Dude Digs Out Basement With Rc Toys

[lawcat]

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/02/canadian-digs-out-basement-using-only.html

 

 

Edited February 17, 2012 by lawcat

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

That is too cool! I'm EXTREMELY envious...always liked the idea of tending to my garden, and beds in a similar manor...but sadly unless you are really fortunate to have the money, skills, and tools to build them...[sigh]...oh well.

[CraigD]

Those are some wonderfully realistic RC models!

 

But you’d have to really, really enjoy playing with them to keep excavating a mini dirt quarry on and off for 6 years. I know that after a few weeks, it’d begin to feel to me like the sort of boring, repetitive job I spent much of my youth figuring out how not to get stuck doing.

 

Now, if you could automate some little diggers and haulers so they didn’t need a human operator, I’d really love ‘em, and they’d be more than toys, something actually useful to turn lose and spare you doing one of those jobs I so dislike, yet every few years, seem to find myself doing, despite a lifetime spent seeking to avoid ‘em. I’ve a bad looking, 60 year old stairwell wall under a porch (and thus inaccessible to an ordinary backhoe) that need digging out around to at least reparge, more likely tear down and rebuild where I’d really love to leave the dirty work to robots. :)

 

I’ve had such pipe dreams may times before, though, and they never seem to get further than that. I’m pretty sure the next year or two will see me picking, shoveling, and bucket hauling like a preindustrial miner yet again. :(

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

I wonder how he powers them, It would be one heck of a task using ordinary battery packs...lot's of pack swaps and recharging!

Now, if you could automate some little diggers and haulers so they didn’t need a human operator, I’d really love ‘em, and they’d be more than toys, something actually useful to turn lose and spare you doing one of those jobs I so dislike,

I'm sure a wiz like Alex could come up with just the thing, requiring minimal intervention and supervision. With a few cams, and the right hard and software it could be done.

 

Personally I think I'd copy the big boys and set the excavators up to run on grid power and the trucks as hybrid. Battery then fuel while recharging then back to battery. With a big enough pack and fuel tank could prolly run all day, Then throw em on the grid overnight to charge, top off the tank in the morning and off they go again.

[CraigD]

I wonder how he powers them, It would be one heck of a task using ordinary battery packs...lot's of pack swaps and recharging!

From the look and sound of the videos, it looks like they use ordinary battery packs to me, with lots of swapping and recharging. There’s a lot of manual work involved in running the whole miniature RC model works – the various wood ramps, conveyer belts, etc. all appear to have been handmade and placed.

 

Personally I think I'd copy the big boys and set the excavators up to run on grid power and the trucks as hybrid. Battery then fuel while recharging then back to battery. With a big enough pack and fuel tank could prolly run all day, Then throw em on the grid overnight to charge, top off the tank in the morning and off they go again.

I’d run electric to everything, and run it all off household power, reduced down to 18 V or so. If you can make the little bots smart enough to dig and carry, making them smart enough to manage their own cords seems like not much more work.

 

The main trick with little robots is keeping track of their position. GPS receivers are small enough, but not nearly accurate enough, and not much good in obstructions, the sorts of places little robots are more attractive than big manned machines.

 

Some folk have done amazing things with position tracking using cameras against uncluttered, high-contrast backgrounds. Check these out, if you haven't already:

 

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-01/video-grasp-labs-new-swarming-nano-quadcopters-do-delicate-dance

 

http://ralphewig.tumblr.com/post/6340137327/a-tennis-match-between-quadrocopters-amazing