Slashdot Mirror


The Quintessential Sentry Gun

mollyhackit writes "Aaron and Ezra built an automatic sentry gun using an airsoft gun, some hobby servos and a webcam.The camera automatically identifies and tracks targets. They tested it on each other to make sure it worked; video included!"

69 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. what?... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now all we need is a shark and s victum^H^H^H^H^Htester.

  2. Cubicle Defense Mechanism by No+Salvation · · Score: 5, Funny

    I doubt there is a single person here who didn't think, "hmmm I could use one of these in my cubicle."

    --
    I'm agneglectic, too lazy to care if there is a God.
    1. Re:Cubicle Defense Mechanism by Sorthum · · Score: 4, Funny

      Thinkgeek offers one that shoots foam discs.

      I prefer to put more of a hurting on the marketing weasels though. Explaining the tiger pit to management was a bit of a challenge, though...

    2. Re:Cubicle Defense Mechanism by BrynM · · Score: 4, Informative
      Thinkgeek offers one that shoots foam discs.
      (homer)
      mmmmmm.... toys
      mmmmmmmmm.... linky...
      (/homer)
      --
      US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
    3. Re:Cubicle Defense Mechanism by jonfelder · · Score: 4, Informative

      I bought the one on Thinkgeek. As someone else mentioned, it doesn't track. It's still cool, but has a big problem. The flicker of flourescent lighting triggers the motion sensor on it.

      Makes it kind of lame in an office environment.

    4. Re:Cubicle Defense Mechanism by Kamiza+Ikioi · · Score: 2, Funny

      I doubt there is a single person here who didn't think, "hmmm I could use one of these in my cubicle."

      Just those of us without cubicles. I was thinking more along the lines of, "hmmm, I could use one of these , but with a taser gun, mounted on the roof of my vehicle to shoot small animals that want to put paw prints all over it." Then I was thinking, "hmmm, I wonder if anyone from PETA is going to read this post."

      --
      I8-D
    5. Re:Cubicle Defense Mechanism by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was thinking the whole paintball thing as well. Just like Team Fortress Classic (which I still love and play). This would add some serious fun to paintball matches, with each team getting one SG, playing Capture the Flag, and a hit means you sit out for 5 minutes. Literally TFC in the real world. Man, where do I sign up?

      Now if someone could built a device that would let me actually rocket jump. And survive. ;)

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    6. Re:Cubicle Defense Mechanism by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nah- I want about 40,000 of these, with real P90s, on the Arizona border.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  3. Wow, almost like TFC by DoubleRing · · Score: 2

    All you'd need is the characteristic beeping. Now, instead of Counter-Strike scenarios for airsoft games, will we be seeing TFC scenarios too?

    I wonder if the gun they used is rapid firing (refrains from downloading movie in order to save them some bandwidth).

    --
    Before you die, you see DoubleRing...
  4. Re:OUch.... by CableModemSniper · · Score: 2, Informative

    They coral cached the video link.

    --
    Why not fork?
  5. Where's the Dispenser by jtwJGuevara · · Score: 4, Funny

    And my engy script for "bind e +detdispenser"

  6. Just because Slashdot is now CSS... by bc90021 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...doesn't mean that everyone's bandwidth is going to be less. What's with linking a video in the story? Sadism? ;)

    1. Re:Just because Slashdot is now CSS... by Lank · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nope, this was on Hackaday earlier today, which is a slightly less frequented site than Slashdot. By the way, if you want your karma to go through the roof, just visit Hackaday occasionally and then submit the story here. I've been seeing quite a bit of redundancy lately!

      --
      Gotta get me one of these!
    2. Re:Just because Slashdot is now CSS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's a coral cache link, is it not?

  7. Needs one more thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hook it up to facial recognition software, put it on a mobile chasis, and then you've got something.

    1. Re:Needs one more thing by superpulpsicle · · Score: 5, Funny

      Homeowner: He's a criminal I swear.

      Police: Looks like a dead mailman to me.

      Homeowner: Radar must have seen those free aol CDs.

      Police: You shot him with 1 million bbs.

      Homeowner: I didn't. Sentry did. Bad firmware. Bad!

