The Human Tracking Laser Turret is a security system that can detect the colors on people's clothes and sound an alarm if it recognizes that the people wearing those colors are intruders. A user can determine which colors sound the alarm by connecting the turret to a computer and downloading the PixyMon v2 software. Through this software, the turret can be trained to identify up to seven colors as unauthorized. The turret was pre-trained to recognize a reddish-pink color as unauthorized to showcase it working in action.

The turret continuously pans back and forth to search for a target. When it detects someone wearing clothing of an unauthorized color it will:

1. Sound an alarm
2. Shine three lasers on the person
3. Track that person's movement

The turret be used by companies as a security system to keep a room off limits to subordinates. This is espically useful for companies where the subordinates wear uniforms that are the same color, such as camp counselors.

Materials

• Pixy 2 Camera
• Adafruit pan/tilt kit
• 3 Laser diodes
• Arduino Uno and cable
• Portable Charger
• Hamburger Speaker
• Breadboard and lots of wires!
• Laser cutter and glass construct the base
• Hinge and screws to attach a door to the base
• Wood and hot glue to attach camera to the base

Stages of Development

Stage 1

In the first stage, I made cuts to the pan/tilt base to make room for wiring, and attached the camera.

Stage 2

This is an older version of the robot. The camera is glued onto the pan/tilt base, which is glued onto a rubik's cube. The lasers are all wired up!

Stage 3

After adjusting some parameters in PixyMon and testing some Arduino programs, I was able to get the turret to track me when I attach a reddish/pink marker to my shirt!

Stage 4

I constructed a new base for turret by laser cutting parts and attaching a door so that the wiring can be adjusted if necessary. In addition, the turret runs indipendently from the computer and continually pans back and forth until it finds a target.

Stage 5

I attached a speaker to the turret and programmed it so that it sounds an alarm when it identifies a target. I also programmed the turret so that it only shines its lasers when it finds a target. Finally, I added some decorative signs to scare intruders away.

Final Stage

In the final stage, I trained the turret to recognize a reddish-pink shirt as unauthorized. As you can see, it does not react when someone with a blue shirt walks into the room. When some enters the room with a reddish-pink shirt it sounds the alarm, shines lasers on me, and pans to track me as I move through the room.

Click here to view the code used to program the turret.

I hope you enjoyed! Contact me here if you are interested in learning more.