Nerf Sentry Turret

June 18, 2010 by Mike Szczys 15 Comments

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.

Continue reading “Nerf Sentry Turret” →

Nerf Sentry Gun Build In Progress

May 12, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 9 Comments

[John Park] is documenting his build of a Nerf Sentry gun. So far, he’s rigged the trigger and set up the motorized base. He’s documenting the process in fantastic detail with great photos along the way. If you want to see what it will be like when it is finished, check out these other Nerf sentry guns that we’ve featured in the past.

WiFi And Bluetooth Sniffing Rifle

April 23, 2010 by Mike Szczys 52 Comments

[.ronin] built an all-in-one WiFi and Bluetooth sniffer. He used a Nerf rifle as a base and added two Pringles cantennas, a tablet PC, and other various bits to tie it all together. Now he wanders the streets, explaining the device to bewildered passersby. After showing the device at CarolinaCon 2010 (here’s a PDF of his presentation) he stopped by the mall nibbled about 250 Bluetooth devices using SpoofTooph. The software is running on a Fujitsu u810 tablet and he’s making good use of Backtrack 4 during his wireless adventures.

Missile Hack Taunts Your Cat

January 5, 2010 by Mike Szczys 8 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K7rTWnuQ6Y]

[Atlantageek] sent in a missile launcher project that he threw together. For Christmas he received a Chumby One and a ThinkGeek USB Rocket Launcher as gifts (lucky dog). Neither of these toys are “played with” in the traditional sense as much as they become centerpieces of your next hack. In that spirit, [Atlantageek] immediately wrote a widget to control the launcher via the Chumby. The side effect of driving his cat bonkers was an unexpected bonus.

40 Years Of NERF

September 9, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 12 Comments

nerf3 (Custom)

In 1968 a guy by the name of [Rey Guyer] came up with an idea for a game. It involved foam balls as game pieces. After failing to sell the game to Milton Bradley, he approached Parker Brothers. They bought his idea but ended up tossing the game itself and just marketing the foam ball. Named after the padding used on rollbars in offroad vehicles, Nerf balls were an instant success, 40 years ago, in 1969. Many of us have fond memories of Nerf, even before everything they produced was a weapon. That’s not to say we don’t appreciate the Nerf weapons. We certainly have seen some hackers do some fun stuff with them.

[via neatorama]

Nerf Sentry Gun With Image Recognition

May 17, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 45 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGRBjCrnjhs]

Here’s another hacked Nerf Vulcan rifle. This time it is an automated sentry gun. You must present it your badge, if no badge is found, you are assaulted with a fiery storm of small nerf darts. All encounters are logged and a photos are kept. This was a final project at Cornell, and for once it wasn’t ECE. This was for CS1114. They did a pretty good job with the tracking, now they need to add some more interesting voice options to it.

Radio Controlled Nerf Tank

April 23, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 11 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FjT9nUkj-I]

[Travis7s] has built this giant Nerf Tank. Featuring Radio controls, a web cam, laser sights, and the ability to play music, this thing is pretty awesome. He’s using the Nerf Vulcan rifle, temporarily modified with a servo for remote firing. This thing is pretty huge, as you can see from the video, it sits about as high as the seat cushions of the chairs in his house. The sound system is an amplifier and some speakers hooked up to an iPod. This thing could use a nice coat of paint to make it a little more menacing and a little less Nerf. What it really needs though, is the ability to play sounds from a sound board. Imagine the Imperial March as it enters a room, or maybe a sound board with appropriate insults and phrases for the onslaught.