Track robot

Let's Make Robots Robots
1

I am looking to build a track robot, but I'm on a budget. So I can buy on for more than $150 or so. I see so many options, but I am looking for one that will climb. I am a machinists and a welder so the machanial parts are no problem I am just looking or the best frame at this point. Anyone have an idea of a better platform? Or have you seen this one work? Thanks Dan

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/track-robot
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One thing I am worried about

One thing I am worried about is plastic tracks, they would not grip as well as rubber. But I cant find any budget systems with rubber.

3

The Dagu Rover 5 platform is

The Dagu Rover 5 platform is really versatile. The base frame+motors+tracks can be had for around $60 including encoders. That’s for two motors. You’d need to then add a motor controller and a microcontroller, receiver, transmitter, battery, camera, etc… It’s not hard to get from $60 to $150 once you start adding electronics. I’ve used the Dagu Rover platform with wheels and tires swapped out for the tracks, arduinos for brains, ESP8266 for brains, Raspberry Pi for brains. It’s a good platform when you’re not sure what you want to do with it. Its tracks get good traction, they feel like rubber, definitely not hard plastic.

4

Thanks will look into it.

Thanks will look into it.

5

Give us some idea on how big

Give us some idea on how big of a bot you are wanting to build, Length, Height so on. Is it for inside or outside.

With some more information I think we can all help you better.

6

Rubber tracks are great for

Rubber tracks are great for light weight robots, but they are a problem for heavyweight ones.

The guy on this video showed how to improve traction of hard plastic lego tracks. At the end he presented problem with tracked heavy robot (the problem of turning). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yDTSaI5ad4

By the way, he is member of LMR too https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/beersoda-serving-legoarduino-robot

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Just looking for a first

Just looking for a first track robot. plan on a small one probly.

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Image placeholder

Added a placeholder image to your post. Is $150 your budget for the entire robot or just the tracks? If it’s for the tracks, does that include the sprockets? Have any ideas about size and payload capacity? The more information you can provide about what you’d like it to do, the better we can help.

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Small Tracked Robots / Platforms

Some ideas: https://www.robotshop.com/en/tracked-development-platforms.html

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I had mentioned the Dagu

I had mentioned the Dagu Rover platform, and I see that robotshop has this one:

https://www.robotshop.com/en/ez-robot-revolution-roli-rover-robot-body-hbridge.html

That’s basically the same thing for just a tad more money, but it has a LOT of extras that I would think would make it worth the few extra dollars. It has the top enclosure, a battery compartment, power switch, motor controller, and maybe even a 7.4v battery (can’t tell for sure from product description).

I take back my recommendation above, and instead would recommend this EZ-Robot. It’s even more versatile, and the price isn’t bad at all for what you get.