Established in 2008
Updated March 3rd, 2013
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Established in 2008 Updated March 3rd, 2013 |
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March 3rd, 2012 We've been selling a lot of the heavy turrets lately. These three are shipping out Monday. We also have a new product coming out soon also that should appeal to an even broader market. 
September 20th, 2012 Valve had a portal turret made and used our software to control it. August 25th, 2012 I've been wanting to get my hands on a tennis ball machine for a while now. I finally found a really inexpensive one on craigslist. It works perfectly. It will be even better once I make some 'modifications'.. 
April 9th, 2012 We will be selling mini-turrets in the next week or so. They come with an airsoft gun, are complete, assembled and only require AA batteries and a netbook. December 11th, 2011 An updated trial version was uploaded. Has newer features from v2.6 and fixes a compatability problem with international users. November 19th, 2011 The heavy turrets are now in stock. October 9th, 2011 Still building turrets. These 3 are spoken for but more are on the way.
September 3rd, 2011 The camera sentry picked up a red-tailed hawk.
August 27th, 2011 v2.6 is ready. The heavy turrets are almost ready too. The last thing I have to figure out is the best camera to use. I'm trying to find a webcam with a 90°+ field of view. August 11th, 2011 We're trying to wrap up the improvements to v2.6 July 21st, 2011 After 3+ months, the medium turret kit is finally back in stock. The instructions page for it has been updated too. July 7th, 2011 
The batch of medium turrets have arrived from the machine shop. I still have to get the small gears that go with them from servocity though. They have to make them so they won't be able to ship them out immediately. The gears are twice as thick (1/4" vs 1/8") on this batch for added strength. I'm also getting a batch of the 3 custom parts made that are needed for the heavy turret. Once they are done I'll be able to start selling those too. May 23rd, 2011 I've made several improvements on the target tracking camera. Images are automatically downloaded, the SD card is automatically erased afterward, the shutter is computer controlled instead of needing a servo. plus many other improvements. The machine shop says the batch will be done this Friday or Monday. (Then they have to be shipped.) I'll email everyone on the list when they are ready. May 4th, 2011 I'm wrapping up testing for v2.5. The machine shop says it'll be 2-3 weeks until the next batch of turret kits are ready. April 11th, 2011 The Camera sentry caught the google streetview car today (the original image is 8x larger). 
March 24th, 2011 I built 2 more camera kits since the 1st one sold so fast. 
March 10th, 2011 I've ordered the next batch of turret kits with a gear design that is twice as strong. They should be finished in 2-3 months. Email me if you would like to be notified when they are back in stock. I also started selling target tracking camera systems that I am able to make locally. December 4, 2010 I also made a trial version that automatically closes after about 5 minutes of use and has no serial (servo controller) functionality. November 14, 2010 I finally made a small breakthrough on the target tracking security camera. Normal analog CCTV cameras are mostly junk if you actually want to make out a face or license plate. Compact digital cameras are far superior for the money even though they are not intentionally designed for this purpose. The only drawback I was still facing with them was the fact that almost all of them have IR filters preventing the use of IR illuminators/IR Flash kits to help them see at night (a normal flash would bother the neighbors). Also, removing the IR filter is more and more difficult the newer the camera as they are pretty difficult to disassemble and reassemble without breaking something. Today I was finally able to remove the filter on a brand new Canon SX130 IS. A few details and pics are HERE Now I just need to find the most effective 'IR flash' for the money. It may just end up being a IR illuminator that automatically turns on and then off when the shutter button is pressed. October 6, 2010 I'll be selling the turret kits slightly more complete than last time. All that will be required now for a complete system will be 3 servos, 2 servo extension wires,a logitech pro 9000 webcam, and a base to mount the turret to. The turrets are in, the small gears are in but I'm waiting on the power leads and battery holder for the servo controllers. They will be in on the Saturday the 9th. August 6, 2010 v2.2 was released. I added automatic zoom to the camera sentry so now it not only tracks targets automatically it also zooms in on them automatically. I'm currently looking for a high crime area in my city to lend one to. I'm not sure about selling them online though because they are complicated to set up and install correctly. July 9, 2010 v2.1 was released. May 28, 2010 v2.0 was released. This version will be very helpful for new users April 28, 2010 The turret kits are finally back in stock. This was long overdue and hopefully I can keep them in stock this time. I'm working on even more complete packages but that will take some time. April 17, 2010 The turret kits are on their way. it will probably be about a week or less before they arrive. I'm also testing new features for version 2.0 April 2, 2010 version 1.9 was released and emailed to everyone. See the version history page for the list of improvements. March 30, 2010 version 1.8 was released and emailed to everyone. See the version history page for the list of improvements. March 13, 2010 Working on version 1.8. Finally have a manufacturer for the turret kit. They should be back in stock about 3 weeks from now. February 19, 2010 version 1.7 was released and emailed to everyone on February 19th. See the version history page for the list of improvements. I'm still looking for a shop to make the parts in bulk for me. I've spoken to a few but they never follow though enough to even give me a quote. I've got AutoCAD, Mastercam and G-Code files for all of the parts and cash in hand yet I still got no results.
