The discussion in "The future of small arms" and the gun/man interface got me thinking. Traditionally, the shape of the rifle has been, to a large measure, dictated by the requirements of the mechanism. This may not be true with future weapons, particularly beam or energy weapons.
Here are some thoughts on a variation of the laser rifle That I refer to variously as (officially) the 'Death Angel' and unofficially as the 'Laser Parrot'.
This laser is fitted into a thin backpack covering the entire back. A regular pack can be attach on top of the laser/power unit.. Rather than feed power from the backpack assembly to an expernal rifle via a powercord, the 'parrot' has the 'rifle' fitted vertically on the right side of the pack, with a periscope-like beam aimer and shaper protruding over the wearer's right shoulder (hence the 'parrot' appellation).
Aiming is via a sensor attached to the wearer's helmet that tracks the movement and position of the right eye (or left, if required). The laser aimer is servo driven to track whatever the user is looking at. The eye tracking mechanism also projects an 'eye safe' image of an aiming reticle onto the optic nerve of the user - that is, the user sees a crosshair with his right eye.
The weapon is fired by a small firing stud that can be gripped in either hand (or possibly worn like a ring
Designers notes: I got this idea while watching a program about technology that allowa a quadripelegic to type by using a device that tracs eye movements. Obviously, I'm just scratching the surface and ideas, comments or additions are welcome.
Looks can kill.
obvious questions: How well will this work if the shooter is prone? What about something that will allow the aimer to shoot around corners or over obscacles without exposing the user?
Reference: http://www.eyegaze.com/
Here are some thoughts on a variation of the laser rifle That I refer to variously as (officially) the 'Death Angel' and unofficially as the 'Laser Parrot'.
This laser is fitted into a thin backpack covering the entire back. A regular pack can be attach on top of the laser/power unit.. Rather than feed power from the backpack assembly to an expernal rifle via a powercord, the 'parrot' has the 'rifle' fitted vertically on the right side of the pack, with a periscope-like beam aimer and shaper protruding over the wearer's right shoulder (hence the 'parrot' appellation).
Aiming is via a sensor attached to the wearer's helmet that tracks the movement and position of the right eye (or left, if required). The laser aimer is servo driven to track whatever the user is looking at. The eye tracking mechanism also projects an 'eye safe' image of an aiming reticle onto the optic nerve of the user - that is, the user sees a crosshair with his right eye.
The weapon is fired by a small firing stud that can be gripped in either hand (or possibly worn like a ring
Designers notes: I got this idea while watching a program about technology that allowa a quadripelegic to type by using a device that tracs eye movements. Obviously, I'm just scratching the surface and ideas, comments or additions are welcome.
Looks can kill.
obvious questions: How well will this work if the shooter is prone? What about something that will allow the aimer to shoot around corners or over obscacles without exposing the user?
Reference: http://www.eyegaze.com/