I have been reading a lot about the cubloc controllers and am in fact reading through the manual now. I really am liking what i see, and it is not very expensive, even for the CB405. I think I would get the CB220 and put it on an ABB, or the CB290 ($69.00, has RTC) starter kit ($141.00, includes the CB290). I believe I read that the CB220 is BS2 pin compatible (24 pin). The CB220 ($34.00) is a lot less expensive than the Basic Atom or Atom PRO too, which is a definite plus.
8-Dale
I have quite a bit of experiece with industrial PLC’s, Allen Bradly, Modicon, Siemens, etc, but no experience at all with micro controllers. One of the things that attracted me to the Cubloc was the ladder logic capabilities. Max seems to have packaged the controller/software for industiral users. It’s been reliable enough. I crashed the RC car quite a few times and have not had any problems with the Cubloc stuff. I’m using the CB280 on a 32M board, and Relay8 boards.
One word of caution. I spent a few days getting everything to talk. First, my laptop to the USB/RS232 cable. Then the laptop to the Cubloc. Then the Laptop to the Maxport/Cubloc. The driver for the cable just didn’t work so I downloaded a generic version from the internet. Everything else was an issue of having the firmware for the Cubloc matching the firmware for the Cubloc Studio and Latronic download software. I actually called Max on the phone and he emailed me a link to the correct firmware and walked me through it in about 5 minutes.
One nice feature is that there are 2 RS232 connections. I put the Maxport on one and then use the second to download programs from my laptop.
On another note: The second drive motor for my rover was backordered. So I put one motor on today and dove two wheels on one side of the car. I stood on top of the rover and it drove me up a pretty good hill. So there is plentyof power. I then held one of the non drive wheels and it was able to “Skid Steer” in a circle. I like the idea of Skid steering because of the ease of going either forward or backwards. I intend to drive the car straight into a docking/charging station, and then straight back out of it. I’m picturing a dog house for the docking station (garage). I suppose I’ll paint “Bot” over the door. 
Cool!
I finally received the second drive motor that was backordered in April! So I went back to work on my security rover and now have a working version. I still need to build a docking/charging station, paint the body, and add some gadgets (like bump sensors and alarms), but it looks like this thing is really going to work. You may recall I intend to launch it a thousand miles from home to patrol a vacation property near Canada.
We’ve named it Turtle, since it’s such a speed demon. Due to the internet communication delays we designed it for 20fpm. It weighs in at about 120lbs, so we don’t want to run anyone over.
YouTube Link: youtube.com/watch?v=j7GL-4toIXI
Project Page: shelato.com/SecurityRobot/
You have done excellent work on Turtle! From design to implementation, Turtle is a very well done robot. 
Are you sure having it go so slow all the time is what you want? I realize Turtle is quite heavy, but it still might be nice to have a couple faster speeds you can select for covering longer distances if needed.
8-Dale
Yes, I agree with Linuxguy - very nicely done. Sooo what exactly do you need to do that is 1000 miles away?
I share a vacation property with my brothers. I’m in South Carolina and the property is on the St. Lawrence river, across from Canada. We have network cameras to watch the wild life, and yahoo’s on the river. But the camera is never quite where you want it. So I’ve built one I can drive around.
I started the project with an RC car but it was way too fast. I cringed each time the 20$ car with $500 of electronics crashed. Then I built one out of a kids car, complete with two air soft uzis. The internet control adds quite a bit of delay. A seond or so to send the signal, another second or so to see the effect and then another second or so to get a new command to the car. Combine that with a bunch of kids with ADD and it spells trouble. I built this one sloooowwww, and the controls don’t allow it to travel more than 30’ in one command. BTW, the kids car only has one drive wheel and always got stuck. It only traveled 2 mph, but was still too fast for accurate navigating over the internet. I just point turtle at a spot across the yard, press go, and then I go get a cup of coffee.
Well, Turtle is nearing completion. I’ve lowered the profile to reduce wind resistance, given it a new paint job, built a garage and charging station and added a GPS.
I posted a new Youtube video of Turtle entering the charging station.
All I have left to do now is add sonar and a lot of programming. One thing about the Maxport server I’m using is that it allows me to download new microcontroller programs through a wireless internet connection. I don’t even have to leave the kitchen or remove turtles hood 
This Is Where I Got The GPS Program - It’s French, But Not Hard To Decode
A note about using GPS. It’s great if you’re out in wide open spaces, but if you approah a building or a tree, it throw the signal off quite a bit. Like a couple hundred yards.
