DIY Portal Sentry Bot by Dr. Peter Wissenschaftler

this home-made, do-it-yourself household robot is programmed to terminate all humans that cross its path... but alas the power of its laser weapon is inadequate for this task, so it subjects them to sarcastic verbal abuse instead.

this was a speed-build, using common items i found around the house including a DVD spindle, a coffee can lid and some paper clips. of course it also contains several hundred dollars worth of electronics hardware... which also happened to be lying around the house, er, uh, "lab".

phrases are stored on a flash EEPROM, along with the firmware, which i wrote in Arduino C. the Arduino Nano microcontroller sends pulse width modulated position control information to the Parallax standard servo, causing the body of the robot to spin around. the Maxbotix EZ-LV4 ultrasonic rangefinder continuously ranges targets, and the data is entered into a 1-dimensional array, which is then compared to data received on the return sweep to monitor for motion. when it detects motion, servo sweeping stops while the host controller sends a 2400 baud serial message to the Emic TTS chip, which has an on-board audio amplifier. the audio output from this goes directly into the 8-ohm speaker. the laser and LED modulator are separate from the main circuit bundle, and function entirely independently. in fact, i took that thing off a $5 airsoft gun i bought at a swap meet.

it could definitely use some tweaking, since i built it in such haste for a Halloween party and haven't had time to work out the kinks yet. but it did the job, as everybody enjoyed playing with it.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• DIY
• home made
• Portal sentry gun robot
• Arduino Nano
• Parallax standard servo

[kosimov1]

You did this in hours? I'd say you did well! I'm a professional engineer; one of the most difficult problems I've had over the years is to get others to spend less time theorizing, second guessing, then pre-solving second-guessed problems that never happen. Better to do a good first pass and get something started, then deal with problems that actually arise. If you are planning for an engineering career, I think you are on the right track. If you can take criticism, even better.

[peteralaric]

@kosimov1 thank you!!! indeed it was quite the rush job... but well worth it! a fun little build to say the least. i definitely have dreams of becoming a pro like you. i'm inclined to agree with you; getting my hands dirty seems to be the only way to make real progress. i just don't have the knowledge or skill at this point to design a finished product in my head! being self-taught, trial and error is really my only method... but the uncertainty always keeps things interesting! ;?)

[DevilDan83]

It's too safe for mad science. You should have taped real guns to it before even turning it on for the first time.

[peteralaric]

@DevilDan83 agreed. version 2.0 won't even bother talking to you; it will just kill you and then burn your ashes for good measure. :?P

[AnselmoFanZero]

Fass es nich, daß die DInger aus Portal sind. Das verfolgt mich grade irgendwie...obwohl ich es nicht kenne.

[peteralaric]

@AnselmoFanZero stimmt, es ist nicht genau der huebsche Portalbot, aber die Ahnung war gleich. :?)

[Overyde]

you sound scarily like Al Gore in futurama

[tys3guancia]

Grrr some1 tell me wat circut boards do there so confusin

[xXMaxiDerGewinnerXx]

Nettes Teil,was du da hast:)

[peteralaric]

@wizardaim thank you!! ...more robot projects on the horizon... 8D