Thought I would post some pictures and stuff of my last project, just to see what people thought... It's pretty simple really, just a PIC, Bluetooth radio module and a motor driver on board, with a couple of servos to pan and tilt the camera. Wrote a simple command set for it and an app to run on the PC to send it commands. The best thing is the camera on top works as a webcam so I wrote a little Java applet to control it, so you get full control of the tank via the internet, it's great for keeping an eye on things! All the aluminium bits of the chassis/camera mount were originally the side panel of a Lian Li, good recycling I think. Pics: http://chrix.woaf.net/btank/DSCF1796.JPG http://chrix.woaf.net/btank/DSCF1797.JPG http://chrix.woaf.net/btank/DSCF1799.JPG Video clip
What's the max height of any obstacle it can climb over? After toying with VEX treads, I distrust plastic treads.
everything lol if you could just point me in the right direction for making one of these my self that would be realy nice
I would like to know What PIC. How did you do the BlueTooth intergration. Did you yse java RMI? Does the PIC do anyking od image processing or something?
If you look at the video clip, that CDROM drive is about the limit, but I wanted to keep it small so I think that is good enough for the size. PIC is a 16F876, which I chose because it has 2 CCP modules to use for the motor speed control. Bluetooth is done with a BlueSMiRF from SparkFun (very easy!). http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=582 The PIC is nowhere near powerful enough for image processing, I would have liked to try an ARM of some sort and do some basic obstacle avoidance but I don't have the development tools or anything. I don't know what Java RMI is so I guess not. It's just a normal applet, pic below of the web interface. GAREV was the official project name, Global Access Remote Exploration Vehicle.
That's really cool Thanks for posting it; I like to see other people's projects, many times it gives me ideas for my own.
LoL, I'm not sure that really counts as it had the magazine to ramp it up a bit. Still, that's a pretty decent climb. To get down though, it kinda flopped. How about implementing some IR sensors? If you don't want to have to program them, check out "BEAM" robotics as that branch features simple visual light sensing capabilities.
yeah, adapt it for some extreme off-roadin' I wanna see that thing do an obstacle course. (Next stop: DARPA Challenge course)
Stuey, I did consider adding some infra-red 'cliff' sensors so that it wouldn't be possible to drive it down the stairs or something, and there is a connector on my board for doing so, just never got round to it. The range on the camera is sufficient, and of course it's wireless. The BlueSMiRF has a range that is much greater than the camera though. Never looked at mindstorms, and yes thats a Tamiya gearbox kit, Tamiya tracks and wheels too!
Hi. This is my project. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=91023&page=1&pp=20 www.gamereality.se Regards magi
LOLi'm having a kit laying around. i'm planning to strip out the pcb. extend it's seding radius and mod it into a r\c monstertruck car with a wireless moving webcam. it could be cool if it wasn't becuase i'm broke
Wow, its wierd seeing this, as i have most of the parts to build the exact some thing in a box in my other room All i'm missing is the webcam and the pan / tilt servos... where did you get your camera from? is it one of the £20 ebay wireless cctv cameras, or something build specifically for PCs?
Your project looks like alot of fun! Very cool stuff. How did you do video transmission? Do you just have a wireless video camera onboard, or is it going through the bluetooth?
Hi thanks for the compliments. The camera is a cheapo wireless CCTV one yeah, it's the smallest one I could find without paying silly money, and yes the video signal is separate from the control, which then goes into a USB video capture thingy.