    2. Re:Needs one more thing by Frogbert · · Score: 5, Funny
      Hook it up to facial recognition software, put it on a mobile chasis, and then you've got something.
      Yeah and perhaps some sort of powerful shield, and replace the gun with some sort of Sharkbrand(tm) Laser and add a speaker that barks "exterminate" or something. We could call it a doorleck or darlink, I don't know I'll let marketing figure it out.
  8. Little brothers ARE good for something! by imunfair · · Score: 5, Funny

    I love how he used his little brother to test it.

    "Just go stand out there in front of my sentry gun so I can see if it works"

    At least he was nice enough to have him wear a paintball mask, some brothers wouldnt be nearly so kind. :)

    1. Re:Little brothers ARE good for something! by BrynM · · Score: 5, Funny
      I love how he used his little brother to test it.
      I was thinking of how many little brothers will know genuine fear after seeing the video while I was watching it. Being a big brother, I lauged my ass off as soon as the gun started firing. I suddenly wonder what my little sister is up to...
      --
      US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
    2. Re:Little brothers ARE good for something! by hey! · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah. First rule of hacking: deal with dangerous objects safely, e.g. if you are making nitroglycerine, you do it in an ice bath.

      I'm not sure that this meets the standard though. The paintball mask isn't designed to stop a BB, although it probably will if its from a low velocity gun. According to the specs for this gun, the muzzle velocity is 200-280 fps. This is fairly low, but since the paintball mask isn't really designed for this, I think it's unnecessarily risky. They should have used a low velocity paintball gun.

      A BB in the eye is very bad. From a medical journal article: "Although most BB and pellet guns fire low-velocity missiles (muzzle velocity: 1,000 feet per second [fps]), they are still fast enough to penetrate the cranium, abdomen, thorax, and paranasal sinuses. (2-6) Approximately 80% of these weapons have muzzle velocities greater than 350 fps, and 50% have velocities of 500 to 930 fps. (1) A pellet velocity of only 150 fps is necessary to penetrate human skin, and a velocity of only 200 fps is necessary to fracture bone. (7)"

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:Little brothers ARE good for something! by Kyaphas · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's an airsoft gun. The bb's are 6mm plastic. Much less inertia and penetration capability. Not that he doesn't still need a mask, but they're not as powerful as your run-of-the-mill 4.5mm steel bb's.

      --
      ---- The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. -Thomas Jefferson
    4. Re:Little brothers ARE good for something! by SlamMan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Close, but not quite. 1) Paintballs are normally fired in the 300 fps range. 2) despite what the summary says, this thing is an airsoft gun; it fires airsoft pellets, not BBs. Airsoft pellets are light plastic, BBs are a significantly denser metal.

      Also, no such thing as a low velocity paintball gun. The speed of a paintball is handled through flow an adjustable air flow regulation on the gun. The speed of a fired ball is checked on a chronograph, and the air flow of the paintball gun is adjusted to make the ball fire with acceptable range for whatever field you're planing on.

      --
      Mod point free since 2001
  9. Just freakin' perfect. by Talinom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now that we know what am aimbot looks like can I buy some PunkBuster clothing now?

    --
    "Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
  10. The nerds are wall to wall down there by millisa · · Score: 2, Funny

    Guns A and B. Tracking and firing on multiple targets.

    They must be wall to wall in there. Look at those ammo counters go. It's a shooting gallery down there.

    B gun's dry. Twenty on A. Ten. Five. That's it.

    They're at the fire door.

    Man, listen to that.

    Twenty meters and closing. Fifteen. C and D guns down about fifty percent.

    How many?

    Can't tell. Lots. D gun's down to twenty. Ten. It's out.

    They retreated. The guns stopped them.

    Yeah. But look...

    Newt time then can walk right up and knock.

    But they don't know that. They're probably looking for other ways to get in. That'll take them awhile.

  11. awesome by Madd+Scientist · · Score: 4, Interesting
    wow, one of the first times i've clicked a "video included" link that actually worked. nice server.

    their image processing is pretty much perfect, so i'm assuming they took some liberties such as assuming the target is wearing a bright white shirt. show me this thing firing on someone in camo.

