Autonomous Paintball Sentry Gun

Autonomous Paintball Sentry Gun
Make your own, custom AUTONOMOUS SENTRY GUN!

A Microcontroller Contest Finalist and Runner Up Winner.

This instructable is out-of-date. For the most recent version of the tutorial, see the website . Cheers!

This sentry gun autonomously tracks, aims, and shoots at targets, using:
-An airsoft or paintball gun
-A webcam to find targets
-A computer to process the video feed and aim the gun
-Servo motors to physically aim the gun and squeeze the trigger
-A sturdy tripod base
-A microcontroller to interface between the computer and the servo motors
-Lots of camo paint
The end result is a paintball/airsoft spewing robot, that can turn the tides of any match.

Video if it in action here .

Want to build your own?
You're in luck! All the help and information you will need is here, and the software is free and open-source. Lots of people have already used this system in their own sentry guns, with successful results.
So go ahead, make your own, and soon your own backyard will be no-man's land, too!


P.S. take pictures during the project, and when you are finished, send me a picture, and a description of your project, and I will feature it on the Successful Projects page of my website. Thanks!
 
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Step 1Parts List

Parts List
          Airsoft / paintball gun, or other 'projectile dispenser'
$30   Webcam
$25   Arduino (or equivalent)
$27   3 Servo motors (pan, tilt, trigger) $9 ea.
$10   Assorted screws, nuts and bolts
$9     Wood/metal for construction
$5     USB A to B cable
$2     Some 22 gauge solid wire
$2     Servo battery box
$110 TOTAL

Also, you will need a laptop or computer to run the sentry gun program. $250 for a cheap netbook, if you don't have anything else...
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89 comments
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Dec 28, 2011. 3:35 PMdilbert227 says:
hi,

Is there anyway to reverse the direction of the of the servos through the code.

thanx
Dec 28, 2011. 6:07 PMdilbert227 says:
fastest reply ever thx.
Nov 24, 2011. 5:19 PMilpug says:
(millions of people chanting) VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO!

Seriously, amazing.
Nov 6, 2011. 10:04 PMMistaStokes says:
Awesome. I was also thinking about if one could modify a usb missile launcher (sold at most computer stores) to do this with an airsoft gun (paintball probably has too much kick). I can't build it because I know that it would lead to a real firearm being remote controlled, and no matter how awesome that sounds something bad would definitely happen!
Oct 18, 2011. 3:00 AMMRedu says:
This absolutely brilliant! Maybe i'll use this to get rid of the foxes in my garden! LOL j/k.

Seriously though i'm impressed :)
Sep 24, 2011. 6:22 AMLTM-Pedro says:
Hi, I'm from spain and i'll build a turret using your tutorial, but y would like to add some extras, such as a airsoft grenade launcher remotely controled, some tactical lasers and lights and other camera controled by a servo (wich is controlled by a joystick). I would want to know if i could use a joystick to control the airsft gun using your software.

Thaks and sorry for the grammar

Aug 6, 2011. 3:08 PMvruiz3 says:
i dont get it...how do you run the code.i got Hex editor
Jul 2, 2011. 7:38 PMincreadibad12k says:
Is there a way to have the computor remotely process the video feed to find targets?
Aug 5, 2011. 7:05 PMfinton says:
With permanent dye paintballs, this would be a good tool for identifying burglars! "And now on Crimewatch: has anyone recently seen a scumbag covered in fluroescent pink dye?"
May 24, 2011. 4:43 PMpuddingsgood says:
does it run on windows ce because i found a cheap small computoer thatruns cee but iam not sure
Jun 23, 2011. 11:57 AMXBLmonster says:
im in the same situation... i need a cheap laptop to run everything
Jun 24, 2011. 11:25 AMXBLmonster says:
BTW I'm kind of die-ing to get a sentry shield but it says you are out of stock.... and thats really the only way I can do the project since I'm new to all of this. When will you get more? And if you made that kit I bet you would get many buyers.
Jun 24, 2011. 7:10 AMpuddingsgood says:
Ya I found a 90$ computer it is about 7 inches long and they have one in android and windows ce
Jun 23, 2011. 1:42 PMXBLmonster says:
youre saying i can do it on my android phone perhaps?
Jun 24, 2011. 7:14 AMpuddingsgood says:
No it is a computer ordeals extrem but kind of it runs windows ce
May 19, 2011. 5:48 PMeragon69 says:
some what confused... you wanted the tigger to pin 6 AND the usb status to pin 6? is that correct, or should trigger be connected to 6 and usb to 5? or something else?
May 19, 2011. 8:05 PMeragon69 says:
Thanks for the quick reply. reading through your latest code now, the connections all seem to be different. x to pin 9, y to pin 8 ect. should i follow these instead?
May 15, 2011. 3:38 PMCian95 says:
Could somebody please make a video tutorial of the wiring of this?
Apr 13, 2011. 5:13 PMTomcat94 says:
Now, if someone could modify this to look like the sentry guns from PORTAL, and have a sound box to make the same sounds (Hearing "There you are" right before being pelted with paintballs? Awesome), that would complete my life. I'm definitely going to build this when I get the time and/or money...
May 8, 2011. 1:07 PMQBN-14 says:
Could you use an Arduino Mega?
Feb 7, 2011. 11:46 AMstarkec says:
when trying to run i keep getting this error,

processing.app.debug.RunnerException: UnsatisfiedLinkError: D:\Software\processing-1.2.1\libraries\JMyron\library\JMyron.dll: Can't find dependent libraries
at processing.app.Sketch.placeException(Sketch.java:1543)
at processing.app.debug.Runner.findException(Runner.java:582)
at processing.app.debug.Runner.reportException(Runner.java:558)
at processing.app.debug.Runner.exception(Runner.java:498)
at processing.app.debug.EventThread.exceptionEvent(EventThread.java:367)
at processing.app.debug.EventThread.handleEvent(EventThread.java:255)
at processing.app.debug.EventThread.run(EventThread.java:89)
Exception in thread "Animation Thread" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: D:\Software\processing-1.2.1\libraries\JMyron\library\JMyron.dll: Can't find dependent libraries
at java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary0(ClassLoader.java:1803)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:1728)
at java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Runtime.java:823)
at java.lang.System.loadLibrary(System.java:1028)
at JMyron.JMyron.(JMyron.java:14)
at Turret_05_03.setup(Turret_05_03.java:142)
at processing.core.PApplet.handleDraw(Unknown Source)
at processing.core.PApplet.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

I have installed jmyron as instructed in the file but i still get this error :(
Your help would be greatly appreciated :)
Mar 13, 2011. 8:46 PMtorivc says:
Can't wait to do your build.
However, I did the same thing and no results
can you explain a little more on your instructions:

"IMPORTANT FOR WINDOWS USERS: there is a folder called "Extra DLLs" - those are DLLs that JMyron depends on so make sure they're copied into your system's DLL search path - such as the Processing root directory, or even C:\windows\System32."

Place "Extra DLLs" to system's DLL search path" I don't understand this.

a video tutorial would be great for your instrucable
Mar 22, 2011. 9:43 PMtorivc says:
So i've done that and various ways to get this program off the ground. Unfortunately, no avail can you make a screen cast of exactly how to successfully acomplish this project. There nothing but endless failures on my attempts on this project. I'm really looking forward to this.
Feb 9, 2011. 7:50 PMljfa321 says:
I just run into that problem yesterday, seems like they doulbe do the packaging work
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