I’m a wildlife photographer looking to build a 4WD rover to mount a GoPro or very small mirrorless camera. Totally new to robotics, but have had RC vehicles in the past.
What I’m looking for:
]durability/:m] ]stability/:m] ]compactness (low profile for packability)/:m] ]ease of use/setup (I’m not a robotics nerd, though I do like designing and building things)/:m]
After much research, I’ve found a few possibilities. Any of these should do the job, but I’m curious to hear from you experts if there’s a reason to favor one over the others (e.g., quality of the components, planetary gear motors, ball bearings vs bushings, etc.)?
]Lynxmotion Aluminum A4WD1 Kit for RC - Nearly ready to go kit is appealing. Less durable than the steel hulled rovers below. What’s the range on the radio?/:m] ]Iron Man-3 4WD All-Terrain Chassis for Arduino - Like that it has a stainless steel shell. Good ground clearance. Similar dimensions to Lynxmotion? Would have to figure out how to get it up and running./:m] ]Iron Man-2 4WD Chassis for Arduino - Like the stainless steel shell. Less ground clearance. Smaller and more packable for backpacking into locations. Plenty big enough for GoPro. Would have to figure out how to get it up and running./:m]
I considered other options as well, but I need the platform itself to be fairly low profile. I also considered RC vehicles, but I’m concerned about durability in the event a large animal swats it, mouths it, etc. I may mount a pan/tilt or gimbal for the camera and build a protective shell for it.
Anything a newbie should be considering that I might have missed? I’m open to suggestions on recommended controllers, batteries, or radios.
This forum has been very helpful thus far. Thanks!
Wow, very cool project - ambitious too! Do you mind elaborating on why you feel a more custom “robot” would serve your needs better than an RC vehicle? Are you looking for some autonomous control/response?
It’s a durability issue more than anything. I photograph brown bears in Alaska. One swat could destroy an RC car with all those delicate parts (trying to mimic a real car/truck). What caught my eye about the robot platform is the metal tub encasing all the components as well as it’s simplicity.
The other factor is the vertical compactness. Everything (minus the camera) fits within the 4-5" height of the tires. On an RC truck, the chassis often sits high above. I need to be able to backpack into the bush with this unit. That said, I have looked at RC vehicles, particularly rock crawlers, and would be open to that solution if I could find something that looked durable.
The Lynxmotion RC kit seems the most obvious solution for a non-robotics guy. The Iron Man units, though, are very attractive for their smaller size and stainless steel casing. If I understand things correctly from my reading of this board, the Iron Man units need a motor controller, main controller, battery, and radio to be up and running? I have a design/engineering background and love building things, so all I’d need are some good tutorials or documentation to walk me through the process.
Thanks for elaborating - that makes more sense …one thought - you may want to consider the chassis separate from the wheels as my guess would be that the tires are probably going to take the brunt of any bite? …maybe a solid rubber solution …as rubber would still give you the traction you need?
As for the guts of the system… I’m more on the robotics side of stuff than RC, but my suggestion would probably be to stick with an end-to-end RC solution that gave you tested motor, controller, wireless package that you don’t have to fuss with too much… given your needs, I think that would be simpler than trying to piece together a custom “robotics” solution that would then also require programming, etc.
Would love to know what you ultimately decide upon and how it all comes together!
You’ll also see quite a size and power difference between the A4WD and the Iron Man chassis, in that the A4WD has larger motors and is a larger platform.
Is the “Lynxmotion Aluminum A4WD1 Kit for RC” effectively similar to going with an RC car in that it’s pretty much plug and play (i.e., no programming involved)? I know this is a popular platform for wildlife photographers to mount cameras on.
…one thought - you may want to consider the chassis separate from the wheels as my guess would be that the tires are probably going to take the brunt of any bite? …maybe a solid rubber solution …as rubber would still give you the traction you need?