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Science Hardware Technology

Paintball Sticky Sensors 39

Posted by timothy from the tag-you're-it dept.
Eddy_D writes "The EETimes has a story about a group of undergraduate students at the University of Florida (Gainesville) that have developed a sticky sensor, fired from a paintball gun, to sense explosive compounds in suspect objects at a distance. The project is funded by Lockheed Martin (Missiles and Fire Control group), who is rushing to deploy this new technology to soldiers in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan."
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Paintball Sticky Sensors More

Paintball Sticky Sensors

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  • biotech (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Beatbyte ( 163694 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @10:28AM (#9259114) Homepage
    The goal of the project, funded by Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Missiles and Fire Control group (Orlando, Fla.), "was to help our soldiers detect improvised explosives or even chemical weapons from a distance far enough away so that they would not be hurt," even if the material detonated, said Greg Ivey, an aerospace-engineering student who graduated from Gainesville this month. A soldier with a laptop computer can monitor the projectile from up to 240 feet away.

    Wouldn't this be a great combo for small biotech creations?
    Pictures, chemical analysis, sample collection etc. would be a snap!

    (fairly) Remote analysis of questionable objects would be a snap if you shot the device on it, enabled it with your wireless remote, and waited until it reported fully to your laptop.

  • Careful! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lord Bitman ( 95493 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @10:32AM (#9259145)
    "Be careful! it might be explosive!"
    "You're right.. we'd better shoot some low-powered weaponry at it"

    • Think about it (Score:5, Informative)

      by Pi_0's don't shower ( 741216 ) <ethan@isp.[ ]thw ... u ['nor' in gap]> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @11:35AM (#9259740) Homepage Journal
      Although you've obviously intended to be funny, it is a common misconception that elaborate explosives can usually be triggered by a "nudge". This is hardly the case -- think about nuclear weapons, which require an elaborate creation of slow neutrons, or even simple explosives that require the mixing of two compounds.

      The force of a missile blast with compounds inside will be sufficient to mix the two compounds (usually, but even then, not always, as plenty of missiles are "duds" for this reason). Shooting a golf-ball sized detector-weapon at this is hardly dangerous. The reason they build explosives so that they're hard to set off is so they DON'T accidentally detonate while being constructed or transported.

      That said, this is an extremely cool invention (and maybe I'm biased considering where I'm based...)

      • Re:Think about it (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I'd be more concerned about the less-than-elaborate explosives that seem to be the norm in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just make sure that nobody is standing anywhere near that potential suicide bomber when you shoot him with this thing.

      • with bombs like these, you have to hit them juuuuuuuust right.
      • usually, but even then, not always, as plenty of missiles are "duds" for this reason

        True. A relative of mine in the Nat'l Guard was trained in missile repair specifically for this reason. One of his duties, if he were deployed, would be to locate and retrieve missiles that failed to explode, then repair them and get them back into service. Scary! Anything that could make this job more automated helps...

    • Yes let's shoot a 60 caliber pellet at some potentially unstable compounds.
    • Mmmm... heat seeking paint missiles.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @10:33AM (#9259162)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Paint Check!!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Libertarian_Geek ( 691416 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @10:42AM (#9259234)
    This came to mind when I read the article:
    Soldier: Thinks to himself "Hmm, suspicious vehicle parked over there." [Pop]..[Splat]..
    Terrorist hidden behind car: "Paint Check!" Soldier: "Ref!, Paint Check, I mean Bomb Check that suspect!"
    Terrorist: "No fair, he over shot me." "and Crono that gun!!! Is this freedom? It's got to be at least 305fps!"
    • Nah, they will rig it to an Angel and spray and pray. :)
      • I love taking out Angel using losers with one shot to the mask from my Shutter. Fun stuff. Now I want to play instead of going to work. ARGH!
        • Nothing compared to sneaking up on a squad of angel weilding pip-squeaks who's mommy and daddy hooked 'em up with $1200 paintball outfits complete with 8 100 round quick loaders strapped to their backs dragging along the ground behind em as they sit in a bunker talking about killing that guy behind the barrel, and you scare the shit out of them yelling surrender.

          Then they slowly look at you, knowing their angels can get off 20 some odd rounds, and for some reason, the word surrender and honor just don't se
          • Exactly the reason I hate playing indoor with anyone under 18. I blasted a little kid point blank after he refused to surrender. That course chronos at 240 and he was wearing 2 sweatshirts, he probably didn't feel it, sadly.

            Stupid kids, they should not be allowed out of the house into public until they're at least 15.

            I need to get some more guys together for a good 3 day scenario. That's what I call fun.

    • Re:Paint Check!!! (Score:4, Informative)

      by cornjchob ( 514035 ) <thisiswherejunkgoes@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @01:51PM (#9261146)
      We [triagepaintball.com] chrono at 280fps...I'm wondering why they said in the article "A paintball gun can still fire at up to 235 feet per second" when APL rules are 280 and most places used to chrono at 300. Most guns are capable of more than 300; though we only set them that high when a group divides into parents vs kids :)
  • Now there will be now more arguing about whether or not it's "splatter" or a direct hit, although it looks like the golfball size bruise the generally is created will now be the size of a baseball.
  • A paintball gun typically fires ar 300 FPS , NOW Lets say they crank it up a bit for the increased payload and no need for a saftey threshold to homans. Ok now if youve ever been hit with a paintball at 450 fps, it hurs and hasforce behind it.

