This is OSIRIS a rover style robot that I will hopefully modify with autonomous gps control. Right now it is controlled with a 2.4 gigahertz aircraft radio and a 1.3 gigahertz video system. I am using a T'rex motor controller and the wild thumper six wheel chassis powered by a three cell lipo. I am using an mobius camera so I can record video along with transmitting the signal to my ground station.
Here is a little video I filmed from the on board camera driving in a friends back yard. The yard is not well maintained and it provided a lot of opportunities to test the robot. Oh an a little rollover at the end of the video. Wanted to see if I could climb the step in fpv.
Added a few things to OSIRIS. Put in a pan and tilt for the cam and added a headlight. I also added a second battery to control some of the electronics. Now I have one battery for the motors and one for everything else. I found that this increased my radio range and cleaned up the video signal. Next project is replacing the motors with motors that have encoders.
I just joined to get some ideas for a project and the first post I look at has the exact same question as I do. I want to build an FPV bot for inspecting crawlspaces. I have almost settled on the Wild Thumper chassis. But I am concerned with all the holes in the chassis and the electronics, as some crawlspaces can be wet.
I want to utilize the pockets between the motors for the electronics and I am guessing it might be hard to match up a plastic box to fit just right. That “Flex Seal” spray looks so fantastic on the commercial, it might do well to prevent splashing from underneath.
I have also looked at the T’rex tank. I like the solid chassis, but I think tires of the Wild Thumper will be so much easier to keep clean than the tracks and idlers of the T’rex. If the Thumper had the chassis of the T’rex I’d be set.
You are doing lots of things that I want to do with a Wild Thumper 6WD rover, especially the wireless video. I would like to know more about your camera setup and your ground station in particular. Your pan & tilt works really well, and the video is clear. Great job!
Thanks for the compliments. The video is an old one before I added the pan and tilt. I will try to get an updated version up soon. I added my pan and tilt so i didn’t need to swivel the bot around any more. I also programmed my pan and tilt to have a return to home feature so I could always figure out where the front is. I will also take some pictures of my ground station and get them posted. The ground station is not much to look at.
I mistakenly thought that the pan was operational and that it was so smooth! I did wonder about the tilt, though. Now you can see why I need all the help I can get!
The return-to-home feature is a very good idea, and it would work well for my proposed rover.
Can you provide the make and model of your video camera, to give me ideas to explore for my own use? Once I find a suitable wireless camera system - and yours sure seems to be what I am looking for - then I am going to purchase a 6WD WT. I have been wanting to do this for two years now, and it is really difficult waiting so long for something. Money leaves my account as soon as I get it, but with so many financial crises behind me, I hope to have a system in development by the end of fall of this year.
I will be asking you for some additional ideas no doubt as I work to get my rover up and running. Thanks for any input that you can provide.
So the return to home part of my current project only involves the pan and tilt. Just want to make sure that is clear. My ultimate goal is to add GPS and have OSIRIS move around autonomously but for now it is controlled by me.
For the video system I am using a Mobius Actioncam with a 1.3 gigahertz transmitter. The Mobius has a wiring harness that will pull the video signal wire out of the cable and I soldered it to the video wire of my transmitter. I am using a circular polarized antenna to reduce the amount of reflection noise I get in my video feed.
The image is clear on my ground station but not as clear as the video you see posted here. The Mobius has a port for an SD card and this video is from the SD card. The nice part of the Mobius is that it is around $70.00 USD. I use them on my UAVs and I selected the Mobius because an unexpected landing (crash) wouldn’t break the bank.
I picked 1.3 gigahertz for my video transmitter because it will broadcast through a lot of objects. I loose control of OSIRIS long before I loose the video signal (I have yet to completely loose video signal). I will try to get more photos soon and happy to answer any questions you have. I’m far from an expert but I am happy to share what I know.
Yep, I understood about the pan & tilt return. It is a good idea, and so also is your decision to use separate batteries for motors and electronics, which is what I had in mind. The video is very clear and colorful, and I may get a Mobius ActionCam myself. Is your light source readily available? Can you provide details about your transmitter? Once I have a wireless camera system selected, then I am getting a MT 6WD. Your posts have been very motivational for me, and you have done well with your project.
I was going to use a mbed LP1768 as a processor, but have since decided to use a Parallax Propeller with its 8 separate cogs. The TRex motor controller is a very wise choice from what I have read.
I will be using a tiltsensor to monitor grade and inclination, and have other things to think about as well.
Any ideas or comments from your experiences will be most useful to me and are highly invited!
Thanks for the information. I will be reading about RC and your system is a great place for me to begin with. Many thanks for the rapid reply. I will try to not bombard you too much for more information!
For the light source question I think you are asking about where I got it. If that is the case it is a flashlight that I modified (read took the battery/handle section off) and mounted the lamp housing on the pan and tilt. I picked it up at a local hardware store when I was shopping for something else. I saw the flashlight and thought “that would work”. I have the headlight hooked up to a switch on my RC transmitter. I can turn it on and off to save battery.
About my control radio system, I am using a Spectrum DX7 aircraft radio and a hobby king orange receiver. I would like to upgrade but focused on adding encoders and PID control for the motors. I found writing the code to read inputs from the orange receiver fairly easy. The range is fairly good and I can cross a football field and maintain control. If OSIRIS drops behind something at long range I will loose it. That being said, I was able to sit in my living room and drive the robot around the house without loosing signal.
I like the idea of adding a tilt sensor to monitor grade. A roll over doesn’t happen often but all of my electronics are exposed on top.
with the Wild Thumper platform? If so, the OSIRIS project is a great one to follow. I have already benefited from it and I don’t even have a Wild Thumper yet. I am sure you will get some great ideas from OSIRIS and wilsorob, the author and developer of OSIRIS. The WT is a very capable platform, whether indoors or outside. OddBot, the creator of the Wild Thumper, is a creative genius.
I actually bought a Parallax BoeBot (Board of Education for Ardunio version) a while ago and since then started to modify it. Now it’s mostly the chassis and wheels that remained. I’ll post it when I am done. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into it for my next more advanced one
Man I love Parallax. Great guys and customer service, the best I have seen. The BOEBOT is nice platform… I have one running the old but useful BasicStamp. The Arduino version would be neato to have. If you havent done it yet, I recommend checking out the Parallax Forums for helpful ideas as well.
Have you had an opportunity to do more with your robot?
To clarify, you are not presently viewing through your wireless camera, only saving the images/video to the SDcard and then reviewing what you captured? Can you give me some ideas about how I might use a camera such as yours to view the robot’s point of view over a wireless connection?
