started again and I have fun.

Before we even started there is one scene from my point of view and Point's.
In the second part Point's ear is following me while closing the gate behind them. Only through looking at it I feel cared and cuddly.

Besides: A triple praise for the Ponys who just stand stil while I go round and do differnt stuff.

Mad dogs or 2 Go Pro's and one mobile phone

I upgraded my equipment.
This time Moritz and Pepe carried a Go Pro. When we passed by the 'mad' dogs I made a video with my mobile phone.

There are four dogs which always bark like this when someone (human or animal) are passing. Sometimes they even bark after the cars. But my Ponys are not interested.

A challenge lies ahead

Because we spent three weeks in Berlin the forest in the Zollernalb were full of surprises for us. A few trees were fallen - big ones - and I asked myself if it has to do with the dryness. The forest is really dry and the ground looks parched.

The situation ahead makes me happy, you can't plan that and it is a challenge for the agility of my Ponys.

Point still behind the fallen tree

Not hectic, but wary

There we go, and looks confident

As a reward he tweaked his buddy in the butt

Point and Moritz handle such situation very different. Point don't like to go under something beneath and he reacts with panic when something is touching his back while passing. All in all he moves in a heave-ho movement under something through. Moritz is bearing the situation and moves through or under. And he don't care if something is touching him. He also is able to move something with his shoulder or back. That's typical Moritz. Point would never do that.
After passing the fallen tree the path is going straight ahead and thereby uphill, or in a hairpin curve downhill. My plan was going downhill and there we had the next alike situation which had do be solved in a different way.

Similar situation which has to be solved differently

Pepe could go under the tree, but the other two not. I like to see Pepe jumping and so he also had to go over the tree this time. The trunk reaches up to his chest, but he just made a standing jump. Point hesitated for two seconds and has to lift his legs a lot. But he is calm.
Moritz is running free today and has to solve the problem for himself.

Typical for Moritz is the head shaking when he has to 'think' about something or has to come to a decision. It's not unwillingly, but rather a sign of attention. Then he tries if he fits underneath and after that he walks quickly over the tree. He also has to stretch his legs.

I'm very satisfied with my 'pickings' (the video). Also I'm convinced that the collectively experience and solving the situation all together binds us together and strengthen the self-assurance of my Ponys.

Views - GoPro between the ears and a tape from 'the outside'

I wait for opportunities like this. They are rare and I have to have my techie stuff at hand.

I can't decide which view is 'better'. Both views have surprises which I would not see without knowing the other view. The view from the GoPro wobbles more, of course, but seems to be more lively because of that. But it's more stressful to look at.
There is an interesting part at 45 s. The cow is turning and is she threatening? At 1:52 s another cow starts this kind of movement too.
All in all: The tape from the outside is 'good', but also boring after you see it once. The thrill comes when I look between the ears and I can switch in this different view of life.

The visit in Linz

Time flies and I was sloppy with the documentation!
About the journey to Linz and stuff around I talked about in Friendly Hairy Creatures, but the visit at the Ars Electronica Future Lab is missing.
On our first day Marianne visited us at the trail rider hotel. Marianne met Pepe the first time, but as mentioned in the post he was pretty distracted with the other horses and his own hormones.

Marianne and Pepe

 We did a little walk all together because Marianne wanted to experience his ear movement at first hand.
After this we found a real good working space in the common room of the trail rider hotel. A long table was quickly filled with our stuff: Laptops, Handys, GoPro's and some more. WiFi was great and we started with our try outs.
If I want to know wheater the recording from the GoPro is fine I can check this via Handy. Unfortunately the quality of the record is not very good.
We had two things in mind for our first visit. The fitting of the GoPro and the cameras for the ears. When the GoPro is fixed on the halter between the ears, for Point and Moritz you can get a good impression. The ears are almost completly in the picture, also when they move to the back. But with Pepe all is so small and close together. Therefor Marianne developed a bridge and printed it out. The bridge brings the GoPro just a few centimeters to the back,

Mane and front hair are out of the way and the GoPro is fixed on a snaffle.

The idea for the snaffle comes from the need to fix the antenna.

Antenna as unicorn

Therefor the snaffle is not so solid as the halter out of leather and the GoPro hangs a little loose. The idea was to use Pepe's mane to fix the GoPro. And that meant I had to braid.

