RC Rover to watch your house
Hello guys, I want a wifi RC rover or an RC spy tank to watch my house.
However: all these so called wifi rovers or wifi spy tanks don't connect to your wifi so you can drive and watch them when you are not at home, but they make their own wifi network, so you can only use them when you sit next to it. Which kinda ruins the point.
I was wondering if any of you guys know where I would go to do something like this or make it myself even.
Basicly I want to drive around in my house when i'm not at home and I want to be able to view and move the camera.
Thanks for the ideas
>>926551
I was kinda thinking I really want an RC Excavator with the reason I can maybe use parts of it. And its fucking fun anyway, it brings back the kid in you. But it could be used to put a camera on the arm and maybe turn the basket into some sort of claw for some extra fun. So lets say I buy a cheap RC shovel. Then I need an IP camera with battery and some way to control this thing on my smartphone over the internet.
How the hell would I go about doing this?
it seems fun as fuck though, instead of playing flappy bird or whatever I go on mars missions inside my own house
I could even do some bonus shit like making a charging dock where I can drive against when the battery is running low. And some mirrors placed under my bed so you can watch yourself drive. Oh and lights, gotta have lights on there.
>>926556
I've been looking at some RC excavators at Gearbest, Dealextreme, Banggood and shit but they are expensive as fuck to send to my country (i live in europe) so I might need to keep looking to find a good one I can use for this project.
I want one with real tracks and something that is a bit sturdy. Many probably use weak as fuck servo's and no real hydraulics, but i kinda wanna do it as cheap as possible so I dont think I have any choice
Basicly this
also rate my paintskills
>>926560
if you can find a really good base that can drive all around your house then this is sweet as fuck
but it won't, the shitty treads will get stuck or it will beach itself somewhere or fall over.
prove me wrong.
build it onto a fire truck like in the film parole officer
>>926562
yeah it needs a good base, but im also still in need to find a way how to connect this to my wifi network and then how to connect my wifi network to my android smartphone and make it all work together
i think that is the hardest part, the actual mechanics shouldnt be a problem im good with mechanics. As long as i get something that isnt chinese-quality tier.
i am completely new with RC though, so i have no idea how this would be done, thats where I need you guys.
But the idea itself must be good
>>926562
btw do you think an excavator would be best for this?
i think so, i have been looking into tanks too but i kinda want a 'claw' functionality on it too. Now I just need to find a decent excavator to start with as base.
Things I need
- RC excavator (as cheap as possible)
- IP camera (as cheap as possible)
- Extra battery? (as cheap as possible)
- A way to connect it all to my PC
- A way to connect my PC to my smartphone
If anyone knows a good place to get good/decent price/quality RC excavators I would love to hear it
forget excavators, dude, what you want is a roomba, it has most of the engineering already done for you: drive-in charger, propulsion, steering, collision detection, stair detection. you can sometimes find used ones for less than $20 or get the developer model, which you can program by yourself. http://www.irobot.com/For-Defense-and-Security/Developers.aspx
>>926551
A quick Google search for 'IP robot' yielded tons of results for this. I'm not saying you shouldn't build one, but you seem to be looking for lego-teir builds, and this isn't one of those.
>>926605
thanks but i think a collision detection etc kinda ruins the point. Im trying to connect it myself and have a claw on it to pick up lightweight shit and generally play around with inside my home. I think an excavator would be the best option for that. The roomba is only the driving base, which is generally just a normal RC car right?
it would be less difficult to mod an excavator that already has an working turret with arm on top.
also im still unsure how to connect this all to my network and my network to my phone
>>926663
those robots arent possible to drive when you are not at home, they create their own wifi network to which you connect through phone. So you can only use it within a 30min range
>>926663
Those aren't what OP wants. They are very misleading. They dont connect to your network but they are their own network so it only works through phone when it's within range.
>>926560
It should be pretty easy i guess
Most ipcams have atleast two relay outputs which are controllable through the webui. You can attach a microcontroller on a movable platform (say RC toy car?) and use one of the relay on the camera to tell the microcontroller where to move (forward on high, backwards on low) and the other to actually move (move in the chosen direction for 5 seconds)
>>926978
it isnt even a solution, they didnt read and posted a wifi rover which is only possible to control within short range
>>927044
Coming from the guy who wants to tape a camera to a toy and control it from an app, with 0 knowledge on how to do so.