    1. Re:awesome by blackcoot · · Score: 2, Insightful

      you don't need white to be the cue. i've seen similar things which cue off motion alone, in which case the camouflage won't help you (other moving things could, however, confuse it). in fact, cueing off motion alone makes things quite a bit easier --- no need to track (pick out the biggest blob of foreground pixels, aim at the middle, fire)

  12. Just a hunch... by 0rionx · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm guessing that here in the U.S. you probably wouldn't be able to get away with keeping one of those in your home or business, since booby-trapping of any kind is illegal in almost every state: http://dictionary.law.com/default2.asp?selected=87 On the other hand, usually one is only held liable for injuries caused by a booby trap on one's property, so I suppose with some modification this could make for a nice non-dangerous way to deter burglars and such.

    1. Re:Just a hunch... by E8086 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Is it still considered booby-trapping if you put up a "trespassers will be shot" sign? Just be sure to turn it off around mail time, don't want to hit the USPS/UPS/FedEX/DHL person delivering your new hdd or motherboard or notification of lawsuit from the person you hit the day before.

      --
      F7 doesn't work, ignore spelling and grammar
    2. Re:Just a hunch... by 0rionx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Although I can't say for sure, I'm told by a cop friend of mine that any kind of "unmanned, unattended" booby trap is considered illegal. Basically, anything that doesn't discriminate, but just fires away. If I'm not mistaken, I believe part of the reason for these laws is a result of people who have maimed or killed either themselves or a family member with their homemade traps. Additionally, if firefighters or police officers have to break into your home in an emergency, the last thing they want to have to worry about is some auto-turret that's gonna start pelting them with airsoft bullets. Non-lethal, sure, but most law enforcement officers I know would take a very dim view of such a set-up just on principle.

    3. Re:Just a hunch... by ari_j · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Don't listen to cop friends about the law - cops know how to police, not how to answer legal questions. That said, this one got it right. And it's not just due to injuring yourself, but because it is indiscriminate in who it shoots. The law tends to refer to "spring guns" as they were usually set up using a string, a spring, and a gun pointed at a window or a gate. What happened too often were situations where you set it up to catch a burglar, but some kid loses his baseball in your yard and gets his leg blown off.

      Somewhere in this thread, someone asked about a "Trespassers Will Be Shot" sign. While such a sign is a nice warning, you still have to do the shooting, yourself. An indiscriminate shooting machine is not acceptable, because not all entries of your property that you didn't personally authorize are truly trespassing - the kid with the baseball is questionable as to necessity to retrieve his property, but it could be grandma, the police, a lost Jesuit, or your wife.

      There has to be a human conscience that decides whether or not to pull the trigger. Now, if you added face-recognition software, you could make the argument that it is not indiscriminate in what it shoots at, but I think that the law would be very reluctant to agree with you and you'd mostly be making that argument to Bubba to try to confuse him enough that he loses his erection.

    4. Re:Just a hunch... by vertinox · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While such a sign is a nice warning, you still have to do the shooting, yourself. An indiscriminate shooting machine is not acceptable, because not all entries of your property that you didn't personally authorize are truly trespassing

      What about a machine that warns you that it is about to fire? Fires a warning shoot and then explains you have 60 seconds to vacate the property.

      In truth indiscriminate shooting weapons would be military applications in which it didn't matter who you killed. Like those special facilities that have signs that say "lethal force has been authorized" or a less than compasionate government wanted to have easy ways to control the border.

      Actually come to think of it... Didn't the DDR have automatic sentry guns on the Berlin wall? If not, I'm sure they would have used them if such a technology became available.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  13. It's a true aimbot by DoubleRing · · Score: 4, Funny

    Software tracked, mechanically aimed! Hax0r!!!!

    --
    Before you die, you see DoubleRing...
  14. "If we stand still it can't see us..." by ecko3437 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is awesome. I am already excited at the idea of building several of these and having a large scale airsoft battle in my woods behind my house over several acres.

    Though, I wonder how well it tracks for people who aren't wearing white ;) If I'm wearing camo or something and I'm out in the woods, will it pick me up? If I'm wearing a green shirt and its out on my lawn will it still target me or maybe just my pants?

    --
    -Eric Smith
  15. Buy your own by nick13245 · · Score: 2, Informative

    ThinkGeek sells an "office safe" version of this:
    http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/71bc/M/

    1. Re:Buy your own by Axess+Denyd · · Score: 2, Informative

      It does not appear to aim, though.

      The target tracking is the best part.

