Torbjörn's Turret From Overwatch Made Real

2017-02-02 | By The Hacksmith

License: See Original Project Arduino

This project was created by Engineering Superheroes of Hackmith Industries.

DO NOT ATTEMPT to Re-Create

If you’re into video games, you’ve probably heard of Overwatch. In overwatch, there’s a character named Torbjörn, a Swedish engineer with an enormous beard and robotic claw hand who wants to use his inventions to make the world a better place. Many of his inventions had been stolen and used for evil, putting him on a mission to take them out of the hands of bad guys… much like the plot of the first Iron Man movie.

Well, James Hobson, also known as The Hacksmith decided to bring one of Torbjörn’s inventions to life in his “Make it Real” series. The “Make it Real” series features the Hacksmith team recreating famous items from movies, comic books, and video games. Check out Torbjörn’s turret in the video below!

How was it Made?

Schematic and BOM

Here’s what they used to make the circuit:

215 RPM 3.9 W 24V Brushed DC Gearmotor x2
Electromechanical Relay Arduino Expansion Board
Some 22AWG wire
Heatshrink tubing
Wire solder
An M Series sample toggle kit
Arduino Nano
Pixy CMUCAM5 Sensor
Sabertooth Dual 2x32A 6V-24V regenerative motor driver
Turnigy 9x 9Ch transmitter with 8Ch receiver (For manual control)
6200 mAh 6s 40c Lipo battery pack
Tactical red laser dot scope (Because lasers make everything better!)

Targeting System

As you can see from the video, the mounted paintball gun travels on a stage gimbal like the ones used for laser shows. The Pixy camera makes the automated turret detect things to shoot at. The Pixy camera isn’t just a camera, it’s also an Arduino-compatible color sensor board. This allows the user to program the turret to target a certain color. The turret will only track the designated color. While this wouldn’t be very practical for fending off most real life trespassers, it works like a charm for say, a red team and a blue team (Shameless video request plug time!)

The Pixy sensor/camera

The Pixy sensor/camera sits up front where a scope would be

Below is a flowchart of how the automated targeting system’s code works:

Flowchart Diagram

In simpler terms: if the turret sees something it should shoot at, it does. If not, it starts the process over again every 20 milliseconds

When switched to manual mode, the Turnigy transmitter/receiver combo functions like a remote control car, drone, or pretty much any two-stick remote controller with an X and Y axis.

Turret Motors

Speaking of X and Y axes, the turret is propelled by two 24V DC motors. This is probably a little overkill, but if you’re familiar with the Hacksmith, most of his contraptions are! After all, it wouldn’t be Torbjörn’s turret if you can’t ride it like he does! One of the motors controls the X axis (left and right) and the other controls the Y axis (up and down). These motors are both driven by chains.

The DC motors drive the chains, to rotate the turret

The DC motors drive the chains, which rotate the turret

Some Glamour shots

The trigger mechanism

The trigger mechanism

The housing for the Arduino

The housing for the Arduino

Finished turret!

Finished turret!

More Hacksmith Creations

If you’d like to see more episodes of “Make it Real,” check out the Hacksmith Youtube Channel where you can find things like Captain America’s shield, Batman’s grappling hook, an Elysium Exoskeleton, and all kinds of crazy stuff!

Featured image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment