Wiimote Controlled Coil Gun
I know it seems like a while since I last posted, but since my Christmas enlistment into the Joint Strike Force I’ve been busy winning WWIII for America! Actually it’s not been all video games, I’ve been working on a Django project that I hope to release in a few weeks, and inspired by ServoBeer I managed to find time for some ioBridge hacking.
However, as you can tell my recent militaristic tendencies have probably gotten the better of me!
Weapons of War
As you know from my previous posts I’m interested bringing a higher level of physical awareness and capability to my typical computing environment. Embedded systems are usually used to bypass the need for sophisticated systems, and the ioBridge is great for those situations.
Yet, I’m perfectly comfortable with the idea of using a laptop for a command and control system. It might be a more “tethered” solution then some people would like but I figure in a few years my iPhone will be able to fulfill the role my laptop currently has!
I wanted to move beyond some of the work I’ve been doing with passive sensors and in thinking about some ideas for a more active interfaces I realized that the wiimote certainly fits the description of a powerful controller! There are already enough great wii control hacks out there and some programs let you use the wiimote as a mouse!
But I wanted more then to just replace my mouse, and in most of these cases the flow control goes from the wiimote to a computer, or the wiimote to an arduino with lots of wiring. I wanted to both avoid the electrical requirements as well as extend the influence and “reach” of my wiimote beyond my immediate vicinity.
There are certainly times when you wouldn’t want to put your expensive new Macbook in harm’s way. Whether on the front lines or in the basement laptops are sometimes the wrong systems to dedicate to a task, so ioBridge to the rescue!
The ioBridge already has a number of features which make it idea for “remote” situations and so all I needed create was a mechanism to coordinate wiimote events sent to my computer with ioBridge events sent to the module. Luckily the team at ioBridge has created just such an API!
In this setup I use a python script and MoteDaemeon to bring the events into my laptop’s domain. Of course I could script up a number of local events but what I wanted to do was act on that data and sending commands to an ioBridge module.
So I build a website which monitors the position from one axis of the wiimote and extrapolates that position to a servo output on a remote ioBridge module (which happens to be in my office, but doesn’t have to be). I’m also tracking some of the button inputs and can expand easilly to include other axes as well!
Now I just needed something fun to control on the other end! I happened to have an office golf putter lying around and that uses an electromagnetic induction coil to generate the force needed for the ball return when you sink a putt. If you take that apart and replace the metal cylinder with something a tad bit smaller then you’re left with a coil gun capable of some pretty powerful shooting!
I’m not sure it’s up to DoD standards yet but remember the only required link between the wiimote and the ioBridge module is the Internet so if you can sneak one of these into your friend’s house, or a colleagues’ office, then you could be anywhere on the planet with Internet access and stick it to them!
How’s that for “Can you hear me now?”. Check out the video of it in action on YouTube or Vimeo!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
January 16th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
January 17th, 2009 at 1:47 am
January 16th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
January 16th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
January 15th, 2009 at 11:14 am
January 15th, 2009 at 10:00 am
January 15th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
January 13th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Scary. Pretty interesting stuff. How long did it take you to put this all together ?
January 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Honestly not all that long but longer as is usual with code, longer then I’d have liked! We had a hack-night and I had it working (other then taping the coil onto the servo) w/in the night, but it took me another few hours over the next two days to tune it.
For example, originally when I only had 3 discreet positions I found where I’d defined left = ‘iowidget#’ and ‘left’ = -15 (as in left threshold).
Obviously noone codes their best @ 4am.
The wiimote monitor I used is a bit unstable but I love how it works. It just dumps the data to a TCP port (vs. the other tools which don’t let you get to the data).
So a fun project I’d say and “just challenging enough”. The real issues usually end up being mechanical I think so that’s why tape and a coffee mug were the legos of choice for instant gratification, or should I say acceleration!