      --
      ---- Watch out for snakes!
  16. Coming soon to a DOD sat near you! by weighn · · Score: 2, Funny

    quick...defend freedom and liberty now...GPL the source!

    --
    Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
  17. About time by the+pickle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    About time that technology caught up with the Janus Syndicate. *turns around and hits the power button on the N64*...

    p

  18. you'll shoot your eye out by E8086 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's all fun and games until someone gets shot in the eye, about 50 times if it empties the magazine on you. Then it's even funnier to everyone else if you get it on camera.

    --
    F7 doesn't work, ignore spelling and grammar
  19. My eyes, my eyes! by modecx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Heck, tie it to the garden hose, can't get much more non-lethal than that... Unless it's 40 below in Minnesota or something. It'd be great for keeping the neighbor's cats from shitting in the garden, and it would also be great for Jehovah's Witnesses and people who listen to John Tesh.

    --
    Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
  20. mirror by jaredmauch · · Score: 3, Informative
    here 8MB Quicktime. on my historically fast host.

    If you're in Asia use this link.

  21. Would sure look cool on by Korbeau · · Score: 2, Funny

    garden dwarfs.

    I'm all for Open Source Warfare!

  22. Here you go . . . by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The Scarecrow. Doesn't aim, just waits for victim to walk by before "firing", but should do the trick.

    http://smarthome.com/6120.html

    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  23. CTRL-H Defined by WidescreenFreak · · Score: 4, Informative

    CTRL-H is the UNIX-standard control code for a backspace. It's used in this case for humorous effect or sarcasm.

    Example: He is stupid^H^H^H^H^H^Hcool --> "He is cool", but that's not what you originally typed, hence the humor or sarcasm.

    UNIX 101 is over for today. Class dismissed.

    --
    The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
    1. Re:CTRL-H Defined by StikyPad · · Score: 5, Informative

      Right, but the "joke" originates from actual incidents of old terminal programs storing the ^H rather than erasing the previous character. Occasionally, BBSes would have backspace set to something other than ^H. When someone would post a message, and they sent the ^H sig, their own terminals echoed a backspace, but the remote BBS simply logged the ^H as part of their post.

    2. Re:CTRL-H Defined by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Apparently, UNIX 101 was not over for the day...

  24. Now what would be cool... by scovetta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Colleges have that robo-cup competition. I think they could get a little more advanced with something like this. Each team has a bunch (maybe 10) autonomous vehicles that have a webcam, paintball gun, laptop, battery, etc. Capture the flags, robot-style.

    I'd tune it to watch that on TV. Until the robots get smarter and take over the world. We wouldn't have a chance. Until their batteries died, at least.

    --
    Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
  25. Second Amendment meta-discussion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Let's just summarize the inevitable right-to-bear-arms discussion here and get it over with, shall we?

    First, somebody will suggest how cool this would be with real guns; then a European will wring their hands at how any sane person could have the notion of automatically shooting other people or even possessing such things at all; an American will call the European a socialistic pansy; another American will call the first American a rabid, foaming gun-nut who should be put in a concentration camp with the other bad people; and finally links to statistics will be posted, proving that guns are both the cause of and solution to violent crime, in addition to being psychosis-inducing penis substitutes which should be carefully controlled for the children.

    1. Re:Second Amendment meta-discussion by deaddrunk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Europeans are quite a bloodthirsty lot, you should see our history.

      --
      Does a Christian soccer team even need a goalkeeper?
  26. lame... by NotAnotherReboot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lame...it hasn't even been upgraded to a level 3 with a rocket launcher attached.

  27. Some things money can't buy... by jpellino · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lazy susan bearing - $3 at Big Lots.
    Raggedy PIII to run the controllers - $50 on eBay.
    Video of your little brother running like a frightened baby bunny while being peppered with BBs for all the world to see on the internet - Priceless.

    Call me when they swap in the paintball rig and it can feature recognize Jehovah's Witnesses.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
    1. Re:Some things money can't buy... by blincoln · · Score: 2, Funny

      and it can feature recognize Jehovah's Witnesses.

      SENTRY GUN (vocoder effect): Please put down your religious crusade. You have twenty seconds to comply.

      DICK JONES: I suggest you do as it says, Mr. Kinney.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
  28. Damn the Combine by RealErmine · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone else notice that, at least in the first trial on the video, it even sounds almost the same as the sentry guns in HL2? Very cool work.