WOW, This is by far and hands down the absolute most amazing and fastest build I have ever seen on the forums! I know it wasnt a month project, must have took a lot of time for sure, but you made it seem like you put it together efficiently on time and money. SO COOL! 8)
cambot,
As Darth Vader would say: “Most impressive!”
Regards,
TCIII
cambot,
Where did you purchase the gearhead electric motors for your third generation internet controlled rover?
Regards,
TCIII
Hi TC,
I bought them at electricmotorwarehouse.com. They were very expensive, about $300.00 each. I ordered one in January to test it, then when I tried to order the second one it was back ordered until the end of August. I was busy doing other things so I left it on back order. It’s an industrial Lessen motor.
cambot,
Thanks for the response. Much appreciated.
Presently I am putting together a rover that is approximately 1/2 the size of your third generation rover.
The chassis is 12.25" X 17.25" with overall dimensions of 21" X 21.5" with the wheels attached. The wheels are not quite to scale at 6.75" dia (s/b 8" dia), but are readily available from SupreDroid Robots as a complete wheel/tire, bearing, half-shaft, and coupler kit.
I plan to drive the wheels with Lynxmotion GHM-14 12vdc motors in a direct drive skid steering configuration. Guidance will be provided by a Thermal Sensor Array (TSA) and Parallax GPS. I presently have a prototype 4WD1 Rover equipped with a Thermal Sensor Array and a Parallax 900MHz transreceiver that takes steering commands from either the TSA or joystick console equipped with the same Parallax 900MHz transreceiver and an LCD display for Rover telemetry. Three Basic Stamps provide the computing power, but I may use a Parallax Propeller in their place to reduce the component count.
I some day may attempt to build a Rover of your dimensions, but my property is just not big enough at this time for a Rover of that size.
Regards,
TCIII
Wow, great project. I looked up the components you plan to use and it was quite a learning experience. I had never seen the TSA before. And I have no idea how to go about doing radio telemetry, but it’s probably more accurate than the gps I’m using.
Good luck and keep us updated.
I added a Maxbotix Ultrasonic Range Finder today and it works great. I’m going to add two more so I can navigate between objects (like parked cars).
cambot
The ultrasonic range finder sounds like a smart move to keep your rover from running into objects while it is navigating a way point course.
You might want to check out this website: norrislabs.com/. Steve has written articles for the summer and fall issues of Robot magazine.
In the summer issue he described using the TSA and in the fall issue he described using an IR beacon guided security robot based on the iRobot Create chassis. I have built the IR beacon guided security robot and am using it around the house for security purposes.
As I have said before, I plan to use the TSA tracking system with my scaled down version of your third generation rover.
Implementing the 900MHz transreceiver setup is not hard and I can provide examples of how I implemented it with Basic Stamps.
Regards,
TCIII
I’ve gotten quite a few emails from people asking about setting up a web page to control a microcontroller or robot so I took time out this winter to create a few video lessons. I use MS Visual Web Developer Express 2008 to create a simple web page to control a toy bull dozer. I’ve included downloads of my Rover programs as well. If you’re interested, visit my project page at:
My rover has been running on it’s car battery and trickle charger all winter and is still going strong! I’ll be shipping it north for it’s final deployment in May.
Cambot
Your rover is by far the most impressive ive seen on the forum, way beyound any of the ones i’ve built. This is ultimately what I would like to accomplish.
Thanks Joe, you’re always very kind. Your advice on skid steering last year was right on the mark. I really enjoy visiting this forum to see all the exciting things people are working on. I’m astonished at what the folks here are able to build. Really great stuff!!!
My son and I built the rover. He’s a mechanical eng at Clemson University here in SC. I’ve got 25 years experience in building machines and control systems for industry.
I agree, the members of lynmxotion forums are very kind, hard-working and truly amazing and surprising people. Its deffinately fun for me to see what you guys are coming up with. Its always something new and exciting - including this project! Well done again, and as I said before, Im deffinately into and most likely persuing to build a very larger rover similar to this one over the summer in my spare time.
-regards,
Been looking over that website, excellent job with Turtle!
The video tutorials are great, now someone just needs to cover how to use that method with the SSC32 instead of the cubloc