Maybe instead of being a dick to those guys posting more plausible starting points, you should fuck off and look into the options they posted. Finding a web controllable motor setup isn't magic, you just haven't found the right keywords.
>>927070
Also,
> http://letsmakerobots.com/node/38338
>>926977
This guy speaks some sense. You could try this OP, but it depends if your ipcam has relays or not
ok thanks i will try to see how but desu i dont rly understand most of what youre saying
i thought it would be easier
im more of a working with hands guy instead of the science aspect of it and reading and shit
>>926551
I'm working on something similar right now. The only difference is that my robot uses wheels instead of tracks and is controlled via Bluetooth.
If you want to stream videos to your client, keep in mind that you're going to need a shitload of bandwidth and also enough RAM for buffering.
I'm using a Nuvoton NUC130 atm which is a pain in the ass to work with because of the 16kb Ram, but my uni instists on using it for some starnge reason.
I'd recommend that you take the easy route and just use a RasPi. Those have network functionality preinstalled, so controlling it over IP shouldn't be too hard. All you'd have to do is connect the RasPi to your network and forward the ports so you can control it from the outside (I'd recommend at least SSH for setup and debugging, a video stream and the steering app).
Of course you need to write some code yourself, but I hope you already know how to do that since you decided to start such an ambitious project.
Also you'll have ot figure out some way to mount the camera on a 2-axis turret. I recommend to use Aluminium sheets (.5mm thickness is perfect) for the turret, since you can easily cut it and bend it into any shape you want. Use 2 small servos for rotation and you're done.
>>928781
no i dont know how to code
why bandwidth? any IP cam can just send the image right? I got 120mbps so it should be enough if I need some special juice
>>928781
thanks btw, a raspberri pi is maybe something i should look into
it seems easier, it has wifi built in and usb, so i wouldnt even need an ip cam right?
correct me if im wrong but would i just need
- the rc car
- raspberri pi
- simple wired usb webcam
and that sit? oh no then i still need a way to control the rc car from the raspberri pi, so maybe i also need an arduino afterall or how would I do this?
>>929124
ok so I think I got it
I need an Raspberry PI and then I need a motor controller interface
I found some youtube videos that recommand this thing: https://ryanteck.uk/add-ons/6-ryanteck-rpi-motor-controller-board-0635648607160.html#/9-soldered_or_kit-pre_soldered
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJXzlCK4vnY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXBlYpxT4tw
I think I have everything I need then, right?
Or are there any motor controller modules for the Pi that allow more than 2 motors? For future-proofing my purchase?
>>929122
I meant that the Microcontroller you're using needs to have enough bandwitdh to get the video stream from the camera and push it out to the network. An Ardino probably wouldn't work very well for that since they are slow as shit and have little RAM.
>>929132
That guy from the second video seems slighty incompetent when it comes to wiring, but it should work.
Keep in mind that you need to add a webcam. You can either get one that can rotate on it's own or you need to build a rotating turret to mount it on.
In case you want to build your own turret, keep in mind that you'll need 2 more motors to control the rotation. I'm working on a turret myself. I'll post some pics when it's done.
>>929473
yes i need 2 more motor controllers but i dont think the raspberry pi supports that. It looks like it has only got room for 1.
So thats why I was wondering are there any motor controlellers that support 4 motors instead of 2?
>>929575
also can I use this thing?
http://www.banggood.com/L9110S-H-Bridge-Stepper-Motor-Dual-DC-Driver-Controller-Module-p-914880.html
it says its for the arduino but the pins seem similar to the raspberry ones, would it be possible to buy 2 of these and plug them next to eachother into the raspberry?
>>929599
oh nvm these are stepper motors
welp, kinda need to find a good cheap dc motor controller for the raspberry that supports at least 4 motors
Yes, make something that runs Robot Operating System (ROS) and use ROS' s teleop packages.