    --
    Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
  29. Finally!!! by Wazukkithemaster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Something useful on Slashdot :)

    P.S. was that friggin night vision on the last test shot?

    "It had him when he was in the shadows too..."

    "AHHHH!!!!"

    Lets break that down for you guys...

    Step 1)Robots.
    Step 2)Add Airsoft Guns.
    Step 3)Find Younger Siblings
    Step 4)... (explicative deleted)
    Step 5)Profit!!!

    Brilliant... *golf claps like an excited little school girl*

    --
    Live according to the Categorical Imperative. If the Categorical Imperative tells you not to live by it... ignore it
  30. Weekend off thanks to /.! by BBrown · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cheers to my roommate for finally getting his turret some accolade!

    Unfortunately, he had the poor foresight to host it on the main computer science server here.

    So, thanks /., for giving me the weekend off. I won't be doing any coding once this gets popular. ;)

  31. What a wonderful device for farmers! by t0qer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I grew up on several orchards as a kid. We were pretty much encouraged to wander the cherry, prune orchards from the age of 6 and shoot anything that moves.

    There's other devices for scaring off varmints. Natural predators like hawks, percussion guns, dogs, sprinkler systems connected to motion detectors, but nothing quite as eleborate and precise as this.

    The only downside I see it that the BB's aren't biodegradable, but why do they have to be made out of plastic? Perhaps a system that delivers fertalizer pellets and or water. That way you would be scaring off birds as well giving the plants nutrients.

    This may have been a crazy tangent of a post, but I'm just throwing out a possible commercial app for this if folks are looking for it.

    1. Re:What a wonderful device for farmers! by Belseth · · Score: 4, Funny

      Postman gets shot by pellets. Back at the post office the nitrates in the fertilizer sets off bomb detectors. Postman desperately tries to explain about a farmer shooting him with fertilizer pellets during the cavity search. The 300lb security guard for some reason doesn't believe his. Homeland Security declares victory in war against terror and sends the Postman to Gitmo where's he's forced to convert to Islam and winds up being deported to Iraq. On the bright side the farm is looking really green this year.

    2. Re:What a wonderful device for farmers! by bronney · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We can't use fertilizer pellets because of how delicate these "toys" are built. The bb is fired with an compress air suction system based on a motor turning gears; which in turn run a piston back, and releasing that piston on a spring to the nozzle to fire.

      Anything that's not soild and hard will get deformed or sucked into the cylinder and mess up your gun. And don't start the "hey but there are paintball airsoft gun" thing. They break faster.

      There are biodegradable bb as siblings suggests. But on the contrary most are NOT biodegradable. The package says "bio-friendly" which is mis-leading. For some examples of biodegradable bb's check this: http://www.airsoftmechanics.com/reviews.php?aid=15 &page=3

      But the problem with bio-bb's are that they are not offered in the same weight-range as the non-bio-bb. Depends how you tune your gun, the wind condition, and the slopes, .25g vs .20g really makes a difference in battles. Another problem is the consistency of the bb's diameter. Bad tolerance = jammed gun. And the hardness of the pellets. Soft pellets or brittle pellets = jammed guns again.

      These so called "toys" (I quoted toys cuz they're not really toys hehe) are expensive if you dig deep, and you wouldn't want a frag bb in your piston and gears.

  32. USNA Sentry Tanks by KylePflug · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They had stuff like this at the US Naval Academy when I was there for the summer seminar a couple of years ago. IIRC, it was infra-red as opposed to motion-tracking, and was mounted on remote-control/autonomous tank tread things. It was paintball instead of airsoft, but same idea. I understand they use them on plebes in the last phase of Sea Trials.

    They also had a shoulder-mounted paintball gun that tracked with the suit's helmet and could be fired via a small remote that you hold in your hand, or hwatever. Nifty stuff.

  33. Re:The Army will be all over this by The+Evil+Couch · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I can't speak for every piece of the Army, but I know we have remote controled machineguns in various calibers. best I know of is a .50 cal that gets mounted to the top of a HMMWV, so that the gunner doesn't have to expose himself to enemy fire at all, that I saw while I was in Iraq. he just sits inside looking at a monitor and controling it with a joystick. I kind of wish I had had one, but we only had the one for our battalion, so I had to shoot threats the old fashioned way.

