Rover Project Build Thread

Hey DiyDrones,

 

New here, thought I'd introduce myself by talking about the project I'm planning out right now.

 

Initially I had planned on building a quadcopter, but I decided first I'm going to build an Arduino powered 4wd autonomous rover.  I'll probably start with a Traxxas Summit RC car, though I'm still researching other options (and searching craigslist for good deals.)

 

I live on 40 acres of very mountainous terrain so the summit will probably be the best bet.  While the rover's primary goal will be surveillance, it make take on a variety of other roles such as providing a mobile wifi repeater, picking up screws and nails on the road with a magnet, transporting items around the property, verifying that irrigation systems are working, retrieving the mail (or better yet a beer), or just serving as a "follow-me boombox/flashlight" while I work.

 

While I've covered most of the areas which I regularly go on the property with WiFi already, the rover will be able to function with or without connectivity.  If it has exhausted it's mission queue it will go to the nearest known hotspot to check in.  Otherwise it will continue it's tasks unless it senses something deemed an emergency event in which case it will seek communications immediately.

 

Initially I'll be looking to include the following features:

  • Route-finding via GPS, physical and optical input (may use colored or ir-illuminated markers to designate the edges of the road)
  • WiFi router flashed to dd-wrt and hacked for serial communication with Arduino
  • Pan/Tilt IP camera attached to said router.
  • Control over car's built-in locking differential and high/low selectable gearbox
  • Control over car's built-in LED lighting
  • Ability to turn car off when not moving to improve battery life as well as put router to sleep when data transmission isn't needed

 

Once I get those issues working well I'll look into adding the following:

  • Thermal Sensor for human/animal/automobile detection
  • Robotic arm
  • Cellular or xbee backup link for when not in wifi range
  • Supplemental solar recharging
  • Pan/Tilt directional wifi antenna to sweep for signal
  • Garage near my front gate which can automatically swap in a fresh battery and start charging the low one (also serves as a way to let the rover through the fence but not the dogs)
  • Non-lethal armaments such as pepper spray or bb-gun
  • RFID reader so it can identify trusted persons/pets
  • Pan/Tilt mount for my pd-150 3-ccd dvcam along with LANC interface for Stop/Rec/Zoom/Focus functions
  • RGB led lighting

 

Comments appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fab - Arduino for Visual Studio on December 1, 2011 at 5:38am

Yes i have some 4x4's under conversation and i really like your ideas

Battery power might be the only big drawback. Can you design some solar recharge stations at the checkin points?

May I suggest you also add a water cannon to stop the burning sensation reported by recent pepper spray "victims" :)

Permalink Reply by headinthetrees on December 1, 2011 at 11:26am

The recharge station already has land power (and water if it needs a bath) so that's not an issue.  The solar on the vehicle would just be to trickle charge the battery when it was stationary.  I'm thinking of making some sort of roof rack system where I could mount a battery instead of the stock location to make automated swapping easier. 

 

I like the water cannon idea, but it'd probably be used more for dog repellant than aiding trespassers.  Hopefully I'm not coming across like a paranoid person, but we have had several trespassers on the property since I've been here.  Hopefully this can be a tool to avoid a more serious confrontation.

Permalink Reply by Fab - Arduino for Visual Studio on December 1, 2011 at 11:42am

sounds like you have the facilities to do some really exciting stuff

Permalink Reply by headinthetrees on December 4, 2011 at 1:29am

So I found a platform for my rover.  Unfortunately its not a summit, but it will do for now.  Its a HPI Wheely King that's already been lightly modified for crawling.

Next step on the build is to order the arduino, a crawler specific esc, a stronger servo for the steering, and a megapixel ip camera.

I found a cheap router which is dd-wrt compatible and can be soldered for a serial connection.  So next step once the parts show up is to get the arduino and the router talking.


ModeratorPermalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on December 4, 2011 at 10:31am

headinthetrees,

Given the amount of funds you have to spend, you might want to consider this: http://www.mymindsi.com/ or this one: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1561

Regards,

TCIII

Permalink Reply by headinthetrees on December 4, 2011 at 4:03pm

Those are some cool products for sure.  But I already got the r/c crawler and I think it will do pretty well for what I need.  I'd rather spend the extra money on a nice megapixel ip cam and fabricate my own mounts for whatever electronics I decide to include.

Thanks for the link though, those are awesome.

Permalink Reply by Mark on January 3, 2012 at 7:41pm

Austin and I are pursuing a similar course.

We already have our EV1 unit constructed - APM 1.4 on Traxxas 2WD Slash.

Our EV2 unit is based on Mecanum wheels - and is on backorder from the RobotShop.

Our EV3 unit was to be a Tamiya tank - but after a few meetings with the local Bay Area Tankers RC club = they've pretty much discouraged me from tracks.

We'll wait until APM v2.x (I'm a software engineer - and you never want a x.0 of anything!) - before we get into the camera mounts, but are looking at some used industrial robot "picker" arms now (to get the hang of them).

Still need to get the basics down - so EV1 is strictly an "evaluation and test" platform.

Considering the complexity of what you are trying to do, I would break it down into manageable chunks that will make it easier to accomplish - and more rewarding, when you start to see the parts coming together.

We'll be monitoring this forum to track your progress!

Permalink Reply by headinthetrees on January 4, 2012 at 10:42am

Cool man, your projects sound interesting.  Thank you for your reply.

I'd go for the robotic kits too if price wasn't an issue, but picking up a used crawler on craigslist saved me a lot of money on this project.  I also picked up a droid x on craigslist for $75, and flashed it to metroPCS so I can use a $40 3g plan.

So far I've only made it as far as gathering the parts and checking basic connectivity between my android phone, the arduino board and the rc car.  I've been short on time to tinker with the holidays, work, and snowboarding. 

When I make any real progress I'll post some video.


ModeratorPermalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on March 29, 2012 at 9:34am

headinthetrees,

Any progress yet? I just finished putting together a Traxxas E-Maxx chassis from pieces purchased off of eBay. I presently have lowered the chassis body support posts to their lowest level on the shock towers in order to mount a 1/4" thick 15" X 8" HDPE plate on the chassis to mount the electronics. I am trying to decide as to whether to use a Parallax Propeller or the APM 1.0 or 2.0.

Regards,

TCIII 

Permalink Reply by headinthetrees on March 29, 2012 at 12:48pm

No unfortunately haven't had any time to tinker.  Had a lot of other work-related projects going on and quite a few amazing powder days.

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