January 14th, 2009 at 1:45 am
January 14th, 2009 at 4:21 am
January 14th, 2009 at 10:07 am
January 14th, 2009 at 11:49 am
[...] sent us his iobridge project where he controls a coil gun with a Wiimote. To make the coil gun, he took apart an office golf putter that had a ball return. The mechanism [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
[...] out the “Wiimote Controlled Coil Gun” on thecapacity.org or on Hack a Day. Jay also introduced to his self-aware beating heart project. Tags:coil gun, [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 5:44 am
January 15th, 2009 at 6:21 am
[...] More about the Wiimote controlled coil gun [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 8:52 am
January 15th, 2009 at 9:01 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Post tags: Amp, Ballpoint Pens, Coffee Cup, Coffee Mug, Coil Gun, Deadly Force, Engadget, Gun Turret, Household, Induction Coils, Lethal Weapon, Little Inspiration, Modder, Pi, Poor Kid, Rail Gun, Safety Reasons, Textbooks, Wiimote, Wooden Spoons Posted in: Gadżety | | [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:04 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:06 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:08 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:15 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am
[...] Make]Source Share and [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:43 am
[...] for the real story. Look at this thing. It was made by a guy named Jay who is clearly a Russian spy. It has a pair of balls and shoots a [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:57 am
January 15th, 2009 at 9:58 am
[...] Read&nbsp|&nbspPermalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 10:01 am
January 15th, 2009 at 10:28 am
[...] heeft er een kantoor put apparaat een wii-mote een koffie-mok een berg pennen en genoeg skills om dit kreng voor mij te maken????????? Dan kan ik Rogue NL op afstand pennen op zijn kopf knallen! W00t Lees [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I was thinking cute until I saw the target. That book needs to be burned. I brings back nightmares – NP Complete – LOL
January 15th, 2009 at 10:40 am
January 15th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Haha, thanks TAZ!
Maybe I can build a wii-controlled flame thrower next!
January 15th, 2009 at 11:37 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Information Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 11:59 am
January 15th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Try using a coil from a pinball machine, you should get much more torque out of it.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
thane, that’s a good idea! I’m sure they’ve got some more power.
But are they mechanical or electro-mechanical? I only remember those pull back plungers.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 1:20 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 1:37 am
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Hi [thecapacity], this is dan who spoke to you briefly on hackaday. I see you got posted on engadget, good work!
Yesterday whilst messing around I hooked up a servo with a webcam stuck on top to a PC running a face detection algorithm (part of http://www.neurotechnology.com/pc-based-face-recognition.html); it took all of half an hour before resulting in a pretty cool/creepy little single axis face-following robot.
When I get round to ordering it I’m going to mount one of these on top with some servos controlling the Y-axis: http://www.gunnerairsoft.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=42. It’s basically a cheap airsoft electric BB gun which can fire in full auto; it shouldn’t take long to wire up the trigger to a relay so that it can be fired by software. Coil guns are pretty awesome but this thing fires little plastic BBs at 200fps with reasonable accuracy and is designed to be shot at people without hurting them
Just thought I’d post here in case you find any of this interesting. Today I’m going to have a go at copying what you’ve done but using my mobile phone instead of a Wii remote, I’ll share anything cool I find…
January 16th, 2009 at 6:02 am
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 6:53 am
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 7:04 am
[...] control, but if you mess with him and get a projectile in the eye you have only yourself to blame. [The Capacity via [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 8:13 am
[...] [via Gizmodo - Thecapacity] [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 8:18 am
muito interessante seu projeto!!!!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Gracias senior Brasil! Tengo mucho felicidad que está impresionado!!
(Hope that kinda made sense!)
January 16th, 2009 at 9:23 am
[...] what will effectively be a brain dump post, but a new friend of mine from the hackaday forums is getting started on his own accelerometer controlled system and I wanted to see if I could save him some time and [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Dan, that’s fantastic!
I have a friend w/ some airsoft so I was thinking about borrowing a gun of his for something similar!
I wrote a quick post which maybe will help you out, although it sounds like you’re well on your way w/o me!
The face tracking aspect is pretty impressive! I think someone in the engadget forum (Cory) had a great idea which was use an IR LED to illuminate whatever target your ID (in your case a fase) and then have a wiimote on top of the gun and use it’s IR sensor to help give you better tracking resolution.
Anyway, keep me posted on how it turns out! It’s amazing how these things can come together once you get started, huh?
January 16th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
January 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
March 26th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
[...] from my previous creation I connected my wiimote to a servo via some python and my ioBridge 204 module, only this time I [...]
March 28th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
March 31st, 2009 at 1:01 am
[...] Link Via Via Via [...]
June 27th, 2009 at 12:24 am
August 18th, 2009 at 3:24 am
January 8th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Outstanding website, I really discovered it to be thought prevoking. I am looking forward to visiting once again to examine what’s new.
January 15th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Thanks Cameron,
I’m all about handgun safety too!
March 1st, 2010 at 11:46 am
Good read, good points, a number of which I’ve got learned along the manner similarly (humility, grace, layoff the controversial stuff). Will share with my colleagues at work as we have a tendency to begin blogging from a corporate perspective.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:42 pm
This is often one among the most effective blog posts that I’ve probably ever read. It’s like a well-written paper. Your topic is relevant, you’ve broken the topics down logically.