Rise of the machines
My name is Steve Stumpf and I have been attending D-Day every year since 2007, playing for the 82 nd Airborne’ s, 325 th GIR. This robot, which my dad and I constructed, took the better part of three years to complete. It all started out as a student design project while I was studying at The Ohio State University. My original goal was to design a completely autonomous paintball sentry system … which we did … but only on paper. Unfortunately, the idea could never be implemented into an actual system as none of my professors approved the idea; so I decided instead to build on this idea in my spare time.
Instead of being a complete autonomous sentry system, I decided to design a mobile platform and turret system which could be controlled using RC( Remote Control). Many of the ideas in this design were derived from other garage projects as well as from designs currently in use by military and police forces. The main body of the vehicle, which is comprised of a tubular steel chassis houses 4 motors, powerplant, motor controller, RC receiver, firing controls and other systems. Each motor connects and drives an individual wheel on the bot. With the use of the controller, the motors can be set up to all run together or in opposite directions allowing the bot to move forward / backward and turn. This worked out so well that the bot has a 0-degree turn radius.
The turret is entirely self-contained; The marker is a modified Smart Parts Ion which is powered by a 13ci 3000psi HPA tank which provides enough power for 50 shots from a standard pocket hopper. I’ ve also attached a video camera to the barrel of the turret. The camera sends what it sees via built in transmitter to the bot’ s controller. Unlike in the movie,‘ Rise of The Machines,’ this bot is not capable of operating on its own, at least not yet.
This robot will be introduced during the 2013 D-Day event. It might end up being either just a great intimidation factor against the opposition, or it could potentially become an effective component in the Allied drive to victory. I guess we’ ll have to wait and see in the days to come.
Remotely controlled bots are widely employed by US forces in Afghanistan to detect and disarm enemy IEDs, as well as to carry out a variety of other highly dangerous missions