Hi, i am trying to build a rover using rocker bogie mechanism and I am planning to install a wireless camera which could give me wireless live feed. can anyone guide me on the type of motors controllers and basically every other thing that I should use to accomplish this.
Hi,
Aside from mechanical parts to assemble the system, you will need independent control of each of the six motors (if you are trying to reproduce the system faithfully / with full functionality).
This would most likely require multiple motor drivers as we do not sell any with 6 channels (AFAIK). Choosing a motor controller is rather tricky with so little information, since usually it is spec’d based on the motor(s) required for the project.
Therefore, we recommend that you first determine the torque required for your setup. From what we know of the rocker bogie mechanism used in the mars rover, the setup was done in a way that each motor could individually lift/pull a significant portion of the total weight of the robot. Therefore, you will most likely need powerful DC motors, most likely in the 12-24 V DC nominal range.
As mentioned above, without more motor specs, it is difficult to asses what motor controller you will need, so here are some general recommendations. To keep your project capable while still being cost effective, you may want to look at controllers such as the RB-Cyt-132 (1 channel, can do up to 13 A @ 5-30 V DC). There is also a dual channel version, RB-Cyt-153, but it only supports up-to 10 A @ 5-25 V DC. Another good set of options are the Sabertooth (dual channel) 5 A @6-18 V DC, RB-Dim-30. In the higher current range / for larger motors, you may be interested in the RB-Dim-23 and the RB-Bat-46.
For the very powerful motor controllers, you can check the 30+ A DC controllers category.
For motors, you can have a look here. Most specifically, you may want to check out the planetary gear motors as there is some very powerful ones available in that category.
For controlling all of this, you will need some brain. Since you wish to do wireless feed and such, we’d recommend most likely going for a SBC (Single Board Computer), such as the Raspberry Pi 3 since it has integrated WiFi/Bluetooth, known good camera add-ons and also a ton of useful code and community support. If you are using motor controllers with USB ports, you can possibly just control them directly from the Raspberry Pi by connecting them to it directly.
If the motor controllers are not USB compatible, we strongly recommend to use a microcontroller board to control them and interface with the SBC, such as an Arduino-based microcontroller board with a USB port.
Aside from a bunch of wires and cables to connect all of this stuff, you will most likely need two power sources (different voltages) for the motors and electronics. There are many ways to go about this, but some of the typical ones are:
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A battery pack of different voltage for each circuit (1 for motors/motor controllers, 1 for electronics). The one for electronics may or may not need regulation, depending on what electronics you are using. For example, most Arduino boards have on-board regulation for the voltage source Vin]. In the case of an SBC like the Raspberry Pi 3, you would need a stable 5 V DC, 3 A power source.
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One battery pack for both systems, the electronics being fed by a power regulation boards which also acts as a filter for the noise from the motors.
Whichever case you choose to go for, you will need battery packs (NiMH or LiPo, we recommend 12 V DC in most cases for motors), proper compatible charger and a regulator for your electronic to the proper voltage, typically a 5 V DC power regulator.
We hope this helps get you started. Feel free to post more questions if you need more information about products.
Sincerely,
Hi there,
I am also working on this project. Can I get the parts required for it, the connections and the code required for it
Hi @Namitkumar,
You can read my post above concerning the type of parts that may be helpful to make such a robot.
As for code you’ll need to make it yourself or scour the Internet for similar projects that are open source.
Good luck with your project!
Sincerely,
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Thanks a lot
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Why would you need individual motor control over all 6 wheels? In what circumstance would any wheel be in a state different from the other two wheels on that side? I can’t see any situation where that would be beneficial.
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Hey @JoeDW,
Welcome to the RobotShop community!
It seems the people from JPL thought it was beneficial, though! 
Even more, they had an extra 4 degrees of freedom on the front and back 2 wheels to allow steering those wheels for traction and turning in place.
You can read more about the design in this Wiki article. It makes reference to this paper by JPL engineers about the design of the mars science laboratory.
There are details concerning the independently controlled six wheel motors starting on page 6 of that document.
I won’t claim to fully understand the entire system (rocker bogie suspension and steering), but it seems to me that you would want different speed on the different wheels as they go up and down various obstructions since all the wheels can be a different height at the same time. For this suspension to be effective you need to keep both a low maximum speed and a stable speed on all wheels. That being said, as the different wheels have to push up the rover over an obstructions or pull it from “rolling down”, you may very well have very different voltage levels going to each motor.
You can read more about it here, here and here,
You can also look at the documentation and project open source rover from the JPL here.
I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
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@bhamra23, @Namitkumar
I recommend checking out my latest post for more details on the rover design! 
Sincerely,
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Hello, I would like to know where It will put the camera, also I have a lot of questions, because I’d like to make this robot for a project in my school, in youtube there is a video with how to make this robot but I’d like to make with a bluetooth control.
thank you.
Hi @vero28,
Welcome to the RobotShop community!
Please see the post above. It includes many links to useful resources concerning this type of robot including the full open sourced project from the JPL!
As for camera(s) placement, this really depends on your needs. You’s most likely want something either facing forward & backward (two cameras) or above (with rotation). If it was me I’d try to keep the undercarriage clear of obstructions. How much clearance is required really depends on the type of terrain you expect to use the rover on. In theory, this type of suspension allows for going over obstacles as large as one wheel.
You can find plenty of Bluetooth modules here. Typically, most Bluetooth modules act as a serial port (UART) and the overhead is transparent (at least once connected/paired). You can find plenty of tutorials about those online and on this platform.
Sincerely,
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Okay thanks! If I have any doubt, will i be able to ask in this platform?
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Feel free to create a new topic for specific questions about your project. That would be simpler to provide assistance. You can include a link to this one for reference, too.
Also, you may want to create a robot page for your project here. This would allow easy access to information related to your project for the community and making it is easier (and more likely) to receive assistance when you hit some road blocks!
Good luck with your project!
Hello! I would like to know if you could put solar panels,
instead of a motor, it’s only a supposition, I imagine it is much more complicated. Thank you!
Hi,
Most likely. As long as you respect the specs of your motors, since panels (and their circuitry to condition the power from them) will take space and weight.
Not sure what you mean there.
yes its my fault instead of motor, okey thanks for respond me!
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