Sorry for knowing nothing about arduino but i had an idea for a home project and I knew enough to think of arduino as a possible way to get this done.
I am an avid skeet shooter and I belong to a gun club with a skeet range. This skeet range has a control box on a very long cable that you drag around and push one of three buttons to fire out he correct clay pigeon. The problem is that you always need a second person to push the buttons.
I thought it would be cool to make a device that fits over the existing control box (i do not want to modify the existing device because I do not own it, so I am looking for a non invasive solution). This device would only have to accept a signaal for 0,1,2 button and physically push that button. Again I do not want to rewire anything.
Then the other side would be a second device that the shooter wears and can hollar out a phase or code that transmits back to the control device to push the proper button. Voice would be best because both hands need to be on the shotgun.
So one device to take the voice command and transmit wirelessly to the other device that pushes the physical button.
Am I crazy? Is this feasible with Arduino?
I would love any feedback. thanks a million for reading my post
There are voice recognition chips available that can be connected to an Arduino. When you get this chip, get it trained, and get consistent output, sending some data wirelessly is easy. XBees are just about plug and play, after some minimal configuration.
On the receiver end, three servos to push the three buttons would not be difficult to set up.
As PaulS says or perhaps use an a Mobile phone app + bluetooth headset to handle the input and voice recognition and then send the command to the button pusher (wifi, bluetooth)
thanks so much for your thoughts I really appreciate it. I thought about the mobile app as well but I am building this with the idea that either myself or my father would use this. He is all iPhone and i am all Android and I do not see either of us changing so I would need two apps and I do not want to get into the whole apple app stuff.
So looks like you guys are saying none of my requirements look all that hard. I guess I have to start researching now. If you guys have any tips for hardware that might help me accomplish this I would appreciate it. I will start looking on my own.
I imagine for starters I need two of each of these. Then i need to figure out the voice part on one side and the servos (whatever that is) on the other side, right?
It fits like a shield should, and doesn't cover up pins that you need access to. And, because you are soldering the headers on, you can use stackable headers, so you could, in theory, stack another shield on top. Antennas sometimes get in the way, and there are issues with blocking the antenna in any case, but being able to plug wires in is nice.
As you probably have found out I know nothing about this hardware stuff. I was a programmer in a former life.
I was looking into the servos that you mentioned as a way to push the buttons on the receiver side and I am a little confused. The servos that I was seeing look like they turn a small motor. Is that what you mean or am I looking at the wrong stuff. I also found something called a solenoid which looks more like a button pusher. How would you use a servo to push a button if all it does is spin?
A servo is a DC motor with built in feedback control, so you can control its exact angle. While you could use a solenoid or a linear actuator, those are much more expensive than just attatching a plastic rod to the gear of a servo and mounting next to the button, so that when it turns, it presses it. Even one of the included heads on this servo might work: Servo - Generic (Sub-Micro Size) - ROB-09065 - SparkFun Electronics There are also larger sizes if needed.
Sparkfun also sells the vr bot module which works fairly well for voice recognition but is pricey.
Maybe im missing something, as I've only been shooting once, but might it also work to build a control panel with pedals that you could press with your feet?
thanks so much for the clarification. It makes sense now after you explain it.
As for your question about the foot petals, you are sort of right. If my father and i were casual shooters that would be a perfect idea and would certainly save me some money and complexity on this project. We are fairly serious shooters and skeet like most shotgun games are all about being perfect. To be a serious shooter you need to 100 out of 100. A large part of being that good is form and your feet and leg work is a very important part of having good form. So the whole idea behind this project is to be able to practice alone but not sacrifice our ability to "shoot like normal". That being said I feel like voice would be the best way to pull the bird with out having to sacrifice the way we shoot.
thanks for all the information biblo. With everyone's help this idea is starting to make more sense in my head.
So I am thinking about using the following equipment.
Two Arduino One Boards.
Two XBee Boards
Three small servos
One EasyVR
Do you guys see any major problems with this equipment list? I am assuming that power for all this gear comes from the Arduino boards, is that right? Obviously I will have to make some boxes or what ever to hold and protect the electronics, but am I missing any equipment?
Well the arduino has to get power from somewhere, and I would recommend that you power the servo directly from that source as well, and not through the arduino. Even though it is small, it is generally a bad idea to power anything bigger than an led directly from an arduino pin, and DC motors can have some inductive kickback that can be harmful to your arduino. Besides those issues, it looks good.
Best of luck with your project!