Autonomous Rifles

[Oak Rapp]

Are there competitions for computer controlled rifles? I saw a precision rifle rest on a website and my other hobby yelled for attention - I like to play with microprocessors, sensors, etc. to build robots. Adding some precision motor controlled gears, etc to one of those rifle rests, modify a scope to pick up a digital image, do pattern matching and analysis to spot shots, compute adjustments and turn gears to adjust the rifle rest and pull the trigger should be doable... I've seen articles where people made computer controlled nerf guns and paintball guns, but accuracy was a 2nd order concern for those, precision target shooting sounds like a much more open-ended challenge given the number of factors that could be considered in '...compute adjustments'.

 

[phlegethon]

If I remember correctly a fully computer controlled firearm is a class III NFA item and you have to be an SOT to make or possess.

 

[brianf]

I think the issue isn’t the sensor suite needed to facilitate a “kill chain”, if we’re talking king range/sniper not area denial /machine gun.

the hardware is easy as well. it’s just servo’s and brackets.

the hard part is collecting wind data. Mirage, wind cycles etc would need some type of artificial intelligence/monitored timeline and then being able to make a decision to shoot even if perimeters seems not met. Or more importantly to not shoot

using simple vision system OCR/character recognition is possible for target acquisition but at distance differentiation between a RPG and a plumber carrying a pipe might be impossible.

Possibly a market in Russia or China where they don’t care about friendly fire but of the US kills a kid on the way to school in a overwatch position...someone’s going to jail.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

Half the system you speak of has been in use in helos and maritime interdiction for a long time now.
You just have to either modify it to operate under human commands (from safe location, such as UAV pilots) or build its' own brain..
The environmental sensor suite could be as simple as an integrated Vectronix forward observer type unit or as complex as the environmental sensor suite used on UAVs.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Fig]

They’re called “bots”. My kid fights them all the time.

 

[brianf]

My son changed my fortnite name to dad-bot.

I play once a month with him so of course I suck...I’m as bad as a bot lol

 

[bonesaw00001]

Are there competitions for computer controlled rifles? I saw a precision rifle rest on a website and my other hobby yelled for attention - I like to play with microprocessors, sensors, etc. to build robots. Adding some precision motor controlled gears, etc to one of those rifle rests, modify a scope to pick up a digital image, do pattern matching and analysis to spot shots, compute adjustments and turn gears to adjust the rifle rest and pull the trigger should be doable... I've seen articles where people made computer controlled nerf guns and paintball guns, but accuracy was a 2nd order concern for those, precision target shooting sounds like a much more open-ended challenge given the number of factors that could be considered in '...compute adjustments'.

I feel like I've come across some articles about possible "sniper drones" as a potential development - basically land a drone quietly behind enemy lines and allow a remote operator to take pot shots with a stabilized weapon mount.

 

[bonesaw00001]

Although plenty of examples of similar things in popular science fiction (first thing that pops up for "sniper drone" https://www.amazon.com/Tau-Sniper-D...000FS6GWI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8)