Almost artfully

After the drive to the Ars Electronica Center

And is caught after the fall

Basically it is a good solution when is not shaking his head all the time. But it's not a fast solution. I need some time for the braiding.
During the next days I drove to Linz every time. Beside our experiments with the prototyp I wanted to find out how stressable Pepe is. Sounds worst when it was. But is he ok with two hours trail riding (1h one way): Yes. How does he react to a complete new environment: Curious and unexcited.

Pepe im Hänger vor dem Ars Electronica Future Lab

Inside the trailer he is fine and can rest. Once I close the doors of the trailer he is calm, but with open doors the disturbance is high. Besides, we had a lot of attention. On one hand is was a good idea to park in front of the Future Lab and Marianne could go easily in and out and fix things. On the other hand there where a lot of traffic with people who wanted to make a photo or asked us questions.
Last step: Cameras for the ears.

Ohrenkameras und viel Gekabel

About how to fix these little cameras in and on these little ears we thought a lot. It is truly difficult and we found not really a satisfying solution. With the crochet hook Pepe stoped moving his ears. I provoked some situations, but the ears stood more or less in the middle and didn't move any more. The fit wasn't that tight, but as a solution it was out of question. Finally we choose hook and loo fastener which are self-bonding. Marianne searched for solutions with the lenght of the cabels (the ears are moving in a quit long distance) and the display of the cameras. Lot's of small things to take care about. We did it, but we were all a little bit stressed, including Pepe. The last difficulty was to put the camera in the right angel, otherwise you just see the ground.
All in all I'm not convinced with the ear cameras and would like to go for LED's.

Summary:
1. Prototyp: We learned a lot and we changed a lot. To be honest I had to be on site for a much longer time. Such an intensive program with an animal is exhausting and not necessarily crowned with success. We learned a lot and have to implement this.
2. Pepe: It is easy to travel with him even when he is alone, but it is also exhausting for him. A short time later I traveled with all three Ponys to Berlin. When his herd is close he is much calmer. Effort vs benefit? If possible I would try to travel as a herd.
3. Sabine: The responsibility for my animal is huge. Simultaneously to concentrate on the project and play an active part as usual is difficult and energy-sapping. For myself I'm not easy with strange surroundings and this has influence on Pepes wellbeing. There is a fine balance between us, if it is balanced all things come easy. But it's an effort to hold it in balance, I should not forget this.
4. Lesson Learned: Take much more time!

Intermediate result to the prototype

After the 3D Pony head has savely arrived in Linz at the Ars Electronica Futurelab the preparations for the first trial are running.
Pepe and I plan to visit Linz in round about 2,5 weeks. Pepe needs an health certificate from the medical officer for animals. Appointment is already made. Than we needed quarters for both of us. That was something new, and when I told a colleague about it, he started smiling and asked if I have booked a double room.
The wraparound cameras has to be placed at the head and each ear get an own little camera. Marianne and I agreed that the best way to fix the camera to the ears has to be a fly cap. I don't have any experiences with fly caps and since we are building a prototype and all has to fit exactly I grabbed a crochet hook.

Ears are crochet around

That's how it looks right now, not ready. Pepe takes it with equanimity, or better I try to take it calmly. Normally I need a halter and a cord, sometimes if necessary a brush and now that Crochet ears.

Meanwhile in Linz it looks like this:

Ears are looking at robots

There it is the fascinating 3D Pony head. The ears look at robots, how could it be otherwise at Ars Electronica Futurelab ...

Because Marianne and I step only on new land we thought a lot where to meet. I'm all in all 50 km away from Linz. Pepe need a proper quarter and the usual business hotels in Linz didn't hit the pattern.
Few days ago I wanted again make some experiments with the GoPro. When I tried to apply it to the Pony head I noticed that I had forgotten a really tiny part. It happens all the time when you work with technical odds and ends. Anyway I thought I have to be at the Futurelab with Pepe, otherwise we will have to many problems. And here we go, we have a special parking permission for my car and a horse trailer. And a requirement to take the pony droppings with us. Told you: New land where ever we go. And that's the parking ground:

Parking space in front of the Ars Electronica Futurelab

Pepe's head as a 3D print

Well packed did the head arrived and I had just one morning for a 'photo-shooting'. Now the head is in Linz, Austria at the Ars Electronica Futurelab for the prototype setup.

But in short my feelings when I had unpacked the head and hold it in my hands: deep respect, wonder, joy ... He felt fragile, because the head is very light. Somehow I don't want to give him away ... I think of him as some sort of art!