Looking to segway into robotics and autonomous robots (I'm looking at you R2D2) I have decided to try a small projects involving servos and an arduino. This little project was brought to you by Project Sentry Gun. Let's start by assembling the parts:
1) A computer to run windows XP (I had an old one)
2) Paintball gun or Nerf gun (again, just hanging around not being used)
3) Servos
6) Bearing from a fidget spinner
7) Lazy Susan/Swivel type bearing (I used a wheel I had hanging around)
8) Webcam
And the rest is all parts and hardware that I had from other various projects.
Spring boarding off of a discussion I had with a tech club, it appears that many people are moving to Fusion 360 to create 3D projects. I decided that I would give this a go.
I have to say Fusion 360 software is pretty nice. I love its ability to import any type of 3D file. I found useful files at Grab Cad Library including the tippmann paintball gun, Servo MG565, and an arduino board. I imported them into the Fusion 360 program and started building my frame sketchup.
I started to run into some problems with Fusion only because I'm not 100% familiar with it. So I completed the task using good old Blender.
I created a pivot box that could hold the paintball gun:
Next I created a handle that can pull the trigger using the Servo. I had to mount the servo into the handle too.
I created a lazy susan type bearing (Swivel Bearing) from an old swivel wheel.
I glued a servo accessory onto the middle of the swivel bearing using jb weld.
Next I matched up my base so that I could mount it to the bearing easily.
The center of the servo wheel and the center of the bearing are aligned perfectly.
With servos, you have to balance out the weight or it will not function as planned.
I printed out all the parts and started assembling.
This is the tilt box holder
Here is the tilt attached with the servo
Tank Holder
CO2 Tank.
Trigger Assembly.
Here it is mounted with the webcam mounted.
Assembly is all well and good but this won't function without the right instructions.
On the windows XP computer, Arduino 1.8.5 - Windows should be installed. Then Install Processing IDE 1.5.1. In my case, I only needed to download the zip for windows and run the exe to run the program. Finally, I needed to install Msvcp71.dll and Msvcr71.dll and copy it to the C:\windows\system32 file Directory. Finally, Download the Project Sentry Files and extract them into My Documents folder.
1) Run Arduino IDE. Open up PSG_Arduino_Code.ino in file directory My Documents\Project-Sentry-Gun-master\Arduino\PSG_Arduino_Code.
2) Plug in your Arduino board via a usb A to B. Wait for it to install.
3) Copy "myron_ezcam.dll" and "DSVL.dll" to the 'processing-1.5.1' folder.
4) Open "PSG_Arduino_Code.ino" in the Arduino IDE.
5) Set the proper type in the "#define type" line at the top of the Arduino Code ("Arduino_bare" if your microcontroller is the Arduino Uno.
6) Select your board from the Tools > Port menu and then click 'Upload'. You only need to do this once ever, so close the Arduino IDE.
7) Make sure that your webcam drivers are installed and working.
8) Plug in your webcam and microcontroller.
9) Open "PSG_Processing_Code.pde" in the Processing IDE.
10) you need to drag in the libraries from the Project sentry file download package into the "PSG_Processing_Code.pde" while it is open.
Hit the play button in the upper left hand corner of the Processing IDE program and let the good times roll.
Here is a couple of videos for fun. You should calibrate the machine before taking it to a paintball match.
The first is in manual mode.
The second is in autonomous mode.
That's all for now. Good luck to your balls people!
