I have removed robot wheels to remove dog hair one too many times...
This is my new test facility. Built from a 4x8 sheet of whiteboard material and some cheap #2 pine, the basic frame went together pretty quick with nothing more than simple, basic construction techniques. The lift mechanism is (2) window motors from a Hyundai Elantra. --I have to recommend these motors, they are awesome! Super powerful with a nice big gear exposed to weld to, and they even come in left and right models. Not to mention, they only draw a few amps each. The switches are just center-off, DPDT momentary guys from the store of which we do not speak (Shady 'o Rack). A 7.2v racing pack provides the power.
The steel work was pretty simple but a little time consuming, done with just an angle grinder and a drill press -nothing fancy. All-in-all, it took me a few hours one night to build the frame and most of the next afternoon to do the metal work. I think I spent around 100 bucks or so on the whole thing.
Lower and retract work flawlessly with the exception of one motor working just slightly faster than the other --I added a second switch to allow the motors to be switched independently and now all is right in the world.
Is it actually robot-based Pacman? It looks like you got your ghosts there plus a couple “regular” bots. Bunch of kids around too --is it all RC? Whatever it is, it is great!
2 robots semi RC; Chose if they should go left/right when facing a wall. Controller for each had 2 flashing lights, and two buttons. Robots had a light in either side, matching those on controller, indicating what side the robots would turn to. If you managed to drive a “pacman” robot over a “power up” (silver markings on the track, with magnets to sense under neath), a large needle would tilt downwards, and point ahead for a while.
3 “Ghosts”; Driving around with baloons on top. If a “pacman” managed to drive over a “power up”, so the needle pointed ahead, it could try and pop a baloon. A pop was detected, the robot drove out to a side to get a new baloon on, and the happy popper got himself a coke for a prize
