e-deas please !

Heya everybody, this is my first post here (as I registered mostly for this topic) so please excuse my lack of knowledge of the place and it's people.

I'm an electronics / microsystems engineer and a paintball player who has recently felt the need for a little improvement on his markers. I own 3 ZXS (cheap markers I bought for ... wasting time and money I guess), a BT-4 IronHorse and 2 X7. The X7 is what I'm playing with now and I think I'll stick with it (we all know why).

Now is about time to upgrade that X7 a little and give it a brain; I planned to add to the e-grip by making an e-mag to go with it. I have my own milestones for the project but I would like to get your ideas as well. Why would YOU contribute to MY project? Well, because it's not much cheaper to start the production on only one electronic board so I  might have 500 to 1000 produced. I only need a dozen for my own use and for people who are bothering me for a similar upgrade - the rest will be sold so your idea of improvement might eventually be available to you.

The concept for now is to hook up 3 main "modules" together;

1. Movement detection (from the marker)
2. Camera feedback (from the marker)
3. Remote control (Wireless RF module with a color LCD)

All together they allow to see what the marker sees locally or remotely; you can shoot around a corner without exposing yourself using the display/camera. - You can leave the gun at the front door, activate the movement detection system and the gun protects the area while you run your battle at the rear door of the bunker. You could also leave the marker at some place, hide somewhere else, monitor the camera from the remote and shoot manually from there.

The remote would have a SD slot (a SD card is a memory stick most camera uses to save pictures) and it would be possible to save a picture every time the marker shoots (locally or remotely) - It would also log your game data such as total rounds fired, average trip between rounds, average BPS, Peak BPS, etc.

Call it cheating, call it genius, it's up to you. Now if you have ideas to add to this, you're more than welcome to post. I'll consider anything and everything but I don't guarantee it will be possible to add it. Remember it's an e-mag so all of the electronics must fit into a X7 mag - basically, don't ask for the full see-thru-walls thermal camera set - I don't have a shrinking machine.

As of the type of ideas I can take; well it must be related to electronics. I don't do pneumatics so I won't come up with a rocket launcher.

I will sell this at cost+10$ (why 10$? well someone's got to solder the parts) which would bring us to about 130$ which is quite close to the price of the e-grip itself. I'm not sure I would provide the mag enclosure itself but if I can't provide it I will at least provide instructions on how to install the kit. -- You'll need the e-grip installed to connect to it. The e-mag connnects to the e-grip as an extention to the trigger button so yo won't void your warranty by installing it (the e-grip and the marker itself stays stock. No drilling no glue)

If you're interested in the upgrade (whenever it becomes available), please tell me (or leave me your email address so I contact you whenever it's ready).

Depending on the ideas I'll get, development time and production time, it may take from 2 to 4 months before the product becomes available.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my loooong post ;)
Hope to read your suggestions soon.

Ahem... well yeah you could also get that 2500$ sentry turret gun. But I'll stick with my concept and build something a bit cheaper, portable and that fits the equipment I already have to carry.

I (and some others) tought that MY plan was a little bit over what u'd think the paintball game is. Now THAT turret thing they sell (and all the equipment they offer below that thing) is WAY off the scope of the game.

Thanks for the link though... Had a good laugh at the monster ;)

slackerr26 wrote: yea i doubt you would sell much.

Actually it's not really my goal. I want it for myself and a few others who asked me to make them one too. The extra boards are for sale just because I have to order them and they won't be useful on the shelf here.

slackerr26 wrote: and when you ran out of paint in a few seconds,

Seconds... well... ;)

slackerr26 wrote: you would have to jump out of your hiding spot, wander over to your marker (without having a gun in your hands) reload it, and then go back to your hiding spot

Yup, just as much as I need to make sure nobody is going to run away with my marker while it's not attached to me. But I do reload sometimes during games and I do watch my things almost all the time. I don't see much differences. - No gun in my hands well, I do have a sidearm (Delta68).

As a reminder, I didn't say "you will play the entire game well protected hidden somewhere remotely shooting peoples around." I'm not building this to play the whole game for you - if that would be the case I would put wheels on it as well so it makes it's way to the field without help, play the games, eat my hotdogs and bring the beer back home! -- It's a game assistant just like the e-grip is.

But thank you for your feedback ! I'll put a notice in the instructions about the fact that remotely playing 100% of the game all the time isnt quite playing. Get a game console! :D

unvolution wrote: ... what happens when it lights up the ref... or a squirrel... or your team...

Ref: Good question, I guess they'll take you out anyway!
Squirrel: It won't. The PIR will order the shot past a certain threshold that can only be reached with a massive visual change. A big dog may trigger that though.
Your team: I'd consider the guy dead too

Now for the positive touch, the army do have such equipment. These don't shoot at squirrels because they use a similar technology. They don't shoot at the sargent nor at allied forces because of communication between the members of the team which could also work in games...

I'll make sure my settings are correct not to shoot at lady bugs, squirrels and falling pieces of dust. The rest is up to the user.

Thanks for the ... "suggestion".

unvolution wrote: i have yet to see people communicate well in scenario games when talking with everybody on the their side.  maybe within their own team they do a good job but other then that its hard to tell everybody on the your side whats where

lol well I give it to you, communication isn't quite the heart of the game sometimes. But oh well I still see several scenarios where this could be useful if it's well made and can be set/removed quickly enough. As for shooting my own team, I expect them not to enter the door after I told them i'd shoot at anything that passes it - if they do, well, I need a better team asap!

unvolution wrote: ... im not talking the 4-5 guys you go with... im saying the 30-100 guys on your side. how are you going to warn all of them

they'll figure it out sooner or later

reality80 wrote: I actually make and use electronic grenades

pics, srsly

t_hop wrote: Ace_Of_Spades wrote: reality80 wrote: I actually make and use electronic grenades pics, srsly vids with explanations of how they work, srsly

I'll take some pix and maybe a video asap. As of how it works, as the player; you put it where you want it, press the button and run. You have about 5 seconds before it activates (it flashes and beeps during initialization, then it shuts up waiting for a trigger). When something passes close enough to trigger it, it shoots and wait a few seconds for a new target. You can also hold the button for 3 seconds, throw it and it'll blow about 2 seconds later. - It's not really effective as a throw-kind of grenade because it's not omnidirectionnal but it's perfect as a land mine.

**edit** but with 30-100 guys that COULD be a problem