An Englishman’s Home Is His (Drone-Defended) Castle

Retiring to the garden for a few reflective puffs on the meerschaum and a quick shufti through the Racing Post, and the peace of the afternoon is shattered by the buzz of a drone in the old airspace,what! What’s a chap to do, let loose with both barrels of the finest birdshot from the trusty twelve-bore? Or build a missile battery cunningly concealed in a dovecote? The latter is what [secretbatcave] did to protect his little slice of England, and while we’re not sure of its efficacy we’re still pretty taken with it. After all, who wouldn’t want a useless garden accoutrement that conceals a fearsome 21st century defence system?

The basic shell of the dovecote is made from laser cut ply, in the shape of an innocuous miniature house. The roof is in two sliding sections which glide apart upon servo-controlled drawer runners, and concealed within is the rocket launcher itself on a counterweighted arm to lift it through the opening. The (toy) rocket itelf is aimed with a camera pan/tilt mechanism,and the whole is under the control of a Raspberry Pi

It’s understood that this is a rather tongue-in-cheek project, and the chances of any multirotors falling out of the sky are somewhat remote. But it does serve also to bring a bit of light back onto a theme Hackaday have touched upon in previous years, that of the sometimes uneasy relationship between drone and public.

24 thoughts on “An Englishman’s Home Is His (Drone-Defended) Castle

      1. Meh. Either the attack was setup beforehand in order to make a video that would get lots of hits or the guy with the spear is a pretty big DB and should have to pay for the “drone”.

        This doesn’t exactly look to me like a private event where one doesn’t expect anyone else to look at them, through a camera or directly.

  1. Agreed! No point in just writing about it in the technologically tech savvy, when we could also have video!!! Come on now laddy, time for show, & sell, …er Tell, eh what? (I just simply love poking fun at our comrades in arms, (& beers, or ales to y’all), … but truly, you need to pop back in with he same story, & a video, in order to prove you are the man you say you are, and without said video, you lose all privileges under the “Man” card’s status, for a period of one gull year, along with a probationary period of 5 years, … (And don’t be getting your knickers, all in a bunch either, for if you do, you lose your Manly Man privileges for ever, (which is a really, really long time), …

      1. You don’t fire both barrels at the same time, so it makes no difference. I have seen some over-under models with two triggers, but only a fool would fire both at the same time, and your shot spread would not improve much over just using a trap barrel with a choke.

  2. Doubt a toy rocket could hit the drone, unless there is some guidance system. But certainly it must have been test fired a few times, need some gratification after the build. But what I’d like to see, is the woman, the drone would be spying on…

  3. Except in th UK you will be thrown in jail for defending yourself- or carrying tools like a pocket knife. Along the same lines, the recent Doctor Who episodes push moronic ideas such as that you have no “right” to push an alien off the edge who has just been on a murder rampage and was specificly trying to enslave you, or that only idiots carry tools like knives. Only complete morons push the “idea” that a swiss army knife, without a knife, is a sensible tool, or that common sense ideas like a right to self defense are “wrong.” This is a cool project, but I am willing to bet this is actually illegal over there. Another useful variation on this would be an anti-drone rocket, to protect your privacy … if you actullyt have a right over there in the UK or anywherwe in “progressive” Europe.

  4. When I noticed a quadcopter passing over my house how did I respond? I walked across the street and said hello to the boy who was quite obviously staring at the sky and holding a great big remote control. Of course he started going on about how he wasn’t trying to spy on me and he could avoid my house/yard if I wanted, etc… etc.. My eyes kind of glazed over probably during his monolog. I was bored. I didn’t come over for that. I just wanted to hear about his new toy. It was interesting!

    Seriously, what are you people doing in your yards?! Oh.. wait.. nevermind I really don’t want to know.

    I really don’t see the big deal though, at least not in the city. How much privacy do you expect? Sexy times are for the bedroom. Private personal hygiene tasks are for the bathroom. I’ll be upset when somebody’s drone shows up in those places. If I don’t want you to see it I won’t be doing it in front of an un-curtained window and certainly not in the yard. It’s not like the neighbors couldn’t see such things without any extra technology anyway.

    Who does things in their yards that they need to be so upset if anyone sees? Nudists? They shouldn’t care anyway, that’s kind of the point!

    Now.. if I had a place in the country with lots of separation from my neighbors I might have a greater expectation of privacy and therefore care if a camera flies overhead. But.. in that case what are the odds of anyone flying there? Pretty much zero unless they are specifically spying on me or my family. In that case, sure… shoot it down. But.. really, how often does this happen in the country? Has it ever?

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