Sunshine Sentry

• 

  The wiring that allowed for the servo, ir sensor, and stepper motor to all work in harmony.

• 

  The launching mechanism for the projectile. A servo motor will knock the pin holding it back to launch the spring forwards.

• 

  The main base for the sentry, and the barrel lies in the middle with adequate holes for wiring.

• 

  The final physical form of the sentry, with the chamber pre-loaded.

Inspiration

After coming home from our tough physics midterms we found ourselves unmotivated and stressed. We began thinking about how we could eradicate this depressing feeling, and we came up with the amazing idea of blasting ourselves with a motivating message that would make us joyful once again.

What it does

This sentry turret takes aim at suspecting targets of demotivation and fires a capsule encompassing a motivating message to cheer you up. It will spin constantly looking for the target and stop and shoot when it detects one.

How we built it

We used a 5V DC stepper motor to spin a platform. On the platform is an IR sensor, when it detects someone within less than 70cm it will stop, locking onto the person. Then, the spring loaded propulsion system (compressed spring to generate power) will launch a dart containing a heart warming message.

Challenges we ran into

• Weight distribution of the platform
• Generating sufficient power to launch the dart
• Having a reliable method of launching the dart
• Assembling the Arduino parts
• Connecting a power supply as our battery wasn't working properly and it was hard to pinpoint where the problem was.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Creating a spring loaded propulsion system from scratch
• Being able to properly assemble all computing components into one working system

What we learned

• The importance of planning and preparation
• How to wire Arduinos properly and have multiple parts in the circuit
• Being able to create a spring propulsion system from scratch without 3D printing

What's next for Sunshine Sentry

We are going to use a 9V battery to power the Arduino by itself. We could've done it but didn't have the servo motor driver to provide ample voltage. Additionally, we would want to add automatic loading system as well as more stable base for more reliable rotation.

Built With

• arduino
• c++
• motor