    I remember reading on some (public, unclassified) site that we have at least prototypes of remote controled robots with various calibers of automatic weapons, ranging from 9mm to 7.62mm.

    I don't think the Army's that interested in completely automated systems, but remote controlled turrets is something Uncle Sam would dig.

  34. Re:How about by hcdejong · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Swap the sissy weapon for a Gatling gun, and at least you'll be able to generate a Beowulf cluster of bullets...

  35. A serious application by CrazyMik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok, this may be a little out there, but... what if you built one of these with a bit more, ok a whole lot more, image recgonnition and used it to fight invasive species in Australia? Could it be done?

    A few hundred of these suckers could fry all the Cane Toads. Put some lasers on them to blind the frogs and they would die from starvation. Or maybe microwave them (but they might jump away). You could do the same thing for rabits and foxes.

    Or pest control. Have it fry rats, or better yet, have it fry cockroaches, although I am sure they would develop a way to survive.

    Maybe this could be an open-source project to save Australian wildlife.

  36. I, for one by zlogic · · Score: 2, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new automatic sentry gun overlords.

  37. C64 did that, too. by WidescreenFreak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually, that was relevant to systems other than UNIX. Any Commodore 64 BBS that utilized the Commodore-specific key codes for graphics and color did the same thing.

    So, yes, UNIX 101 was over. You were in the Personal Computer Telecommunications History class. :P

    --
    The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
  38. Already have auto-sentries by HangingChad · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Self-replicating, self-repairing, independent targeting capability, alert and attack modes, built in night vision system, able to navigate complicated terrain features and function in any weather.

    A rottweiler named Jaws and a Belgium Shepherd.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  39. Re:The Army will be all over this by Molochi · · Score: 3, Informative

    Phalanx has been around for a long time, since the '80s I think. The navy uses it to shoot missles out of the sky with a 20mm Vulcan cannon. If you've played BF2, it's that gun mounted on the aircraft carrier. Except in RL it's automated.

    --
    "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
  40. Actually, it is the Director's Cut of Aliens by fuzznutz · · Score: 2, Informative

    The theatrical version cut the sentry guns scene, along with a bunch of other important points.

  41. Why not use an infrared camera instead? by Redfrost · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would it be easier using an infrared camera instead of a normal web cam? Then you just aim in on the moving heat source instead of trying to analyze whole screenfuls of data. I'm just imagining a blue-ish background with a bright red shape moving around on the screen...then it wouldn't really matter if the person is wearing bright clothing or dark clothing.

    Or am I way off base here?

  42. Amateurs by CrankyOG · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's how the pros do it. This is from

    http://www.mediacen.navy.mil/pubs/allhands/jan00/p g48.htm

    Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) The Phalanx CIWS combines a 20mm Gatling gun with search and tracking radar to provide surface ships with terminal defense against anti-ship missiles. The system underwent operational tests and evaluation on board USS Bigelow (DD 942) in 1977 and went into production in 1978 with the first systems installed aboard USS Coral Sea (CV 43) in 1980. The original versions used rounds made from depleted uranium that have since been replaced by tungsten rounds. Caliber: 20mm/53 Rate of Fire: 1,000-3,000 rounds/min. Muzzle Velocity: 3,650 ft./sec Range: 6,000 yds. Manufacturer: Hughes Missile Systems Company

    --
    [ ]Clever sig [X]Lame sig
  43. Use ^W to indicate word deletion by some+guy+I+know · · Score: 2, Informative
    Wow, what a freak^H^H^H^H^H geeky^H^H^H^H^H cool thing to know!
    To delete entire words in UNIX/Linux, you can use "^W" (i.e., "CTRL+W" in MS-speak).
    So you could have typed
    Wow, what a freak^W geeky^Wcool thing to know!
    or
    Wow, what a freak geeky^W^Wcool thing to know!
    for an equivalent, but even geekier, humorous effect.
    (Note also that you shouldn't have a space after the "^W", because "^W" deletes back only to, but not including, the previous space.
    Similarly, in your original example, you should have omitted the spaces after each of your "^H" sequnces, or made each six long, instead of only five.)
    --
    Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana