geekosystem

It's always fun when you order something in the mail, forget about it because standard shipping takes too long, then find it on your doorstep a week later. It's like a surprise present you gave yourself. If you're Valve, though, you get much better presents in the mail, like an enormous Portal turret from Weta Workshop.

We've seen some nifty Portal turrets in real life before, but not one that actually shoots. A Penn State University student created this currently frameless turret for his Advanced Mechatronics class' final project. The turret, like in the game, tracks its victims via an IP webcam, as well as shoots at them, though luckily for said victims it only shoots Nerf bullets. He's working on a frame so the thing looks more like the iconic white turret we've all come to love and fear, and yes, the turret also talks in that sing-songy, haunting voice. Check out a video of the thing in action after the break.

Hello? Are you still there? Programmer Jonathan M. Gruberman and artist Leigh Nunan collaborated to create a plush version of the lethal, adorable Aperture Science sentry turrets from Portal and Portal II. The tot-sized turret is Arduino-controlled, and when it something crosses its line of site, it utters some of the same soothing-voiced dialogue as an in-game turret would; ditto when it's picked up or tilted over. Yet more to get excited about, and possibly a little scared about: Gruberman says his friend Dana Finchan is working with him on a fully functional, life-sized turret: "I think once that’s done we’re going to work on making it fully functional: not just sensors and sounds, but opening side panels and perhaps even throwing some Nerf or Airsoft guns in there." Meanwhile, someone has made a life-sized Portal turret PC case (which, sadly, we didn't see when we made our roundup of the best PC casemods, even though the Companion Cube casemod was one of our favorites). (via Escapist | Creator's blog post)