Student Makes Real-Life Portal Turret
lukehopewell1 writes "A Penn State robotics student has gone to the effort of building a working, automated turret from the video game series Portal. Powered by a webcam, Arduino boards and hacked up USB-missile launchers, this is one serious piece of kit that is just as adorable as its in-game counterpart. "
And it doesn't even fire the entire bullet.
All military gun turrets should have a seductive female voice enticing their targets.
Great job kid! Keep it up and you could have an awesome job at the army corps of engineers, or at some other defense contractor. Great work.
I don't blame you.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I think a rubber band mini-gun would have been more suitable for this project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7UIoYGSVoQ
control link lost default = kill anything that moves
The Defense Department? Homeland Security? The TSA? Or is Lockheed or Raytheon or BAE or some other defense contractor going to sue the kid into oblivion over patent infringement? Or for that matter, is Valve going to sue for "licensing" infringement?
There's a GPS devices underneath his car now and $10 says his next flight he's gonna receive a complementary ass exam.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Now make an ED-209.
Is this of special note because its slightly reminiscent of Portal? These guys put together an amazing tracking turret and stuffed it with paintballs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc&feature=player_embedded#t=62s
http://www.paintballsentry.com/
Its tracking and rate of fire is pretty terrifying, in fact. I don't see why it couldn't be sleeved to look like a Portal turret too and be way more impressive.
Any idiot could mock this up, and hes using matlab instead of embedding everything. The turrets move when the 'real' portal turrets swivel at the base. In short this is a shitty turret tracking system with some bullshit plastic cutouts that look like ass to give the impression its a portal 2 turret. I was expecting something like the turret they have in Valve's office. What I got was a college pet project that looks like ass and functions worse.
Good-bye
Tracking is really slow. it should be tracking so fast that you dont get the jerky motion.
Add in predictive aiming and you have something that may get you a job for life working at a military contractor.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
While definitely cool project, I think there are better examples out there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QcfZGDvHU8#t=16 also shows an auto tracking turret with portal voices. However in this case the tracking seems quick enough to be useful, and it actually hurts people. Add some white plastic, and you're pretty close to the "real" deal.
and, skipping over the last word, was hoping that someone had made the Portal "gun" that shoots out working portals?
Typically in the past Valve has ended up buying the devices from people and putting them in their lobby, They have full size TF2 Sentrys and a Portal Sentry but they do not actually fire things. All you have to do is search for them and you will get the pictures.
This looks as much like a portal turret as a stick figure looks like an actual human.
I've always enjoyed this one, which seems a bit less jerky than the portal turret (though the portal turret *looks* cool)
http://projectsentrygun.rudolphlabs.com/
are currently under development. They will fire less-lethal rounds at any dogs, cats, or children who dare to trespass onto my lawn.
http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Gnome_Chompski
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Suddenly the Red and Blue teams of Team Fortress make more sense...
With artificial neural networks, stereoscopic vision, and a Nerf Vulcan you can:
Shoot down an RC helicopter
Track and range a helicopter
And even compensate for bullet drop
"Valve has ended up buying"
license infringement that pays..!!!
"Someone is coming. Quick, tell them you see them."
"Why? I don't see them."
"It scares the hell out of people."
"R-O-F-L! All right. I see you."
"Ask her if the's still there."
"Are you still there?...She didn't say anything."
"No shit, Sherlock."
"What should I say now?"
"Come out, bitch!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz5cl131KTk
Be who you are...and be it in style!
Looks like it was a real fun hack, kudos to the kid, better than anything I'm trained to pull together, and the aim wasn't too shabby!
But...
It's really generous to call it a "real-life portal turret."
The tracking was jerky, it waited until the target was stopped, I think it was tracking the red shirt, not the person, and the vocalizations were coming from the laptop controlling it, not the device itself. (At least, that's my guess given how quiet the voice got when the camera was placed behind the turret for the "live fire" demonstration.)
I think it's a great student project, but what I'd really love to hear is that he's going to continue to play with it, seeing how far he can push it towards self-contained as possible. That'd be fantastic!
(That being said, again, much better than anything I'm equipped to make. This isn't an "I could do so much better" rant, ain't no way. I just hope he still is interested enough in that type-a, nerdy, obsessive "perfection" seeking that leads to truly epic hacks.)
That added "?fb_ref=fb" isn't some tracking-token for Facebook, no?
why do we need a video only item on the headline page?
It's quicker & more effective to have a snap shot of the thing they built.
Then maybe an option for a video if you like the subject enough to waste that much time.
But this article requires you to watch the video just to see anything.
Waste of time................
Is this even science?
How much good-will does Valve generate from doing this (both from people who they buy them from, their friends, the people who see it in the lobby, their friends, and people who read about it, and Their friends), vs what piddling amounts of money they'd get for suing people, And the amount of good-will they'd Lose from doing that. Besides, who's making a living selling this kind of thing? It's not as if Valve is competing with these people and their products, it's an obvious synergy.
None. This isn't the first Slashdot story about a guy combining motion control and a weapon. I wish I could find the story, but at least 5 years ago, maybe more, some guy wired together a turret holding an automatic bb gun and motion sensing and control. And it was a lot smother and faster responding than this. It was kind of funny because he shot the shit out of his brother or friend or whoever it was halfway out in the back yard. It was a couple of bursts and then they stopped.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
think about amount of goodwill they will generate without steam :)