Nerf sentry turret

posted Jun 18th 2010 12:12pm by Mike Szczys
filed under: toy hacks

With exams behind him [Adam Greig] had time to make a Nerf sentry gun. It’s actually quite easy to pull everything together. He’s got a netbook running Motion, an open source motion sensing program for use with a webcam. When movement is detected an Arduino, connected via a USB cable, actuates a servo to pull the trigger of the gun. The turret itself has seen a battery upgrade that increases the firing speed. It’s fun to see hardware prototyping done with a few pencils and a fist full of cable ties. Check it out after the break.

This particular toy, the Nerf N-Strike Vulcan, has become quite a popular starting point for turrent projects. We’ve seen one that uses a motorized base, and another that was part of a final project at Cornell.

Comments [15]

tagged: gun, motion, nerf, netbook, sentry, webcam

15 Responses to Nerf sentry turret

victor says:

June 18, 2010 at 12:26 pm

kind of like the [b]turrent[/b] i made

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Mikey says:

June 18, 2010 at 1:20 pm

This “Motion” library must not be very good — or else not hooked up right, cause in that first video, it’s shooting at a stationary door.

Also… can it not aim? Why does it sound like a portal gun? Those guns could aim!

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nebulous says:

June 18, 2010 at 1:42 pm

@ Mikey
You did not notice him pressing a button? Obviously a test.

And it doesn’t look like it can aim, no. Always leave room for upgrades, I say.

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Mr_Bishop says:

June 18, 2010 at 1:49 pm

Awesomeness, now just make it a paintball gun with a hella big tank, and give it the ability to rotate in 2D (updown/leftright). nice start and I love the voice.

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Jeff says:

June 18, 2010 at 1:56 pm

That’s cool I guess but this one http://www.paintballsentry.com is by far the most advanced.

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itwork4me says:

June 18, 2010 at 2:02 pm

perhpas you may want to look into this older link

http://hackaday.com/2009/07/01/poor-mans-thermographic-camera/

this plus motion detection perhaps would be
much more useful for hitting a living target, don’t you think?

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HARaaM says:

June 18, 2010 at 2:09 pm

The motor is from http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCM-351/24-VDC-GEAR-MOTOR-W/TURNTABLE/1.html

AND I HATE CAPTCHA. MOST BLIND PEOPLE DO.

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Osgeld says:

June 18, 2010 at 3:36 pm

wth are you talking about, theres no captcha here, nor on the website of the op, nor on the allelectronics site

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Anonymous says:

June 18, 2010 at 5:18 pm

Now all we need is a Nerf sapper for your Nerf sentry.

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gm says:

June 19, 2010 at 3:15 am

Why use a servo to pull the trigger? The Vulcan is electrically fired – just tape the trigger down and turn on and off the power.

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Jimmy Dickshins says:

June 19, 2010 at 10:13 am

Nice… but for future reference, unless you’re speaking entirely to 13 year old HL players (or Tribes back in the day) “turret” doesn’t have an ‘N’ in it.

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hoshi143 says:

June 19, 2010 at 10:46 am

absolutely amazing. now where is the teleporter? need an dispenser here.

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Fili says:

June 19, 2010 at 2:21 pm

Only one barrel? This must be a lvl 1 turret. He needs to add another one and a nerf rocket launcher. Lvl 3 for teh win!
Ok, who’s making the teleporter?

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Nerf Lover says:

July 20, 2010 at 10:38 am

I’ve reviewed many Nerf guns before but this modified turret is just awesome, ive never seen one like that before! Keep up the good work, try to modify a nerf sniper rifle too! Thats my favorite gun, it would be awesome.