If you are interested in building & programming your own "Wingman" turret stop by:
https://join.slack.com/t/robotdogs/shared_invite/zt-24ep8mqn4-1p42Aq7owRv9klLI~3C5Pw and join #gelblasters
Ever since we saw James Cameron's "Aliens" in 1986, and Frank Marshall's "Congo" in 1995 we knew we needed to own an automated sentry turret at some point in our lifetime. It wasn't clear we'd eventually be sharing the design to one for others to use, but here we sit, doing exactly that.
"Wingman" is a 
Gelblaster XL "Wingman" is a robotic turret, that shoots gel balls aka Gellets(tm) at targets as selected by AI logic. The Gelblaster based "Wingman turret SDK" was inspired by U.S. Army TARDEC - Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Open Robotics ROS-M military fork of Robot Operation System from GVSC - Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center, and their "Wingman Robotic Gunner" platform. Functionality of this project seeks to mimic concepts found in the RTK - Robotic Technology Kernel program.
A gamified version of the "Wingman" concept known as BloodHounds is being designed by Kevin Finisterre for use with Quadruped robot dogs. This project is being tested, & developed with assistence from John Cherbini & the Gelblaster design team, as a means to visualize the "game".
The design concept was pitched to the GelBlaster team, and the initial ideation phase reulted in the following proof of concept work. Thanks again to GlytchTech for the very early prototypes, pre Gelblaster pitch.
The barrel seemed a bit vulnerable so we asked for a shroud.
We also needed a mounting system, pic rail seemed reasonable.
Considerations over printability came next... and now we have something we can share. Mind you we still don't use the shroud, and we're testing sawed off barel designs. In otherwords, don't mind our mess while we are under construction.
Creative Commons + Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licensing ( CC BY-NC-SA ) applies to the 3D files shared along side this text. This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
GelBlaster Surge XL or GelBlaster Starfire XL. Either blaster can be purchased from Walmart, and Target respectively.
Both STL & 3mf files for our "Wingman" robotic Gelblaster turret are provided below Our personal test prints were sliced using Cura. You may slice with what ever makes you comfortable.
C_BYNCSA_R_Back.3mf
C_BYNCSA_R_Back.stl
CC_BYNCSA_L_Back.3mf
CC_BYNCSA_L_Back.stl
CC_BYNCSA_R_Front.3mf
CC_BYNCSA_R_Front.stl
CC_BYNCSA_R_Front.3mf
CC_BYNCSA_R_Front.stl
This writeup will result in complete Wingman turret shells, ready to be filled with electronics, and assembled. Two example shells will be depicted during printing, cleanup, and assembly phases. These shells were in this case both printed with an Ender S1 Pro 3d printer.
When you begin printing prepare for 50 hours or so of print time. 6 hours each on the front, and 20 hours each on the rear slices.
Once printing is complete you will need to cleanup the prints by removing support structure.
Removal is fairly striaght forward.
There will be quite a bit of waste from the support structures
Once the prints are cleaned up we need to Gorilla Glue the parts together.
Gel based glue will remove dripping from the equation.
Add beads of superglue generously, and press the shell parts together.
These shells are now ready to recieve the electronics to make them function!
First remove all the supporting screws in the GelBlaster XL shell, then remove the cosmetic shroud & barrel tip. Once the shell is open, remove the batery.
Remove the screws and prepare to remove the gearbox.
Next remove the shim for the ammo hopper.
Then remove the LED array, and associated cables. Do NOT disconnect them from the main PCB.
Do the same with the other switches, and wires.
Remove the screws holding down the PCB, and the barrel in place.
Take the screws out of the barrel.
Make sure to get the last few bits unscrewed.
Eventually you will have extracted the Gearbox in full.
Transplant all the parts to the shell (you will have some bits left over). Make sure to put the Logo & PCB in place before you start!
Use all the screws you kept from the teardown. The logo LED's use two short screws, you should have four total.
Next start mounting the gearbox, and barrel.
Connect the relay to the trigger
For now the turrent mount is completely cobbled together. We use the base from a Dynamixel Planar Manipulator randomly found on Github:
https://github.com/adilzhaniwe/planar-manipulator-CAD/base_new.sldprt has been converted to .stl for you:
base_new.stl
We also use a mashup of these two files, since the files are listed as CC BY-NC-ND licensed, we can not share the change)
Female Picatinny rail mount
Robot Bracket
We'll correct this shortly, by releasang better solution.
Co-computing:
RasPi4
RasPi4 Hiqh Quality Camera
(Jetson upgrade forthcoming)
Storage:
SanDisk 512GB Ultra microSD UHS-I speed - Minimum recommended speed
SanDisk 512GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I - Suggested speed
SanDisk 512GB Extreme pro microSDXC UHS-I - Optimal speed
Stabilization & Mounting:
Joby Compact Advanced tripod.
Power:
Volessence 50000 battery
Current design relies on the following items:
MX-28AT
U2D2 Power Hub Board Set
U2D2
Proof of concept code:
https://github.com/MAVProxyUser/BloodHounds/blob/main/turret_v1_finisterre/v1_dynamixel.py
Earlier designs relied on stepper motors and a smaller GelBlaster. An upgraded stepper turret is still under
construction.
https://github.com/MAVProxyUser/BloodHounds/blob/main/turret_v1_cherbini/v1.py
