Subject:
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Re: Using cheap RC chasis as 'bot
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.handyboard
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Date:
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Tue, 6 Feb 1996 17:01:10 GMT
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Original-From:
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Clint Laskowski <clint@roboticIHATESPAM.com>
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Viewed:
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2388 times
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OK, time for me to chime in on this thread...
The biggest problem, IMHO, with using a cheap RC car/van/truck as a 'bot
base is that they all use Ackerman steering (two non-steerable driven
wheels in the back, two linked, steerable, non-driven wheels in the front).
With this design, you can't turn in place and it takes a great amount of
computing power to calculate the kinematics in order to navigate to arrive
at a specific location. Too bad because quality RC cars/vans/trucks are
available cheaply almost everywhere in the world!
A better design will use skid steering (like a tank). Unfortunately, I
haven't been able to find any source of quality, yet low cost (i.e., under
$100), RC vehicles based on skid steering. I've considered RC tanks,
back-hoes, etc. All seem to be much more expensive or of very poor quality.
This may be due to: 2 drive motors instead of one; and quality treads are
difficult and/or expensive to make. One of the best choices was the Kyosho
Blizzard, which is no longer manufactured. I imagine another reason they
are expensive is that they don't benefit from mass consumer production
volumes because they do not tend to go as fast as Ackerman steered
vehicles. Kids love/want fast cars, not slow snow plows :-(
I am working on developing a skid steering based mobile robot platform
which I intend to offer as a commerical product. If you have any input
regarding the features (price, performance, design, etc.), I'd be very glad
to hear from you! However, please send your input directly to me, rather
than the whole Handyboard mail-list.
My main goal is to help the average robot
hobbyist/student/educator/researcher get beyond the problem of building a
mobile robot/computer! There are so many other cool things we should all be
working on... like vision, adding personalities, speech, grippers, etc.!
Yet we constantly seem to be talking about "how can I get my
mini/handy/6.270 board to move". Let's get past this problem once and for
all!
I'll be glad to summarize any responses to the list.
-- Clint
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOTIC SYSTEMS, INC. CLINT LASKOWSKI INTELLIGENT MOBILE ROBOTS
1102 W. Glen River Rd. http://www.robotic.com
Glendale, WI 53217 President sales@robotic.com
Tel: 414.821.7675 clint@robotic.com Fax: 414.963.4825
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Using cheap RC chasis as 'bot
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| (...) The biggest problem with tank like drives is the marks/scratches on the floor. Any robot with any weight will probably damage a maple or other hardwood floor in short order. They work fin in a lab with waxed tile floors that no one cares (...) (29 years ago, 6-Feb-96, to lugnet.robotics.handyboard)
| | | Re: Using cheap RC chasis as 'bot
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| (...) This would be great! I've always known that my mechanical skills were nowhere near as good as my electronic/programming skills, and getting a suitable base set up is a formidable problem for me. Something like what you propose would be the (...) (29 years ago, 6-Feb-96, to lugnet.robotics.handyboard)
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