Greetings, all.

I've gotten one of my hare-brained ideas again, and I wonder if perhaps the more experienced hands here might be willing to help me piece together some basic ideas. Basically, it's an automated clay pigeon shooter.

For those who don't enjoy recreational gunplay, a clay pigeon is a disk of fairly brittle ceramic, flung into a ballistic trajectory. The shooter's challenge is to break it, at range, using a shotgun. Wikipedia has articles, of course: see 'skeet shooting' and 'trap shooting'.

My objective, then, is to figure out a way to automate the process. At present, my basic approach is to use two independently movable turrets, one for the sensor package, and the other to operate the shotgun. The shotgun turret is purely mechanical - two motors to pitch and yaw, and a solenoid to pull the trigger. For safety, the action would be human-operated. My interest lies primarily in acquiring and tracking the clay pigeon, which is more or less where my experience runs out completely.

I have a vague idea of how I'd go about it - a low-res color camera with some kind of processor attached to it looking for orange blobs for initial acquisition, and perhaps some variant of lidar for precise tracking - but I've no idea if these are correct, practical, or within the reach of a self-funded hobbyist. So, I ask you for your thoughts.

If this isn't an appropriate forum, I'd appreciate suggestions as to what sites might be better-suited.

Many thanks,
Bob Robertson