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The Quintessential Sentry Gun

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the deadly-secure dept.

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!"

30 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. 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 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!
  2. Where's the Dispenser by jtwJGuevara · · Score: 4, Funny

    And my engy script for "bind e +detdispenser"

  3. 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.
  4. 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 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
  5. 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
  6. 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.

  7. 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.

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    The Slashdot Limerick
    1. 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.

  8. It's a true aimbot by DoubleRing · · Score: 4, Funny

    Software tracked, mechanically aimed! Hax0r!!!!

    --
    Before you die, you see DoubleRing...
  9. "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
  10. 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
  11. 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.

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    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.

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    2. Re:CTRL-H Defined by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  12. 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
  13. 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.

  14. 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."
  15. 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
  16. 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. ;)

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

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