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I am trying to build an automated motion tracking airsoft gun turret. — Parallax Forums

I am trying to build an automated motion tracking airsoft gun turret.

The ArtificerThe Artificer Posts: 2
edited 2008-04-07 11:10 in Robotics
I am trying to build an automated motion tracking airsoft gun turret.
I am having trouble making a system for motion tracking.
I want it to estimate distance accuratly, so it can angle the turret.
I was also thinking about infared.
Is there a way of tagging teamates so the turret doesn't shoot them.

What microcontroller should I use?
Should I even use a microcontroller?
Any other Ideas?

Comments

  • WhelzornWhelzorn Posts: 256
    edited 2006-02-17 02:40
    the only way I can think of at the moment to track people AND tag teammates is to use some kind of camera tracking system that can track user defined colors (such as the CMUcam sold by parallax, or the CMUcam 2+ sold by acroname). You would have to have all of one team dress in one color and all of the other team dress in another. If you used this method with the CMUcam, you would need a microcontroller. But if you used the CMUcam 2+ with the turret you would not need a microcontroller. Hope that helps!
  • DiablodeMorteDiablodeMorte Posts: 238
    edited 2006-02-20 05:39
    the easiest(Well. not really. but a way that WILL work) would be for you to get a laptop, a wirless camera(or wired i guess), a pc<-AV compnent, and an IR buddy.

    THe camera gets the current picture
    THe camera send the picture to the pc
    The pc strips the picture of all colors other than the enemy
    THe pc does some load balancing to find the largest center of mass
    the pc send the ir buddy the aiming info.
    the ir buddy sends it to the stamp
    the stamp aims and fires

    With a fast enough camera and basic stamp code this weapon would rock
  • KB3JJGKB3JJG Posts: 95
    edited 2006-02-20 19:48
    Here is a link to a project VERY similiar to the one you are trying

    http://www.thesentrygun.com/


    Hope it helps!


    ·
  • NateNate Posts: 154
    edited 2006-02-20 22:29
    Am I the only one who thinks that this is just simply a bad idea to promote?·

    Nate
  • DiablodeMorteDiablodeMorte Posts: 238
    edited 2006-02-21 00:30
    Nate said...
    Am I the only one who thinks that this is just simply a bad idea to promote?

    Nate
    Yep.. Unless you are a·anti-gun person :P

    This is a sweet idea and under the right supervision it would be very safe
  • WhelzornWhelzorn Posts: 256
    edited 2006-02-21 00:34
    Nate: probably not! But if you were familiar with the airsoft crowd, I believe that projects like this would be the least of your worries. Many airsoft guns are so strikingly similar to their real counterpart (namely the classic army brand guns) that the only thing that differentiates them is the orange tip, which can be unscrewed and replaced with the supplied black tip. I spoke to a police officer not too long ago that told me if he saw someone pointing one of the Classic Army MP5's without the orange tip at him, he would not hesitate to shoot them, because he would have no way of knowing it was fake.

    Aside from all that though, I for one do not see a problem with this project. It adds a whole new, very neat aspect to an airsoft game. And as someone who has played (plays) airsoft, This would make a game a whole lot more interesting. And it's cool technology, which I cannot say no to. I'm sure Mr. Isaac Asimov would not like this very much though.
  • Junk_BotJunk_Bot Posts: 15
    edited 2008-03-31 14:40
    I enjoy airsoft very much and am planning to make something similar to this in the future.

    Except, in my desing I plan on using two machine guns,

    you like the cheap electronic ones they sell at wallmart.

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    Never give up,·Never submit to the seemingly invincible enemy.
  • LilDiLilDi Posts: 229
    edited 2008-03-31 20:06
    Well, the Navy is doing it with the Hercules canon for about $1.5 million. The easy part is tracking an object. The hard part is detecting the range. Maybe you could hack an inexpensive auto-focus camera mechanism to derive the range.
  • Junk_BotJunk_Bot Posts: 15
    edited 2008-04-01 14:22
    I'm not to concerned about the range,
    good idea about the camera though.

    The biggest problem I see is ammo,

    I was thinking about hooking up some sort of ammo feed system.

    The other problem is that the guns tend to get jammed.

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  • LilDiLilDi Posts: 229
    edited 2008-04-01 20:17
    I could be out of line, because I don't know the sport, but I see a lot of effort going into automated weaponry with this airsoft sport. It seems to me that if the sport organizers don't set some rules on this, the sport/game will die on the vine. I mean this is a game or sport, matching the skills of humans agains one another. Without any restrictions, this will lead to placing autonomous weapons on the battle field and then everbody can just go home. The robots will be in charge. I hope the little rascals done learn too many battle skills. Danger Will Robinson.
  • UghaUgha Posts: 543
    edited 2008-04-02 12:19
    First... I had never heard of airsoft before clicking on this link. So please excuse me
    if I say anything wrong or stupid.

    Second... this soooo reminds me of the LaserTag games I used to play as a kid. Hehe.

    Anyways, I suppose you could use two pings for targeting... They'd track motion
    and let you target anything moving.

    If you want to ensure that the target is a person... you could stick a PIR on it I guess.

    By using Pings you get automatic ranging and you'd free up IR for anything else
    you want to do with it... remote control perhaps?

    Just make sure the Ping signals don't overlap.
  • PoorYuppiePoorYuppie Posts: 13
    edited 2008-04-03 18:46
    Uhm...that's exactly what I'm building.· Got the lego version functional, but still needs tweeking.· Mine is actually for racoons and cat's in my backyard (using an IR webcam).· Haven't started on the video analysis of targets yet, but I'll get there.· Mine is much smaller than thesentrygun.com one.· I don't see any reason to actually put a full airsoft gun on it when you really only need the firing mechanism.··Also, mine will be weatherproof.
  • .:John:..:John:. Posts: 64
    edited 2008-04-03 22:46
    I think that this is a really interesting project. The camera does have color tracking, but for a "real" battlefield-type scenario it would be hard to convince everyone to wear bright colors. Especially if YOU were toting around a color tracking airsoft turret.

    Like the idea though.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2008-04-07 11:10
    The CmuCAM is probably your best bet. That or sticking an IR emitter on each player, and coding it to send out 'team codes'...

    As far as I understand, 'airsoft' isn't 'one' game, but many different games, where the only thing in common is the use of paint-filled balls and protective masks...

    There are 'capture the flag' games, 'last man standing', reenactments and so on...
    And then there's the tanks...

    So why not automated guns?
    As long as both sides know they exist and have agreed on the rules, I can't see the problem.

    BTW: http://www.the-whiteboard.com
    wink.gif

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