January 3, 2010 version 1.6 was released and emailed to everyone on December 11th. I'm getting a lot of requests for the hardware. I'm trying to find a company to manufacture them for me but having a lot of trouble finding one. I don't have the time to make them myself and I don't have enough work to warrant hiring someone. I do have the funds to get a batch of them made, if I could just find the right company to make them.
November 12, 2009 I'm selling the turret hardware again. You can find it on the products page. As some of you may already know, I've begun development of a Auto tracking PTZ. A video of the first prototype can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KhUdi1rO3k
October 30, 2009 version 1.5 is out with pretty significant targeting improvements. I'm working on getting the hardware made by a 3rd party so I can sell the complete system again since a lot of people are asking for it.
September 14, 2009 Updated the software instructions. Added servo controller instructions. Made a new video which is up on the front page. Found a real cheap surveyor tripod on eBay. It works very well on the sentry.
August 19, 2009 added instructions for making a water sentry to the hardware and software guide. The water sentry makes a great pest deterrent. unlike other systems, there is no pattern for them to get used to, it aims right at them. the software kits sold fast. There's 1 left and I've got more on the way.
August 15, 2009 version 1.4 is out. the software kit is back in stock. putting some finishing touches on a water gun sentry. I'm taking this one out of the roof and making it more portable. this water sentry has already nailed a bunch of animals so far.
July 19, 2009 version 1.3 is out.
July 15, 2009 I was getting some serious lag issues with the permanent mount sentry. It turned out to be caused by my POS desktop pc. When I hooked it up to the acer is worked great. I calibrated it when it got dark so now that that is out of the way, I should be able to shoot a short little video of it in action. I also need to get some IR flood lights to 'invisibly' light up the back yard at night. The PTZ camera was the wrong kind. It just uses regular motors with limit switches so it doesn't actually know what position its in. The PTZ systems that do cost twice as much ($400+).
July 11, 2009 I was working on this while I waited for the PTZ camera to come in the mail. It was working fine until the Y axis servo burned up. I also don't know how I'm going to calibrate it since the computer controlling it is all the way in my room. That camera can also see IR so I just need to get some IR illuminators to light up the yard.
July 6, 2009 I've got a PTZ camera coming in the mail. It uses the Pelco-D protocol and has a 27x zoom. The plan is to have this camera accompany a regular IR bullet cam and have the PTZ camera assume the role that the paintball gun was filling. Instead of painting someone it would zoom in and record thier face or liscence plate. While this is not nearly as fun as a paintball sentry it might sell a little better and help me pay my mortgage.
July 3, 2009 Going to build the do it yourself version sentry and maybe shoot an instructional video on how to build it. Going to build a Security camera Sentry that will zoom in on targets instead of shoot them.
June 23, 2009 Hopefully the pace of production will pick up shortly. To start off I could only afford to make one. then I had to wait for the money to transfer (3 days), order the parts, wait (5 days) for them to get here and repeat the process. At that rate I could only make about one a week. If the parts get here by this weekend I should be able to make at least 2. Each time I order parts I try to order as much as I can afford so I don't run out of materials as fast.
June 21, 2009 version 1.2 is out and another sentry is up on eBay.
June 15, 2009 That one sold fast. I'm waiting on more laptop cases to get in to make more... If anyone in Jacksonville FL is looking for work, I could use some help assembling the system.
June 13, 2009 I'll be putting a system up on eBay tomorrow for somewhere around $300. All the parts I needed (except the servo controllers) came in over the weekend. If anyone in Jacksonville FL is looking for work, I could use some help assembling the turrets.
June 5, 2009
I'm making progress on production but I've run out of material and money at the moment so I have to hold off a bit until I get paid again on the 15th. When you think about it, if I were to make just 3 of them it would cost over a grand. I definitely don't have a grand to spare so I'll have to make them one at a time at first. Overall, having my own CNC machine brought down labor and material cost by a couple of days and a few hundred dollars respectively. I've done a preliminary cost analysis and I've managed to get the parts cost to about $300-$350. that's everything except the gun and laptop. labor is also not factored in because it hasn't been determined yet. the total cost also floats around depending on eBay's pricing for different parts. the servos themselves make up 39% of the cost. the other pricey parts were the laptop case, the camera, and the servo controller.
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