>>929603
ive already decided for the raspberry pi
i would like one anyway cause i might be able to use it as portable PC or as media player for tv or whatever
already ordered a nice case, a wifi dongle and an hdmi plug, now i just need to buy the raspberry itself but i will do that from a local store cause of warrenty etc
now i only need the motor controllers for at least 4dc motors (i might do stepper motors/servos later but not at the moment), anyone can help me with a cheap solution?
>>926605
This. Build one of these: http://www.transistor.io/homebuilt-turtlebot.html
Roomba + computer + kinect + plywood
It is very difficult to make a reliable robot platform. You could mount an arm on top though, just use a roomba for the base.
>>929607
And guess what the raspberry pi can run? ROS! You can use code that works almost right out of the box instead of writing it yourself. If you use the above with the kinect you can have it drive autonomously to points on a map which solves the problem of lag.
For the arm, you can manipulate a 3d model of the robot in 3d model of the environment then have the arm move to where you want it to be. This works even if there is lag!
Here is an example: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3QbuSb3unRc
Now you could probably get away with not using a kinect, but I would recommend using servos or something with position feedback for your manipulator so you can do something like in the above video. Otherwise you're gonna have a bad time moving stuff around
>>929607
>> media player
Word of advice, raspberry pi cannot decode 1080p video in realtime.
>>930016
It is not autonomous though. It is semi-autonomous. You still tell it where to go on a map and you can still control it manually, it just makes things a lot easier.
The arm is still manually controlled, doing what I described it's just a much smarter way to control things. If you want to pick up stuff and move it around, that is what you would do.
Also, you can get shitty servos pretty cheap these days. Like $50 bucks for 10. If you're into buying stuff you can get a robot arm kit with servos from aliexpress and the like
>>926551
OP I don't know about the physical or camera stuff, but for the remote control...
if you can find something that comes with software to run on your PC, even if it doesn't come with a remote control feature, you can set up remote control of your PC...
have an ssh service on your computer, along with remote desktop/vnc/terminal server whatever your preference or what your remote device is capable of using (if this software has a web interface, even just for local computer itself, all the better, because I couldn't help you with finding remote desktop client software to run on a smart phone but you already got a browser, anyway...)
set up your router to forward ssh traffic to your computer with the ssh server (whatever port you put it on). The ssh step is to encrypt your traffic. you could just skip it and port forward your remote desktop or http service instead but be warned that it has a small extra potential to leave your computer vulnerable to attacks (I don't recall offhand what is and isnt encrypted or secure besides http being unencrypted, anyway)
now even if you end up with a solution where the rover is a wifi host (why they do this i'll never know), you can bridge the connection to your router's wifi and go from there
also don't know the name of any ssh apps for mobile devices but i'm sure they're out there
>>930187
I know this doesn't provide all the details but i've at least given you the search terms to look up how to do this stuff. the advantage of this is that you can use your computer from any device with the right basic software that is connected to the internet (your phone, work computer, maybe some public computers)
>>930188
also keep in mind that your IP address will likely change at times (i'm assuming you're on a typical consumer grade always on connection and not on a 56k modem god forbid)
>>926978
So all the space ship threads should be taken seriously then? Or the guy who wanted to build all the parts for a car with minimal tools? If something pre made fits what op wants and making it himself exceeds his skill set or budget then why not post it? So we can have a 400 post thread that has no resolution?
OP wants telepresence for his grow op
>>930187
You're almost there, but you need to brush up on the state of the art.
OP needs a router running OpenWRT.
With this OpenWRT router he will:
- Route to the rover by using the wireless AP radio as a client
- Provide an OpenVPN server for remote access
- Maintain a dynamic DNS using a service such as afraid.org
- (optional) also act as a router for the property
If this router isn't the only router, i.e. there's another router and more PCs that are using it, he'll have to forward the OpenVPN port from the real router.
Having done all this, all he need do is establish a VPN connection on his phone, and then use the rover app as if he were standing in the same room.
>>930224
thank you, you're absolutely right. I've been out of the game for a while, but aren't there some routers that OpenWRT wont run on? or has that changed? I don't know what OP is using for a router anyway. Thought it shouldn't be too expensive to find the right router if that is the case (I recall the linksys routers for this being pretty easy to find at second hand stores)
