Automated Target-Aiming Turret

Turret_aimaing_demo.mp4

This system was developed as the final capstone project for the Programmable Electronics Advanced Diploma (DEC) at Cégep Limoilou. The scope of the project required a complete hardware and software engineering design within a strict 13-week timeline.

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Hardware Engineering

1. Custom PCB Design (/hardware)

• Turret Control Board: Designed a 4-layer PCB integrating connections for high-torque servo motors, flywheel DC motors, power management blocks, RF modules, and a BeagleBone Blue system. It features an onboard current sensor to monitor live system power consumption.

• Remote Controller Board: Designed a dedicated manual controller board driven by an ATmega328PB MCU. Integrated an FTDI chip to allow direct MCU programming and debugging over a standard USB interface.

2. Mechanical Design (/3d_models)

• Leveraged open-source 3D models from dannylumcreative (TIMMY! REAL VALORANT KJ TURRET) for the structural chassis. Modified critical components to fit our custom hardware and component footprint selections.
• Redesigned the high-speed flywheel mounting bracket and the lower canister structural base.
• Designed custom enclosures for both the handheld remote controller and the main power supply unit (PSU).

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Firmware & Software Architecture (/software)

The software ecosystem balances low-latency hardware interaction with higher-level image processing.

1. Embedded Linux Control (C++)

• Developed a multi-threaded C++ runtime architecture executing on the BeagleBone Blue embedded board.
• Peripherals Interfacing: Implemented direct communication with onboard hardware registers via low-level hardware abstractions to drive hardware PWM lines for pan-tilt angles and firing control relays.
• Manual Override: Developed a low-overhead RF communication driver to parse manual joystick commands sent from the custom wireless remote.

2. Target Acquisition & Tracking (Python)

• Developed an embedded automation script using Python to manage object detection.
• Target Isolation: Tracks targets by calculating real-time bounding boxes and computing directional error vectors.
• Closed-Loop Feedback: Forwards coordinate corrections over a local network socket to the core C++ engine to perform smooth, real-time PID tracking.

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Repository Directory Structure

├── docs/                     # Schematics (PNG), Bill of Materials (BOM), and photo/videos of the project
├── hardware/                 # Altium Designer project files (Schematics, PCB layout, Gerber files)
│   ├── Controller/           # Handheld Controller PCB project
│   └── Turret/               # Main Turret PCB project
├── 3d_models/                # Manufacturing STL and 3MF files
├── software/                 # Complete codebase
│   ├── code_controller/      # RF communication and manual controls (ATmega328PB)
│   ├── code_turret_arduino/  # RF communication parsing and fire control logic
│   ├── code_turret_BeagleBone/ # Computer vision object detection and automated aiming
│   └── tests/                # Isolated hardware validation scripts
└── README.md                 # This file

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Contributors & Credits

• Xavier Campoux – Developed the Handheld Controller PCB and the automated tracking C++ firmware architecture for the BeagleBone Blue.
• Alexandre Dionne – Developed the Main Turret PCB, the handheld controller MCU firmware, and the target-side firing control Arduino firmware.
• 3D Design Attribution: The mechanical chassis structure is based on the TIMMY! (REAL VALORANT KJ TURRET) open-source 3D model designed by dannylumcreative. We modified and adapted these 3D parts to integrate our custom electronics and automated pan-tilt functionality.