Here is something I have been thinking about lately. A modular RC system that is reconfigurable and expandable. You start with a Transceiver Control Unit, and you can attach any combination of modules to make the perfect radio solution for your rover, walker, police or military bot. Lots of options here… I don’t know if this will ever make it’s way to being a real product. I’m just asking for feedback on the concept.
One thing is for sure Jim; you think alot! 
Your idea sounds very creative and versatile when it comes to the module part. Making this a product would be awesome.
Its a nice gesture to share your ideas, I hope no one “steal” it.
I’m guessing that the Video display module have to be a “stand alone” module since it probably needs a separate antenna receiver/transmitter system?
I may have to yank this info from the forum. 
I’m thinking the video could be handled by the same Xbee module as the radio uses. Just maybe at lower refresh rates? We gotta keep everything on the Xbee comms.
Sounds great, Sounds like a lot of fun to work on. This is right along the line I was thinking of. It would be great to have a rover with a camera that could maybe update a few times a second. Will be interesting to see how much throughput we can actually achieve with the Xbee.
Kurt
Preliminary concept is looking good. Any ideas for additional modules are welcome…
I’ve been using a 30+ step rotary encoder in a few projects. I’ve coded it so that it sees direction, rotation, and velocity of rotation (i.e. Turning it faster multiplies the number of steps per measurement)
It’s great if you are controlling multiple devices and want to switch between them. Kind of hard to do with a potentiometer…
Hi Jim
When you can make the simplest remote control which is weatherproof/ idiot proof/ SHOCK DROP PROOF longe distance / with no requirement to look at the R/C.
Capable of competant and accurate / safe control by the operator within a couple of hours.
I will be your first client with a large order for you.
I need the simple capability of forwards bacwards left right stop.
My robot is 100kgs in weight and can pull 2000kg up to 18 kms per hour for 5 hours and so you can see why the operator can not afford to be looking at the R/C
I did think of butchering a Sensor react but it’s really not my area of expertise
Oh greetings from Holland 
I love the idea,
You might want to take a look at making it useable for the DIYdrones.com community as well. This could perhaps include a telemetry stream module or perhaps various RC/flight functions. This will probably affect your Tx/Rx module making it swapable from RF to Xbee, etc.
I will say, what ever you do, make it a kit for the Lynxmotion community! I’ve been following the thread on how to build a Xbee based remote, but would rather buy a kit and learn (congitive replication) through building it with all its parts.
Just some thoughts!
Cheers,
I never imagined a modular robot controler could be built. The PS2 controler is good for controling robots, but I can see it has its limitations. If this could actually be made it could just about anything as far as robot controlers go. I think the idea is VERY 8).
An addition of a USB connection for a computer would be nice. Have all data (including video) optionally route to the computer for viewing or logging. Additionally have all controls operable by the computer. I’m hacking an old RC controller right now so I can override my robot with the R/C if I get stuck, start to crash, or to drive the robot back to a starting point so I can repeat a test without having to get out of my easy chair.
By override do you mean bypassing sensor inputs. If so I’d like to see how you’re doing this.(if you don’t mind) I’m still nooby at coding and I’ve been wondering how to make an autonomous/RC robot.
I hacked into a normal R/C controller for an R/C car. I can operate it as I normally would using the joysticks on the controller or via a program on the PC. I’m going to put some proximity sensors on the car so I can operate it autonomously via the computer (see link below).
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5791
Here is another example of the hack on coding for fun.
blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/archiv … 07304.aspx
Thanks for the input. We have shelved this project because a good friend of mine is making one with somewhat similar features. Not sure if this will ever be a reality.
