Build Log: Robotising a RC tank (first attempt)

[Fivetide]

I’ve always wanted to covert a Model Tank into a house guard or a garden rover, but never actually got around to starting one. There are certain things I want from it. Good range, lightweight and tracked, ultimately to have the ability to climb stairs. I see it as a little home sentinel, that can detect movement, sense smoke etc , that I can control from a web page or an android phone. It might sound silly but as a contractor I often spend a lot of time working away from home, although I have good neighbours who watch out for each other, they wouldn’t be able to sense a fire immediately and warm me, or want to tackle a burglar. That’s what I’m aiming for in the long term with a bespoke built robot, the tank is my R&D phase and if the Robot never appears then I have RC FPV BB tank I can play with in the garden.
Anyway I bought a Heng Long Walker Bulldog



*Not my tank but for reference.

There’s nothing fancy about it , no smoke or sound, and after a few hours playing around shooting various things (badly) it got a tad boring lol

So now it looks like this:



The idea is of what to create... is evolving as I go along. I first thought of using a wireless camera via my Wi-Fi network. This is fine but is very very limited. First of all the range would be poor unless I added repeaters or boosted the signal somehow. Anyway I decided to go for first person view equipment. Lots of range , lightweight for RC planes and lots of things on the forums to help me decide the correct equipment for my project.

The ultimate idea will be to use my CNC / Casting equipment to build a really robust rover , so this is my R&D phase plus I can have some fun.
So for the camera setup so far I have:
RX / TX


1.2GHz 800mW 8 Channel Digital Wireless AV transmitter & receiver


Camera


WDR700 OSD Color Camera 550 Lines SONY Super HAD II




Pan and Tilt


260 Degree Pan & Tilt Camera Mount




However as I said before this is evolving , mainly due to the fact I underestimated the space I have for the equipment.. next post will be control equipment.