This 3D-Printed Gun Turret Replica From ‘Portal’ Has Come To Life

Twelve years after the release of the famous game “Portal,” game enthusiasts now got to witness one of those amazing in-game technologies coming into real life. No, not the futuristic portal gun, it is the autonomous sentry turrets that can detect and destroy targets we’re talking about. This life-sized model is not employed in real-life battles but kept in the lab only. However, the turret can actually protect the lab from intruders by firing its Nerf darts.

Except for the electronic compartment (including a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino Mega), almost every other part of this turret model was 3D-printed. Theoretically, you can build for yourself one similar model, using all the necessary material files posted by Yvo de Haas on Ytec3D.com. But it will not be as simple as what it seems. It is much more than assembling a Lego set.

It took the team half a year to build the turret, and it has been a sophisticated job. To execute it smoothly, the team had to work in a collaborative effort, combining several skills from programming, mechanics to electronics. The job also requires an extensive understanding of 3D printing techniques, plus great patience since it took 300 solid hours to 3D-print the physical parts. That was at least two weeks of continuous work.

Once the target is identified, the gun turret will open automatically by extending its two sides, revealing a pack of four guns similar to Nerfs, which can fire within 20 degrees scope in every direction. The model does not use compressed air to blast foam darts. Instead, each gun employs a steel flywheel from a quadcopter motor, which spins at a quarter of 100,000 revolutions a minute. That is enough to fire a dart to fly at 60mph and even enough to hurt a human target seriously.