Looking for a custom built inspection robot

Hello to all the community,

I'm looking for a micro TIR (tactical inspection robot) either tracked or wheeled but tall about 1,7 cm , wifi controlled by pc or android tablet and with cctv camera.

It should do an inspection for 30 meters and then come back for battery recharge, transmitting video with a microcamera with some led to operate in the dark. The device should be precisely controlled and move slowly.

I've done some research for ready made devices without success: I'm new to the field and I've no knowledge or time to build one myself, so I'm looking for ready made device or custom built one.

I apologize if I've posted in the wrong section.

 

Regards

InspectorBots makes what

InspectorBots makes what you’re looking for and is fairly reasonable. Any company that has US Gov/military funding however, will be priced way outside of what you see with InspectorBots.

1.7cm tall, is that right?

1.7cm tall, is that right?

My MB3434 is already 2.5cm tall and there are still some questions which remains. Could it be longer, say 10cm or is there also a limitation? What is the environment, the surface, gravity (it might be on the ISS). Does it have to run autonomously or remote controlled. (LOL, read twice and you will see that this - my - question is obsolete) What is the needed resolution of the camera. Let us know more details so we can help you more :slight_smile:

Is this something like a
Is this something like a sewer inspection robot?

There is a reason that they cost a lot to make, both in materials and time. Pipes are a hostile environment for robots, amd sewers more so.

Hi and thank you for your

Hi and thank you for your interest.

This is not a sewer inspection robot, the place where the device will operate is dry but dusty.

The height constraint is about 2,5 cm: 1,7cm is just an estimate because of some debris the crawler may find as obstacles in the path, maybe 2 cm are ok.

The width is not a problem because the crawl space is about 20-25 cm wide.

The materials between the operator controlling the device and the device itself is about  1 cm of brick if the first is outside the building, around 10 cm of concrete + 12 cm of perforated brick if the operator is inside the building.

There is no metal or insulating foil if the operator is outside, but between perforated brick there are steel joist if the operator is inside of the building.

The distance to be travelled is in straight line.

As for the camera resolution, any decent camera that is not too expensive is ok.

Based on the additional

Based on the additional details, no one can tell if what I’m looking for can be done ?

Oh, it can be done.
But it would be expensive if it were built at a professional level.

Think about an under 2cm tall RC controlled device that can send video back. You’re wanting it to go through a dark, dusty, crawl way that will probably have debris in it. Most motors I’ve used are bigger than this.

I am assuming that you aren’t the first person to want to be in this business. What do the others use? There are probably inspection robots that you could buy. Have you googled “small inspection robot” or similar things?

Is this for a school project?

This should not be done at a

This should not be done at a professional level, and I’m not going to do business with the device, It’s for a one time usage inspection.

There are plenty of inspection robot, but not so small.

I would second 6677’s comment.

If you are only going to need this once you should look for something to rent. No reason buying a special bit of equipment that you will need to store or try to sell after you use it.

Renting a long fiber would be more cost effective than paying for something to use it once.

My rate is expensive and not worth it if you need it now.
For a guess as to the cost, since this would be a one-off that doesn’t interest me that much and hasn’t been spec’ed out…

I’d probably do it for $2,500 plus materials. And it would have to run off a wire rather than radio; also I would retain the rights to sell copies or split royalties if you sold it. I’m sure there is ‘‘somebody’’ here who would be willing to do this cheaper and could do it better. If you are actually interested at that price, I would do it.

Frankly I think that you should just run a fiber line to see what you need to see. It would be cheaper and I’m sure you can rent them somewhere.

The idea to use a custom

The idea to use a custom robot was born after seeing this

http://blog.flytron.com/tir-tactical-inspection-robot.html

It uses cheap components, and for my particular needs this can be adapted using small wheels an different elements arrangement to reduce the overall height.

Another idea would be to modify one of these  

http://www.foxoffer.com/7m-4-led-usb-waterproof-endoscope-snake-inspection-camera-p-210.html#.U_r742Piv8k

cheap usb endoscope, so that the camera is dragged by  a tracked vehicle that is powered and moved by the same usb cable.

There is no need to have the crawler controlled by a smart phone device.

 

Put a camera on a mouse, and have it drag the USB cord behind it
Take a mouse, or maybe a rat, collar it and attach the camera to the collar along with a USB cable.

Of course, USB might not work for 30 meters, so maybe radio might be better. It would still be best to have it drag a wire for power behind it. The power would be used to power the camera, the radio, and the steering.

The rat would have to be trained of course, to work with the steering. I’m thinking that small electric shocks on the collar at specific places could cause the rat to turn right or left. Or perhaps a very small speaker and the proper command words. I’ve never tried to train a rat.

Just trying to think out of the cage.

Your idea pose much more

Your idea pose much more problems because animalist won’t allow this solution.

Also, maybe you have never tried to train a rat, but this can be a new business idea for you in this period of financial crisis.

I might have worded it
I might have worded it sardonically, but it was meant to be a serious suggestion. If you can’t afford a bot to do what you want, try something different.

If you really want a bot, the try some micro servos placed horizontally, and use legs that sort of swim on the surface.

I might have worded it
Sorry, duplicate. How do I delete this?