Society of Robots - Robot Forum

General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: Admin on February 03, 2009, 01:41:17 AM

Title: interesting/useful hackable toy
Post by: Admin on February 03, 2009, 01:41:17 AM

I just heard about this hackable toy in my email today (see below for quote).

components useful for hacking:
tracked robot chassis
two channel remote control and receiver
two DC motors
two motor drivers
wireless camera
wireless microphone
LCD eyepiece to see what the camera sees

I hear its marked down to $25 at Target, making it an awesome buy. Otherwise, the next cheapest place I can find it is amazon.com for $67.81 (or $43.86, "best price") (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016A7PGU?ie=UTF8&tag=societyofrobo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0016A7PGU).(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=societyofrobo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0016A7PGU)

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4198YPx2bQL._SS500_.jpg)

Quote

I was at Target today and noticed they have the "Spy Video ATV-360" on sale for $25 marked down from $100. This is a dual-stick radio controlled tank drive unit that carries a B&W video camera and microphone. Video and sound are radioed back to the controller to which a monitor (on glasses frames) and an earpiece are attached. Uses 6 x AA batteries in tank and in controller.

Yep I bought one. Video quality is so-so and appears to be sensistive to IR. I cracked open the tank unit and inside are a couple of fairly beefy DC motors driving reduction gear sets. Motors (with noise caps) are driven by dual H-bridges created from TO-220 devices; can't tell if they are bipolar or MOSFET. There is a separate RF transmitter for the camera with a short internal antenna. I haven't cracked open the controller yet.

All-in-all a nice unit and seems pretty hackable. Thought the group would be interested.

And, yes, I will buy another one.

Title: Re: interesting/useful hackable toy
Post by: Razor Concepts on February 03, 2009, 04:39:40 AM

The real deal right there are the LCD eyepeices. Normal video goggles go for hundreds of dollars, but those eyepeices are cheap if you can find them. After removing a resistor on the inside you can connect any normal vido signal and it will appear on the eyepeice. Really useful and cheap.