Mini ATV converted into a base to act as movement for robot

[Hazzman]

Hi guys,

new to the forum and hope this is the right place to post. Some people think I am a little bit crazy but I have the idea for a search and rescue robot, which could also house land mine detectors for searching for landmines in dangerous countries, thats base is a mini atv quad with the coverings and plastics etc removed.

It would use the mini atv's 4 wheels as the base, a 49cc petrol engine as its propulsion and is fully automatic which would cancel the need for any servos etc to control gear changes and clutch controls. It has a thumb accelerator (acceleration controlled with the thumb) which would be easier to control than a motorbike or manual quads twisted handlebar configuration.

basically I was wondering if you think this was possible. I have seen many video on youtube etc of full size remote control cars, motorbikes etc but haven't seen one with a quad in it as it requires no balance compared to motorbike ones I have seen which have some very strange counter balance techniques being used, especially the wobbly wheel treatment when driving to keep it upright.

I am seeking advice as to how hard this would be to contrsuct the base and get it remote controlled as a started before I go any further up about attaching cameras and sensors etc. I am interested in what devices etc could be used to give it a range of around 1 mile or any further if possible, how to steer the atv, would it be better removing the handle bars and creating a steering wheel style turning method?, and how to attach servos etc to different parts which are strong enough to perform these functions.

I am all new to this but am a very fast and keen learner. The reason I am doing this as on the news everyday people die doing tasks that can be performed by cheap robots that are expendable and the reason it all comes down to in why they don't used human controleld machines is money really with governments etc and organisations. I want to build a cheap robot that can be easily replaced for under around £10,000. Some people think its not possible but I have never let that hold me back in anything before. Robots can be replaced, people cannot.

Any help would be appreciated or advice guys thank you.

Henry

[mantrid]

There is a good deal of interest in this type of vehicle in the military field.
In the US I do know they are trialing a 6 wheeled autonomous vehicle
designed to find its own way around a battlefield or where-ever to deliver
supplies and some talk of evacuating casualties has been made.
It seems to work pretty well but I dont know how far advanced into actual production it is.

So - yes you can do it - it's just a case of having the project management, research and resources to achieve your specific goal.
Remote control should make it even easier.

Of course - as steve jobs taught us - having a garden shed - an idea and the will to succeed can also get the most unlikely tasks done.

P.S. And of course there is a good deal of work like this done in nuclear facilities.

[Hazzman]

There is a good deal of interest in this type of vehicle in the military field.
In the US I do know they are trialing a 6 wheeled autonomous vehicle
designed to find its own way around a battlefield or where-ever to deliver
supplies and some talk of evacuating casualties has been made.
It seems to work pretty well but I dont know how far advanced into actual production it is.

So - yes you can do it - it's just a case of having the project management, research and resources to achieve your specific goal.
Remote control should make it even easier.

Of course - as steve jobs taught us - having a garden shed - an idea and the will to succeed can also get the most unlikely tasks done.

P.S. And of course there is a good deal of work like this done in nuclear facilities.

Hi Mantrid thanks for getting back to me so fast. I watched on Discovery channel a special on killer robots they called it featuring the predator, swords and other various types, trying to make them more human. It was presented by Jonathan Frakes and it was awesome.

I did see a robot with tank type tracks which was like a medical robot that can lift casualties to safety and away from danger that you mention in your message and it intrigued me a lot. Although all them robots where mainly autonomous or trying to make them like that I like to make robots have the power of machines but controlled by humans kinda thing.

I am in Belfast, Northern Ireland and everytime I mention robots to people in Universities like engineering guys and science they always say its too complicated to make one yourself. But I do always like a challenge.

I take it short range remote control for instance a bomb disposal engineer being quite close to it would make it a lot easier in terms of technology needed such as transmitter and receiver etc?

One other question you may be able to answer is when you buy a transmitter, if it had say 16 channels for instance, when you add servos to a robot, how do you assign a control on the transmitter or button on it to react to that servo and that servo only? Do you have to program them somehow? Thanks.

Henry

[limor]

buy a used atv for 50GBP
ideally automatic (no manual gear change).

visit your local friendly garage and get some help taking apart the steering wheel. link the accelerator to an RC remote using a servo, potentiometer or linear actuator. same for the hand break - tie a worm gear linear actuator to it.
steering - probably use a windscreen wiper motor should be ok. (infinite torque due to worm gear and decent speed).

the signaling can come from a simple RC remote pwm channels but you will need to convert these signal accordingly. probably use an arduino and voltage regulators..

done.

[Hazzman]

buy a used atv for 50GBP
ideally automatic (no manual gear change).

visit your local friendly garage and get some help taking apart the steering wheel. link the accelerator to an RC remote using a servo, potentiometer or linear actuator. same for the hand break - tie a worm gear linear actuator to it.
steering - probably use a windscreen wiper motor should be ok. (infinite torque due to worm gear and decent speed).

the signaling can come from a simple RC remote pwm channels but you will need to convert these signal accordingly. probably use an arduino and voltage regulators..

done.

Hi Limor,

Thanks for the info, thats actually a really good idea buying a second hand quad first as it could be used to test all of the methods and systems out first without spending £215 on a brand new one from Ebay was the cheapest I could find. Not sure why I didn't think of that must have been asleep that day lol.

As I am a new bie I had to look up some of the parts you mentioned and see what they actually did lol, when you mean take apart teh steering for instance do you mean like removing the handle bars the parts that are at the top and are horizontal so your left with just the steering shaft?

I thought if we cut or took away the top part of the handle bars and used your idea as well of the motor for the steering, could a chain be attached to a bicycle style chain drive system to turn it, driven by the wiper motor?

So that would mean at the base where the motor is attached there is a large cog, like ones in a BMX bike for example, then at the other end thats attached to the steering shaft is a smaller cog with chain attached for moving the steering?

I am not too familiar with worm gears but watched a youtube video on it which is quite informative.

do you mean to use the worm gear to be turned by a servo and then the turning motion is converted into a squeezing action that would squueze the break lever? cheers for the advice am learning something new each day

Henry