autonomous weapon turret

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the following people for their help with this project:

• Dr. Roger S. Gaborski, a professor of the RIT Computer Science Department, for his help in understanding the basics of image processing and advising us on the best approach in the image processing aspects of this project.
• Mr. John D. Wellin of the RIT Mechanical Engineering Department for assisting us with some of the mechanical aspects of the cocking/reloading mechanism.
• Dr. Juan Carlos Cockburn of the RIT Computer Engineering Department for helping us to understand the math and control theory behind the image processing control system, particularly the Kalman filter.
• Mr. Richard Tolleson and Mr. Charles Gruener for their assistance in obtaining parts and general advice.
• Mr. Jeff Kemp for being an excellent outside resource in pointing out the obvious (which needed to happen on occasion), giving useful advice and criticism, and occasionally laughing at our mistakes (with us?).
• Mr. Ramon Campusano for helping us to understand the inner workings of a paintball gun, letting us borrow his paintball equipment, and providing entertainment as well as emotional support.
• Dr. Marcin Lukowiak of the RIT Computer Engineering Department.
• Dr. Roy Czernikowski of the RIT Computer Engineering Department for his help in acquiring some of the tubing used for the connection between the weapon and the solenoid, his general advice, and his oddly inspirational words, "Your lack of detail can - and I think will - doom the success of this project."

A very sincere thanks goes out to all open source developers that have contributed to the following projects. Without their work, this project would not exist:

• Operating System, Libraries, and Utilities:
• • The GNU Project
  • The Linux Kernel
  • The Debian Project
  • GNOME: The Free Software Desktop Project
  • The GTK+ Project
• Development Tools:
• • Glade User Interface Builder
  • Anjunta DevStudio
  • git
  • Planner: Project Management
• Image processing drivers, tools, programs, and libraries:
• • Linux UVC: USB Video Class Device Driver
  • libwebcam, uvcdynctrl, and luvcview (provided by the Logitech QuickCam Team)
  • guvcview
  • OpenCV: The Open Source Computer Vision Library (originally developed by Intel)
• Microctroller hardware, development tools, and libraries:
• • Arduino

Special thanks also goes to Dr. Andreas Savakis and the RIT Computer Engineering Department for helping to monetarily support our project by providing us with a budget of $200.

Additional thanks to RIT Computer Science House for allowing us to use their soldering irons, table saws, drills, and various other resources during the construction of our enclosure.