    Firing that at a potentially explosive package with the limited range (300 ft) I think Ill just have to passon that one
    • bitchslap: "pfft. you clearly know -nothing- about paintball guns."

      a good paintball gun will let you dial in whatever you want, and get the ball there. put an army-style range-finder on an electropneumatic, fill its hopper/feeder full of gummy-PIC's, fill the tank, charge the battery, calibrate, and you've got fieldable ball-placement in whatever nook and cranny you engender to explore ...

      *sigh* i loved my cyber 9000, the few times it worked. i'm sure those guys have moved on to far better stuff...
      • Well I dono about your neck of the woods. Or what kinda redneck dipshit paintball you play

        Here fields are limited to 300 FPS, for saftey reasons. As is MOST of the country

        "a good paintball gun will let you dial in whatever you want, and get the ball there" Sure but its friggin stupid, you think you can fire a ball at high speed ? BULLSHIT, in a word, you every try to fire a paintball at > 500 fps ? 70 % of the time it just disentegrates in the barrel.

        I have seen paintball guns modified to fire bolts
        • Sure but its friggin stupid, you think you can fire a ball at high speed ? BULLSHIT, in a word, you every try to fire a paintball at > 500 fps ? 70 % of the time it just disentegrates in the barrel.

          Umm... re-read that, dude. I didn't mention speed, anywhere, in reference to control.

          I could dial the cyber9k waaay down and it would 'softly' curve the ball ... I got in more trouble on the field doing that, than I did for over-taco'ing ...

          i'll be the military could use electro-pneumatics and range-find
    • A paintball gun typically fires ar 300 FPS , NOW Lets say they crank it up a bit for the increased payload and no need for a saftey threshold to homans. Ok now if youve ever been hit with a paintball at 450 fps, it hurs and hasforce behind it.

      Firing that at a potentially explosive package with the limited range (300 ft) I think Ill just have to passon that one

      Well, good thing you're not in charge. You'd rather go up to it and kick it instead?

      Furthermore, most explosives don't go off when you hit them, r

  • pretty cool (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Roskolnikov ( 68772 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @12:05PM (#9260042)
    Having played a bit of paintball I can say if the velocity is cranked up and can (and has) puntured skin.

    Tear gas paintballs already exist (heh) but I always thought it would be cool if traffic cops could tag your car with a paintball transponder...... blow through a speed trap? why chase em?
    mark em and wait for them to stop either because they thought they got away or because they've realized the car is marked.

    OR maybe you could use them to deliver a russian style sleeping gas..... (just don't drop em) its easy to get a paintball into a window..

    You could crank the gas up and fire a wooden dowel (sharpened no doubt).

    just rambling but this is pretty cool and paintball guns have gone a long way from the 'marking trees for forestry' beginning.
    • But paintball markers arent the most accurate way to shoot a projectile...

      Also, what if your sleeping-gas-ball gets chewed inside your paintball gun?

      Or, for crowd control situations, you might want to use less precise, mass tagging paintball cannons (www.alternativepaintball.com/cannon.htm)
      • "But paintball markers arent the most accurate way to shoot a projectile..."

        True, and you have a few good points here but when it comes to non-lethal/non-damaging it's pretty hard to do better. A fairly light payload at a slow enough of a speed as to be non-lethal is simply a ballistics nightmare.

        Beyond that I'd like to think that the paintball gun/marker used would be modified in such a way that it'd not be the same as going to Bob's Paintball field and trying to shoot your friend in the butt at 100 feet
    • And remember, there is room for paintball guns to evolve... here is an example [verminary.com] of speculation in that vein for the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG.
      And then you have the little detail of just what can be put inside a paintball. Oh, the possibilities [verminary.com] ...
  • Anyone a Spiderman fan? He used to have Spidey Tracers (I think Batman had something similiar) that he used to throw at a retreating enemey so he could track them later. Sometimes he used to web them in place.

    If this sticks to the target (my impression is that it does) you could shoot them at departing cars and such and track them from a distance.
  • ... as the guys at my local paintball place, we're in big trouble.
  • Ok, not strictly on topic, but from the article tagline of PORTLAND, Ore, the team doing the discovery in Gainesville, Fla, and the writer having a Spirit One [spiritone.com] e-mail address that is the same ISP I use, I find it very interesting that this article could be written 3000 miles away from the actual research.

    Plus, I noticed it because I had hopes of getting my hands on one of the prototypes when I saw the Portland, OR tagline- hoping that the team working in Florida was a mistake and that the balls were being
  • Terrorists, have reinvented the 'sticky bomb' [angelfire.com] in a new spring shade of mauve.

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