Automated Nerf Sentry Gun Runs a New Platform Called nio

Nerf guns are a geek favorite: spray paint them black and you’ve got a cool sci-fi laser rifle for your Starship Troopers cosplay. Slap on some infrared transmitters and receivers and you’re playing laser tag around the office in no time. Or, mount one on a platform with some servos, add a dash of computer vision, and you’ve got an automated sentry gun ready to defend your home from attacks by aliens or small children!

The team over at nio decided to build just such a Nerf sentry gun to showcase their platform. Details are a bit limited on what exactly nio does, but it appears to be a platform that contains infrastructure for both server-side and client-side computing, and seems to be at least partially focused on the Internet of Things. What we do know is that it can be used as part of the command chain for an automated Nerf sentry gun.

Their build uses a Nerf gun mounted on a motorized platform, which is connected to a Raspberry Pi running the nio software. A webcam is strapped to the Nerf gun, and the video feed is sent from the Raspberry Pi to a MacBook via the nio platform. OpenCV facial tracking on the MacBook is used to look for targets (and even look for specific people), and then aiming commands are sent back to the Raspberry Pi. The Nerf gun is pointed at the target, and starts firing!

While Nerf sentry guns aren’t exactly cutting-edge tech, we are pretty interested in learning more about the nio platform. It looks like the n.io team is preparing for a widespread launch, so hopefully more details will be available soon.