Autonomous Ballistics

The Innovation:
A “smart” high-tech holster to increase gun safety

The Team:
Sy Cohen, Ashwin Raj Kumar, Jonathan Ng, Eddilene Paola Cordero Pardo

The Story:
An NYU Tandon School of Engineering team won top honors in the 2017 Smart Gun Design contest funded by Borough President Eric Adams and was awarded a $1 million capital grant prize for what the judges deemed the most promising proposal to prevent unauthorized users from firing a gun.

The team, Autonomous Ballistics, largely comprised of mechanical engineering students, took a divergent approach to nab the million-dollar award, focusing not on a smart gun, per se, but a smart holster, one that allows only the legal owner to draw the weapon. Their innovative design incorporates three different methods to release the gun from the holster. The first uses a fingerprint sensor to match the user’s fingerprints with the owner. The second is an RFID keycard that is worn by the user. Finally, the voice of the legal owner can also be used to authorize and free the gun.