Looking for help with code writing for a an interesting intermediate project.

Community Jobs and Paid Consultancy
1

The project is an automated target turning machine for horseback archery.
What I have in mind is like this:
The track where the riders are traveling is a straight line with the target on one side on the middle.
The target in the middle only have to move on the second third of the track.
So the target on its starting position is facing towards the beginning of the track at about 45%.
At its end position towards the end of the track at 45%.
The start and stop positions would have limit switches.

On the first third of the track as the rider enters it, it would trigger a motion sensor. As the rider exits the end of the first third it also triggers a motion sensor. The distance between the two motion sensor will be 33 yards. From those signals Arduino needs to select the correct speed to turn the target as the rider continues on the second third of the track. Some horses will go slow some will haul ass.

The motor would be a wheelchair gear motor. Hooked up to a h bridge type of controller. Most likely a sabertooth one.

When it gets to its end point it would stop delay 10 sec and return to the starting point.

So basically i need a system that can measure the riders speed using two motion sensor and using that readout it needs to turn the target to face the rider on the second third of the track.

2

What is your level of experience in electronics, assembly and the Arduino coding and envoronment ?

3

Post this up in Gigs/Collab forum if you are paying for the help. It may take awhile if you are waiting for someone to whole hog it for free.

I think you will be able to figure it out for yourself before you find someone willing to do it all for free. It really isn't difficult, I make shooting targets myself that are a teeny bit more complicated because it reacts to hits from a bullet.

Your first hurdle will be figuring out a reliable way to measure speed. You will find that a 'motion sensor' is not likely to be the best choice if you imagine a sort of break beam system.

It sounds like a fun project to tackle, and I think is within the grasp of a beginner with some effort. You're at a very high level conceptualization now with some vague buzzwords here and there, you'll need to nail down exactly what hardware you have, what hardware you plan on getting, or what equipment you are working with so we here can suggest the hardware to best suit your project.

4

S

srnet:
What is your level of experience in electronics, assembly and the Arduino coding and envoronment ?

Not much...I made a wheelchair to be remote controlled.
With arduino i got some leds blink in different sequences.
Mechanically i can build just about anything.

5

On the first third of the track as the rider enters it, it would trigger a motion sensor.

What would? The track? How can the track trigger a motion sensor? The track should be holding still, shouldn't it?

Don't use pronouns, like it, unless it is abundantly clear what the pronoun refers to.

As the rider exits the end of the first third it also triggers a motion sensor.

Once again, WHAT triggers the motion sensor?

The ONLY thing that can trigger the motion sensor is the rider. Knowing that there is a rider present will NOT tell you where the rider is along the track, unless the sensitivity, and placement of course, of the motion sensor is such that the sensor doesn't detect motion until the rider is along the portion of the track where the target should move.

The distance between the two motion sensor will be 33 yards.

Most PIR sensors don't have anything like that range.

So basically i need a system that can measure the riders speed using two motion sensor and using that readout

That is not going to happen. What readout? Humans read things displayed somewhere. You haven't proposed displaying anything for a human to read.

Some horses will go slow some will haul ass.

Shouldn't the rider be the one controlling the speed?

If you can assume that the horse and rider travel the 2nd 3rd of the track at relatively the same speed as they travel the 1st 3rd, you could use low power lasers with break beam sensors near the start of the track and near the end of the first third. The timing between breaking the two beams will give you an indication of the speed. Make the target rotate, assuming that the horse/rider speed will not change significantly.

If the speed does change significantly, tough shit. That rider should have a harder time hitting the target.