Saying non credible af here, but in theory one could add a upwards facing shotgun shells on top of the helmet, triggered by a Camera/proximity sensor if it detects a drone/falling grande. Maybe add a gyroscope to check if the helmet is actually facing upwards before triggering. All in all unit cost could be below 250$

  • 6x 12 gauge shells with bird shot
  • Raspberry pi type controller
  • USB cam
  • Laser distance sensor
  • gyroscope
  • servo trigger
  • ghen@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days ago

    I had no idea what I was looking at, so I thought it was a disco ball to confuse light-based sensors and cameras.

  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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    3 days ago

    Just give all the soldiers baseball bats and they can whack the grenades back to the enemy. We need to play to American strength

  • verity_kindle@sh.itjust.worksM
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    5 days ago

    Sure thing. Bundle it with a gift certificate for a chiropractor. Also, wouldn’t expended bird shot come raining down on the helmet wearer?

      • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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        5 days ago

        Anecdote time, feel free to SKIP

        My buddy’s humvee got tagged by an rpg during desert storm, everyone inside lived but most were injured. He got away with shrapnel embedded in his arm for most of the next two or three days until it all got removed. Apparently his elbow got it pretty bad.

        Fast forward to 98, he’s basically lost feeling in two of his fingers except hot/cold and pressure. “it’s not service related”

        2005, most of his hand is partially numb. “it’s not service related”

        2013, he has no feeling below the elbow, except sharp pain and extreme hot/cold. “it’s not service related”

        2015, he has deadeend feeling from his shoulder to his elbow. “it’s not service related.”

        2017, he has difficulty moving his hand now unless he’s looking at it. Spatial awareness is gone. Elbow down completely numb. Shoulder down almost completely numb.

        2017, two months later, for seemingly no reason. “It’s service related. You’re on 100% disability. You have 24 hours to quit your job.”

          • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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            4 days ago

            He convinced his doctor to “wait a couple days to inform” him so he could give a few days notice. This was less than a week into his new promotion, too.

            Now he spends his days trapping for muskrat (big problem for farmers in the area) and sells the furs for supplemental income because disability pays shit has hobbies.

            He seemed to be doing okay last time I spoke to him. Just a little bored when he can’t get outside.

            • verity_kindle@sh.itjust.worksM
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              4 days ago

              I hope he finds more hobbies that definitely don’t bring him clean stacks of cash, just joy and satisfaction. (Wink) Was he able to get any treatment that helped with mobility? He needs that arm in the war against muskrats, right…

              • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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                4 days ago

                He DID seem to be moving it around better, it’s a bit of a sore topic for him so I never pried, just listened to him when he talked about it. Didn’t want to just go “so, is your arm still shit?”

                Like it was noticeably not good when he quit, and the last time I saw him he was moving it pretty much as well as the first time I met him.

                So I’m guessing him going back out and doing stuff with his hands more is helping a lot.

                My wife has mobility issues with one of her arms due to injury, and she gets better mobility the more she does complex things with her hands.

                Protip: if you ever get an injury that limits hand/arm movements, take up knitting, tabletop gaming, and/or video games. Moving your hands around small objects to do delicate things can vastly improve your dexterity.

                • verity_kindle@sh.itjust.worksM
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                  4 days ago

                  Glad to hear that it’s not as hopeless as I imagined for people with nerve damage, in spite of the VA’s best efforts. Thanks for the protip.

    • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Bird shot doesn’t hurt when it falls on you, unless it gets in your eye. The recoil from the shot might be enough to cause serious neck damage.

    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Potentially, but at that point it probably would have lost its lethal velocity, so the worst that could happen is it gets stuck in your hair or falls into your shirt or something.

  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    Drone dropped munitions rarely land directly on a soldiers head; rather they land nearby and injure surrounding soldiers with the blast/fragmentation. Without some sort of active aim, this thing will almost never hit, if it even triggers.

      • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        Let’s kick it up a notch and get Raytheon working on a helmet-mounted Phalanx that fires .22LR. The old farts at the trap & skeet range are gonna be in for a surprise when I show up with that bad boy.

        • Comment105@lemm.ee
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          4 days ago

          Why not just have a drone detection and alert system, integrate it with the new HUD they’re working on to point to it, and have the soldier shoot the demon bird himself?

          Might want to get automatic shotguns like the AA-12 out there to desperately pepper the bastards.

  • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days ago

    Load it with Dragon’s Breath shells and add a manual trigger, and it becomes the latest craze for New Year’s parties!

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      You need to MIC that shit up, there is no way our districts can profit off that.

      Stick a multi strategy drone detector on an MRAP and pair it with an automated proprietary small bore shotgun chaingun. Like a baby Phalanx that shoots .4 bore.

      It will take some time before it stops shooting birds, but all that can be taken care of in future iterations that require retrofitting that is not covered by the maintenance contract.

  • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    in theory one could add a upwards facing shotgun shells on top of the helmet

    Seems like a recipe for neck problems and neck-related fatalities

  • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days ago

    I feel like the physics behind attaching shotgun shells to your helmet with the intention of shooting down drones would break your neck.

    • trolske@feddit.org
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      4 days ago

      Just attach downwards facing blanks that trigger at the same time.
      Checkmate physics

    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      With no barrel to really direct the velocity, wouldn’t it be more like attaching a tiny grenade or firecracker than a bullet? In that case the kickback force would be less than out of a regular rifle since the blast velocity is distributed in a radius and not in a singular direction.

    • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 days ago

      The real deal use radar/lidar sensors, so you can replace the whole sensor suite with 4 90-degree sensors facing upwards with the added benefit of being able to track not just range but speed and trajectory.

      Slap the computer on the back of the helmet, and it’ll even work as a counterweight for the night vision goggles!

  • skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.deM
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    4 days ago

    This looks like anti-ambush gizmos bolted to the sides of trucks in Vietnam. One-up this and put a quarter of claymore there instead