Electronic Rifle Stabilzer

[LouBoyd]

Does anyone know of a commercial equivalent of this device for use on hunting rifles? What's shown is a four year old prototype. Basically it's like having a rifle with high rotational inertia in windage and elevation but with only small additional weight. It's advantage is that it can correct for barrel wander before firing as it has a feedback loop speed many times faster than a human's eye-muscle loop speed. It could used either solid state gyros or a video camera in the scope to detect angular movement. It would be good for hunting when only unsupported shots are practical.
Intelligent Automation, Inc.

The equivalent for tanks and ships have been around since WWII.

 

[royinidaho]

Interesting ...

Seems it would be simpler to build a stabilizer type device for single object selection i.e., hunting vs intensive target rich military application

Two axis control would be needed. Envision the tripod mounted rile that made the kill shot in the movie "Shooter".

An optical tracking method, which already exist, would allow the operator to select the target object then track the moving pixels and make the shot when the device chooses.

Or if the target were fixed the reticle would be controlled center on the target.

This project could be pretty much done with LEGOs Mindstorms and existing sensors.

Then switch to something like the Arduino make it more clean.

I'm about to start a project that will result in my digivideocam tracking automatically my rifle position thus allowing video recording of all shots from the hide.

 

[grit]

I enjoy long range. Love the skills and challenge. Technology makes more things possible all the time. But, I don't want the rifle, rangefinder, rest... to do it all. The less I have to do, the fewer skills I need, the less enjoyable things become.

On the other hand, I like Roys idea. A cameraman could apply my thinking to the filming.

 

[Max Heat]

The setup that you link to is way too complicated (and obviously very expensive) for a hunter. A much simpler stabilization device that doesn't need any sensors, actuators, or other electronics, could be made by simply spinning flywheel-like weights at high rpm, on 2, or preferably 3 axes, mounted to the rifle. Since spinning the flywheels would require power, you would also need to figure in battery weight. This concept is known as "gyroscopic" stabilization. When holding the rifle steady, it would feel as heavy as it actually is. But when you try to move (twist) it in any direction (using 3-axis stabilization) it will feel like it is MUCH heavier than it actually is - and hence, be much harder to move from it's original location, when the wheels are spinning.

 

[topbrass]

Stabilized and remote fire control systems have been around since WWII. Camera controlled target acquisition, since the early 1960's. AI applications in target identification since the late 1970's. Automated fire control systems are alive and well. Every flying photog I have seen use gyro stabilized cameras since my early days at Edwards AFB in the late 1970's. The movie industry have used them since the 1950's.

Having acknowledged all that, I seriously doubt that any of those technologies will improve a good hunters skills or improve a hunters rate of success.

But its interesting to think about. lightbulb

 

[Mikecr]

I seen a working gyro stabilizer hung from a rifle about 10yrs ago. But it added ~10lbs by itself, which negated any practical use for hunting(unless you carry 20-25lb guns in the field).
A Harris bipod weighs ~1lb, and is field practical.