We can finally talk about our latest project – a NERF installation at MailChimp headquarters in Atlanta! We designed a custom cart to hold dual Vulcan guns so they can lay down some hurtin’ over the interwebs. We’ll post more once we get off the plane and back to our HQ. For now, check out MailChimp’s blog and the video below.

The Bigger Design presents you with the intial release of the Sentinel project. We strapped a NERF BFG on a homebrew swivel stand, hooked up some wires with an Arduino board, slapped a webcam on top, and brought it all together with an Adobe AIR application to make it sing. Now you can too.

LICENSE

The Sentinel project is a mashup of ideas and is based on several freely available AS3 libraries. You can do whatever you like with it as long as you don’t sell it. If you do create a unit, please let us know.

INSTALLATION

The Orbitron font and AS3 libraries are included. You’ll need an Arduino board and a webcam to get it started. From there you’ll also need a NERF Vulcan, a few servos, etc. A tutorial is in the works to get it all going, but you can start looking around now and seeing how things work.

FUTURE

  • Tutorials on how to create your own base/stand, configure Arduino, making it all sing, etc.
  • OpenCV integration for face tracking
  • Moving in the X and Y axis without buying a $800 base. The jury is still out on how this is going to be done affordably.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I’d like to thank Jack Doyle, Justin Windle, Grant Skinner, Björn Hartmann, and Matt Przybylski for making their awesome AS3 libraries publicly available for the Flash community.

CONTACT

If you have any questions, please contact us at: info@thebiggerdesign.com

Download The Sentinel Source Code from Google Code

Adobe called a few months ago and expressed interest in having The Sentinel as part of their keynote at AdobeMAX. After mulling it over for .001 seconds, we were in. We put together a tech-focused video on the project, since it was created with Flash and runs on Adobe AIR, and sent it their way. Next thing you know they’re calling back and wanting it in person. Copious amounts of packing materials and extra parts later we’re in LA rubbing elbows with Ben Forta, Ely Greenfield, and Matt Chotin, and the rest of the Adobe gang.

Here’s the video that aired during the AdobeMAX Day 2 Keynote:

Once through with the keynote, it was off to a few sessions on GoogleTV, new 3D technology for Flash Player, multi-player gaming, and more. Check out all the sessions for AdobeMAX on AdobeTV.

In addition to a great conference, the amount of goodies acquired was epic. All attendees received a Droid 2 phone from Motorola and a Logitech Revue from Google. This is in addition to thumb drives, water bottles, Flex books, etc.

Additionally, head over to Flickr for a few more pictures.

The NERF Sentinel Project is going open-source, so you’ll be able to build your own system to automatically protect your domain. We’re cleaning up the code and preparing a series of technical tutorials on how to get your gun up and running. Look for more information in the coming weeks.

If you’re at AdobeMAX and want to see more of the Sentinel, message @thebiggerdesign and we can arrange a demo in the pavillion.

So it’s been about a year since this blog was updated, so we’re bouncing back into the blogoverse with an epic post to make up for the hiatus. The Bigger Design presents you with our Sentinel project. We strapped a NERF BFG on a homebrew swivel stand, hooked up some wires with an Arduino board, slapped a webcam on top, and brought it all together with an Adobe AIR application to make it sing.

This was part of a larger presentation given at this past spring’s Columbia Adobe User GroupRefresh Columbia double-feature meetup. Here’s another short video demonstration of the Sentinel from the meeting, courtesy of Greg Lunn.

Now we’re brushing off the cobwebs and bringing the Sentinel project back into the spotlight. Over the next few weeks, we’ll break the project down, describe its biggest challenges and how we solved them. If there’s enough interest, we’ll get your trigger finger itching with details on how you can roll your own.

Check out our Sentinel photos on Flickr.