Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!ariel.unm.edu!nmsu!opus!ted From: ted@nmsu.edu (Ted Dunning) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Shooting pigeons Message-ID: Date: 26 Mar 91 19:33:25 GMT References: <4754@syma.sussex.ac.uk> Sender: news@NMSU.Edu Organization: Computing Research Lab Lines: 24 In-reply-to: moskowit@paul.rutgers.edu's message of 26 Mar 91 14:51:34 GMT In article moskowit@paul.rutgers.edu (Len Moskowitz) writes: I'm surprised that no one has pointed out that this problem has been addressed and solved very nicely using traditional ( non-AI) technologies. No AI is needed to track a ballistic target, determine its centroid, and to aim and fire a weapon. well, I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out that for shooting clay pigeons, you don't even have to track them, you just have to point the gun where they are _going_ to be, and pull the trigger at the right time. if you are willing to take an `engineering' approach to the problem as opposed to an `ai' approach, then you can set up a simple photoelectric detector which will determine when the pigeon is released, wait for a small bit, and pull the trigger. and, of course, this is cheating. that is what engineering is all about, redefining impossible problems so they have practical solutions.