Video: Robotic Paintball Sentry Gun Deals Out Acrylic Fury
Unmanned drones have transformed the face of modern warfare, and with this DIY robotic paintball turret, it looks like they're changing the face of play warfare as well. This robot guard uses wireless video and control to dominate the battlefield and lay the paint on like a roller brush.
Built by Andrew Alter, research and development lead at Trossen Robotics, a company that makes robot parts for dedicated robot hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers, the robot sentry is still a work in progress. At this stage, the robot still requires directions from the user, who operates the machine via a Wi-fi camera that sends the image to an iPhone or other mobile device. Based on that image, the operator can adjust the targeting of the turret with a joystick controller on the video feed.
"[Trossen Robotics] is in the process of making a line of Pan/Tilt units for machine vision, camera work, etc., and I figured this would be a fun diversion from our main product focus," Alter told TechNewsDaily. "I had literally gotten the turret up and running within hours of shooting the video."
"I have the best job ever," Alter added.
Alter is currently working on installing a motion tracking camera and control system to automate the system. After that, it's just a matter of mounting the turret on a six-legged robot chassis to create the ultimate cyborg opponent for the next outing to the paintball range.
