Using a Raspberry Pi to make a hamster pedometer
Analysis
The data was hosted on ThingSpeak [7]. This service offers an affordable and open platform for hosting Internet of Things data and publishing them directly on the Web. An API makes it easy to upload the data and then export it as a CSV file or release it as live data. This is how the live data for the cricetidometer was made available online [8]. There are a series of scripts written in Python for processing the data. The system stores the data in an SQLite database.
An analysis of the data shows that the Roborowskis are true masters of endurance. Their urge to move is not satisfied by running one marathon per night. Instead, there are many days where they run 4.5 miles, or 7.25 kilometers on their wheel (Figure 7). This means that the miniature hamsters are easily running a distance of two hamster marathons per day (Figure*+8). A human being would have to run almost 100 kilometers in order to match this. The hamsters frequently engage in periods of slower activities after sprinting.
Figure 7: On a number of days, the hamsters ran distances of up to 4.5 miles or 7.25 kilometers.
Figure 8: The Roborowskis regularly finish more than two hamster marathons per day.
In summary, the two Hamtaros do not run the four marathons claimed by Wikipedia. Perhaps they are simply too comfortable or too old, or Wikipedia was simply incorrect. Whatever the reason, the recorded data establishes a remarkable performance for such a small animal.
Infos
- Roborowski Miniature Hamsters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roborovski_hamster
- Hamster Marathons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roborovski_hamster
- Using a VCR Head as a hamster wheel bearing: http://www.instructables.com/id/Hamster-Hack-Silencing-the-Noisy-Wheel-with-Recycl/?ALLSTEPS
- CRASH Space: http://blog.crashspace.org
- Fritzing: http://fritzing.org
- Raspberry Pi + Python + Hamsters: https://github.com/mleonhart/hamster_tracker
- ThingSpeak: https://thingspeak.com
- Live Data from the Cricetidometer: http://tinwhiskers.net/hamstrometer
- Rare Earth Magnet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_magnet
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