The gun, which is still a prototype, is expected to look different in its production version. Today, the device is nearly 1 foot high and weighs between 2 and 3 pounds. In production, however, it is expected to fit inside a woman's purse. Bonneau also expects it to employ more than one MCU in production -- one to handle the microfluidics spray process and another to handle the video challenge.
Bonneau and colleagues focused on making the device easy to use, even for those who've never used pepper spray. "You pull the trigger half-way down, it automatically turns on and calls your security service," he told us. "And because it uses two cameras, the security people can see the reaction on your face, as well as what you're pointing at."
Ouellette, a retired Connecticut State Police lieutenant whose company teaches clients how to deal with aggressive behavior, conjured up the idea as a way of making pepper spray more effective. Even experienced policemen often use the spray incorrectly because they aren't properly trained, he explained. "If you're three feet away from someone, and you do a full burst of pepper spray to the face, nothing's going to happen. From that distance, the carrier can't evaporate, so the individual just gets a face full of yellow stuff."
Bonneau believes the device could appeal to families or to people who are untrained in the use of guns and don't want to keep one around the house. Because it essentially serves as a "smart" weapon, it eliminates the need for novices to mentally calculate the distance to the perpetrator and then to determine how long to squeeze the trigger.
"We know that pepper spray does the job, and does it non-lethally," says Bonneau. "With this, we get can get the chemical out in a form that can be quickly breathed into the lungs."
Glad to hear that the image shown is not the image they were planning to bring to market. There would be no way any one would carry around a device like that--far too big and scary looking.
I suppose that there's high utility in using a pepper spray gun correctly, but I guess I'm of mindset that we don't want to make it too easy. I could see one of these things whipping out on the soccer field as two over-the-top parents from opposing teams go at it. For me, the coolest thing about this innovation is the lessons it can bring in terms of mechatronics design. That's what is most important.
I see this as useful for litigation on both sides, as long as the video doesn't conveniently "disappear".
I think there needs to be a reevaluation of how many cell-connected devices one must carry though. If this device is going to call the police for you, one likely has four or more cell-service devices at close hand - the pepper spray can, a cell phone, a tablet such as i-pad, and the on-star service in a car.
I'd rather see this device be blue-tooth connected to my phone.
Communicating through Bluetooth is a good idea. Then you could have an app on the phone that communicates the way you want to. If it is the local police, then that is who is called. I guess that the "issue" is the storage of the video. Perhaps there could be a clooud service for storage of the video. Of course, if you have a service that is set up the way the designer has specified, then you do that. I
Neat use of technology, but if you just carry a gun, the attacker will be right where you left him! (In the order of fairness, I could have said her, too, but statistically, not very common)
I carry a gun simply because a cop is too heavy.
Ebay has some very small HD cameras, the size of a key chain in fact. $5... Low light performance is poor, but with some simple upgrades it shouldn't be hard to get that corrected.
Cost is an important consideration. Pepper spray is about $30. And once you use it, it has to be replaced. I'm sure that with GPS, rangefinder, microprocessor, etc, its cost will be way north of $30. Plus, how much is a refill?
So how much is your life worth? Some would say "Priceless", but I don't see many people with a dedicated bodyguard. So cost is an important consideration. Bullets cost pennies, but could be as high as $1.00 each time you shoot one. So even if I have to use 5 shots to bring down an attacker, it's still a pretty good bargain. Add $60 every 5 years to renew my carry permit and it's still a bargain. OK, so the gun cost a lot of money, but some guns are good investments. Pay $400 today and you might get $600 for it in 10 years or less (I have an SP101 I paid $199 for and now is worth $320+). If they can bring this to market for $100 or less with refills at $20 each, they might have something. Otherwise, it's just an Engineering exercise.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
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