My brother gave me what will likely be one of the best useless-but-oh-so-fun gifts ever—a Dream Cheeky Thunder USB foam missile launcher.
The launcher can be used with an extremely boorish app for Mac or Windows... or you can control it with some basic USB communication! I've found a few projects which allow the launcher to be controlled via any OS with Python fairly easily:
- stormLauncher - A basic Python script that allows command-line usage.
- Retaliation - A Python script that integrates with Jenkins build servers and fires at preselected targets upon build failure.
- USB Rocket Launcher implementation - A quick overview of the USB commands to use the launcher.
My idea is to figure out a way to use one of my spare Raspberry Pis to give some brains to this launcher; I will hopefully be able to set it in 'patrol' mode, and by mounting a Pi camera on the top, I can use OpenCV to do facial detection, aim the missiles just under a detected face, and fire.
Responsiveness isn't amazing, but it would be a fun project to hack on when I get some time. For now, I'm happy enough using my keys to point it at someone (to usually myself since others aren't willing targets) and fire :)
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Hello, I got maybe a raspberry pi starter kit and my kid finds this idea brilliant. Were you successful? I ordered the thunder launcher... now just need to figure out everything else. Any tips are appreciated! Ty
Alas, the missile launcher was eventually given to a friend who was able to make better use of it. I just never got around to this project after having a little fun shooting the missiles at my kids for a few days :(
If any one is still interested in this subject, I built a C++ Qt application which runs reasonably well on a Raspberry Pi. The up/down controls do not work, however, I do not know if it is an application or a launcher issue. The first and third of your references were also helpful for me.