Automated paintball gun keeps the residence secure

Nah, it's not like tagging an intruder with shades of neon green, yellow and orange will do much to disable him / her, but it would probably make 'em think twice before going any further. 'Course, we're sure one could think of other uses for an automated paintball gun, and for those creative enough to agree, Team Cynergy has put together a videotaped how-to guide for building a laser-based motion detector and connecting it to your gun. We'll save the technicalities for those who dare to check out the near-10 minute clip posted after the break, but the long and short of it involves a Parralax BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller, a red laser pointer, a servo and a good bit of tinkering (among other things). Besides, this is a lot less dangerous than that motion-activated BB rifle and laser-guided turret you built earlier this year, so why not flex some DIY muscle and give this endeavor a go?

[Via HackedGadgets]

[IndiaTech @ Nov 26th 2007 4:44AM]

Don't paintball me bro...

[SaVvmari.com @ Nov 26th 2007 5:05AM]

Hope no ones a sleep walker.

http://savvmari.com

[dksp @ Nov 26th 2007 5:17AM]

A similar projet:

Printball
http://www.recyclism.com/printball.php

It currently exposed there
http://esad-stg.org/chaufferie/2007.10.html

[mushrooshi @ Nov 26th 2007 5:13AM]

I don't know much about Paintball. IS it possible to replace the paintballs with hard metal balls?

[Kizorblade @ Nov 26th 2007 6:10AM]

Yeah. It wouldn't go as far though, as the added weight would slow it down.
But it would still hurt like a bitch if you've got it at the maximum psi and it's at a medium range

[barnz2k @ Nov 26th 2007 8:12AM]

Metal yes - thats why you use the refill-Gas to FREEZE them. Apparently a frozen paintball can go INTO a tree. :)

[Fruition @ Nov 26th 2007 6:51AM]

Yes! Now time to construct a life-sized Team Fortress Classic map in my back yard! I'll be the best engineer ever!

[Marauder_Pilot @ Nov 26th 2007 9:26AM]

Wrong. Many brands of paintballs won't freeze at all, and the ones that will don't do any more significant damage then usual ones. Plus, they melt very fast and, as soon as they do, they're ruined-your marker will chew them up.

[Mark Richardson @ Nov 26th 2007 8:25AM]

I must admit that I actually thought of this idea about six months ago. I'm just happy someone has now fulfilled my dreams.

[Randy @ Nov 26th 2007 9:14AM]

He's using an A-5, my marker of choice ;-)

Less dangerous? I disagree. You need to be careful not to shoot anyone in the face. One errant shot to the eye will result in loss said eye. not fun.

Knuckleheads: do not let anyone near this thing w/o the requisite eye/face protection.

[Dean @ Nov 26th 2007 9:41AM]

actually its an X7. personally, it looks like it has an e-grip due to the rate of fire from that servo, why didn't he just wire into the gun's electronics? thats what i would have done. would have been cleaner. but i guess it would make it harder to take the gun out to play when it is not turreted.

[DWells55 @ Nov 26th 2007 12:11PM]

This is significantly more dangerous than the "BB gun" that is linked to. As I explained in the comments of that article, that "BB gun" was a very weak airsoft gun barely capable of inflicting pain at close range. It fires .12 and .20 gram 6mm balls of plastic at around 200 feet per second and can't even pierce a tin can. This, on the other hand, can cause significant damage to someone close range. Permanent eye damage and broken teeth are a possibility, along with severe bruising/welting on the rest of the body.

[Chad @ Nov 26th 2007 9:19AM]

This is pretty close to my senior design project. We made a R/C tank that you drove with your cell phone and put a paintball gun in the turret. You could also park it and put it into autonomous mode and it would light up anything that moved. We wanted to use a laser for motion detection but could never get it working right so we ended up using a combination of IR and ultrasonic sensors.

Here's a couple pics
http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~dsml/ece477/Webs/S05-Grp11/pictures/TankStuff%20051.jpg
http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~dsml/ece477/Webs/S05-Grp11/pictures/TankStuff%20030.jpg

[Ian @ Nov 26th 2007 9:21AM]

This may be illegal in most places, since it's "booby trap". Also, who wants paintball paint all over their house?

[John Doe @ Nov 26th 2007 9:32AM]

We setup the APG's in the hall. Spot weld the ducts here, here, and here. Outstanding, now all we need is a deck of cards.

[John Doe @ Nov 26th 2007 9:33AM]

Aim for the crotch....its the only way to be sure.

[L.Cyphre @ Nov 26th 2007 9:33AM]

THE SPY'S SAPPIN' MAH SENTRY!

[Melissa @ Nov 26th 2007 11:43AM]

Speaking of Spies and Sentries, bonus points go to anyone who can build in recognition between blue and red (or R.E.D. and B.L.U. if you will).

Nothing's worse than getting clipped by a friendly sentry.

[michas_pi @ Nov 27th 2007 7:46AM]

SPAH'S SAPPIN' MAH LAUGHTER

[paul-engadget @ Nov 26th 2007 10:18AM]

surely you just need a very large home aquarium and a pet shark with a frickin laser gun?

[Magallanes @ Nov 26th 2007 11:06AM]

Can be used as a ironic revenge against graffiti kids.

[volvogeek @ Nov 26th 2007 11:43AM]

I'd make one if I could program it to say the phrases from the Portal turrets.

"I see you!"

[michas_pi @ Nov 27th 2007 7:47AM]

And when you knock the paintball gun over:

"I don't hate you..."

[John @ Nov 26th 2007 1:22PM]

Seems like a pretty effective system. If someone is trespassing, this is nonlethal and if they do get hurt in some minor way, you presumably don't care. And if it misses, then nothing it accidentally hits will be really damaged.

[CL @ Nov 26th 2007 5:52PM]

I need to mount that on the top of my car and hook it up to one of the new-fangled cruise control distance sensor systems. If anyone cuts me off in traffic, then they will automatically get pelted. The tighter the cut-off, the more they will get painted :-)

[Rob @ Nov 26th 2007 6:55PM]

Meh,.. I'm not impressed.
There are easier ways to do this with off the shelf products for less than $30.

Now if he had made a target tracking turret,.. then I'd be impressed.

[klhnsn @ Nov 26th 2007 10:54PM]

i use a shot gun its better

[AlexHiggins732 @ Nov 27th 2007 1:03PM]

A Shotgun may be a little extreme for this setup.. definitely takes the "safety" away. And with this setup, if the recoil moves the sensors out of the path of the laser, then your going to letting off several wasted rounds

[Landon @ Nov 28th 2007 10:25AM]

I can't believe something like this is just now hitting. A guy I used to play with made one that was sound, motion, or remote activated about 7 yrs ago :P Thing was sick and he would use it at the base when we played large scenarios.

As far as freezing paintballs...good luck, most of the time they expand and then won't fit through the barrel. Steel balls would probably shoot through but mess up your gun. My friend shot a marble one time at some sheet metal and dented it. :P

[AB @ Jan 22nd 2008 3:41PM]

This is almost exactly like a senior project we did last year. We used a camera and motion sensing software for our tracking. I can post the youtube video of our final project if anyone is intrested.