Posted on 09/25/2006 11:42:27 AM PDT by Dr. Zzyzx
A Smart Shooter? Scientists debut a computerized pistol engineered to recognize the grip of its owner
By Patrick Di Justo
Armed with $2 million in federal grants, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) are close to perfecting the first commercially viable "smart gun." The prototype pistol, unveiled last month, is designed to recognize specific people's grips. When seized by an unauthorized hand—say, that of a child or a criminal—the gun locks its shooting mechanism. The gun relies on Dynamic Grip Recognition, a biometric technology embedded in its handle. Sensors and microprocessors analyze the complex interplay of bones and muscles involved in pulling the trigger, all in a fraction of a second. "The way you hold a gun, curl your fingers, contract your hand muscles as you pull the trigger—all of those measurements are unique," says Donald Sebastian, vice president for research and development at NJIT.
Gun-safety advocates hail the device as a way to significantly reduce the estimated 29,000 firearm deaths in the U.S. each year, although some gun-rights advocates worry that the technology could prove more error-prone than traditional guns. Sebastian says the NJIT prototype currently has a failure rate of 1 in 100 trigger pulls, but his team aims to improve that rate to 1 in 10,000—the Pentagon's standard for military weapons—by increasing the number of grip sensors from 32 to "hundreds" and further refining the pattern-recognition software. If all goes well, Sebastian expects a commercial version by 2008.
Educating the Smart Gun Users will probably Program the NJIT gun at a local police station's firing range. During the registration process, the owner will test-fire the weapon 10 times. Each trigger pull will activate the pressure sensors embedded in the gun's handle. Microprocessors will analyze the data and create a permanent profile of the user's grip.
So what tiny fraction of those 29,000 deaths, the majority of which are gang and drug related murders, would be prevented by this?
Great.
Bad guy enters my home and kills me. My wife can't use my gun to kill him. Lovely.
Of course.... there's both pistols and long guns on *both* sides of the bed, so it's a moot point.
no batteries = no boom??
sounds retarded to me..you can still pistol whip the snot out of someone with it...
My S&W 5906 will not fire when in an "unauthorized hand"... it's called a "mag disconnect" if it comes to a fist fight the mag release gets bumped and the mag comes out... then it's click click click.... no go. Oops whatch out for my ASP baton across your wrist...
This is bad news and a complete waste of our tax dollars.
Donald should test it first pesonally in Iraq.
So, injured or wounded, it just might not recognize your grip. Then the really deep doo-doo starts. No thanks.
If this technology is so great, then require every police officer in America to use it. Not going to happen? I didn't think so. If it isn't good enough for them, it isn't good enough for the rest of us either.
Tell you what -- deploy these for use with the Secret Service, FBI, DEA, ATF, the bodyguards of all federal and state politicians, as well as lots of large municipal police forces and sheriffs departments. After five years, if the concept proves valid, then perhaps they could be considered for private, although not mandatory, sale.
"equire every police officer in America to use it"
Exactly. A dumb idea that needs to be put down quick.
The way I grip and fire a gun at the range is very different than the way I would grip and fire a gun in an emergency. Practice, practice, practice can minimize the difference, but certainly not eliminate it.
Given that a lot of people rely on the simplest gun practical in order to ensure reliablity, who is going to want to be stuck with a weapon that might not respond due to a software inadequacy?
Talk about your Blue Screen of Deaths!
Nyet.
It would also make a lucrative business opportunity for a shade tree engineer.
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