Society of Robots - Robot Forum
Mechanics and Construction => Mechanics and Construction => Topic started by: beavye on October 04, 2007, 09:43:14 PM
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Hello. I am a structural engineer without any experience in robotics or the RC world. I mostly design cranes and girders for industry. I have a design idea for a new project but part of it is well outside my knowledge base. I was hoping you could help me.
The concept seemed relatively simple. I would like to design/modify an RC car of sorts. I need an RC platform that can be controlled from a fairly large distance (100+ yards). I also will need the car/platform to be capable of playing sound (preferable mp3). I assume that I could do this with the use of servos but I have no clue where to begin. The system needs to be durable enough to run through dirt and short grass. Should I just purchase an RC car and tare it apart. If so, what should I do for the sound aspect?
I think that it would be so much fun to start building stuff like this for personal use as well but I have no idea where to start. What books? Buy a kit? Where do you recommend I buy parts?
I would like to build it myself if it isn't too involved. I'm pretty mechanically inclined but this whole world if very new to me. Can you help?
Thanks so much!
Beavye
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Using an RC car as a robot base guarantees you that you'll have a decent base that's sturdy enough and suitable for your needs.
And since you want your robot to be RC, there's no question (imho) about it, use an existing RC car :)
Ofcourse buy one that can handly the terrain you want it to, and make sure it's not too crappy because you want it to be sturdy and powerfull enough to drag a sound system with it...
In what kind of environment do you want to play the music?
How loud?
The speakers should be mounted on the robot right?
PS:
Maybe you can clarify howmany meters and feet 100 yards are. ;)
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Thanks so much for the tips. I hate asking questions about topics that I'm so ignorant about. Do you have any recommendations for the car's brand? What about the controller? That's the tricky part to me, what would I use to control the sound? It does not need to be extremely loud. I was thinking about simply mounting an Ipod with a small speaker, but I dont know how I could control it via the remote control. ???
Oh, and for simplicity, let's say 100 meters rather than yards.
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Thanks so much for the tips. I hate asking questions about topics that I'm so ignorant about. Do you have any recommendations for the car's brand?
answer: http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/emaxx/trx_emaxx.htm
RF controller: use lynx RF tx/rx pair - it can send signal over 500m-1000m
here : www.rentron.com
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Best place to look for RC stuff ;D:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_parts_list_RC.shtml
Buy a nice base, something between $100 and $300. Anything less than that will probably not work very well on rough terrain.
I can vouch for this transmitter definitely having the range you need:
http://www.servocity.com/html/laser_6_fm_systems.html
This might also help with understanding:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/remote_control_robot.shtml
As for music . . . well an mp3 might be difficult to play . . . you can do a midi if you have a microcontroller and a peizo buzzer, but might be more trouble than you want. You could also cheat and put your cell phone on your robot (that has music as its ringtone) then call your cell phone to play the music. There are also play back recorders that can easily be hacked. Record a sound on it, then push a button (using a servo on the car) to play it back.
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Im pretty sure that an Ipod has an IR remote feature extra. So maybe convert IR to RF and then you got yourself a R/C ipod.
Not sure if it has that extra though...
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Thanks so much for all your great advice. If all goes well, I'm hoping to start on things this week. I'll keep you posted........ Thanks!!