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Robotic Shooting Gallery - Reference Design, The Targets


If you use the part numbers below, you will need a 9V power source. For other voltages you need to recalculate the resistor value.
The targets are simple. A white background with an IR LED in the center. This circuit should allow you to build a simple target to practice on. Remember that in the final contest there may be moving or blinking targets as well as black ones which are worth negative points. For more information on the electronics, check out wolfstone.halloweenhost.com
I attached the resistors inline to make for a small package.

For the final design we decided to get a little fancy. The "shelves" are made of metal cabling which has been attached to the outside frame. Lexan insulators allow us to electrify the wires and use that to power the LED's. The advantage is that we don't have to have extra wires running to each target, it also means that the "shelves" the targets sit on are extremely thin and are thus unlikely to be hit as often. The drawback is that you're working with a lot of live uninsulated wires. Fortunately, the power levels involved mean that even if you short out two wires, nothing will happen (yes, this happened already).

The target part is made from thin sheet metal off of a chimney flashing. It has been painted flat white. The base is made of lexan which has been heated and twisted and painted flat black. The targets pictured here are a little beat up, the contest ones will have a fresh coat of paint, but you should also be prepared for marred surfaces that happen at con.

This is probably more work than most of you want to do for a test target, but it really is a cool setup :)


Parts List

IR LED's (940nm) T13/4106526PS$0.39 jameco.com
Status LED's(any)$0.10jameco.com
IR LED Resistors, 220ohm 30470$1 for 100jameco.com
If you use the part numbers here, you will need a 9V power source. For other voltages you need to recalculate the resistor value.

Total Price: ~$15 for 25 targets

The goal of releasing this reference design is to get people started on a bot easily and with a better idea of what it takes to get a working bot. In the past, build costs skyrocketed easily and outside of our expectations. With this design, you will be able to have a working bot up and running for about the price listed here.

Questions? kallahar@kallahar.com