ROVER 5 - Robot Chassis

I recently purchased a ROVER 5 Robot chassis.

Considering that this is meant for 'Hobbyist's' and has a very reasonable £49.99 price tag in the UK. It is still an impressive chassis, with the useful feature of adjustable height to give optimal ground clearance. The one above has 2 motors and 2 quadrature encoders. Option include replacing tracks with 4 x wheels and a further 2 motors and encoders making it a 4WD. The chassis now also comes in Military Grey.

I am writing a review of the chassis, and have included easy to follow instructions to adjust height.

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DAB over 13 years ago

Hi David,

I look forward to your reviews.
I have been buying up old RC vehicles at garage sales for about 1 USD apiece, so I am interested to see what the kit provides to make it worth that much.
So far, I usually get a good powerful DC motor complete with an H bridge, a servo motor, and an RF reciever from each car, plus a nice four wheeled chassis.
I am still waiting for my elbow to heal before I start tackling some robot experiments.

Meanwhile, I await to see what you find.

Thanks,
DAB
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robotonics over 13 years ago in reply to DAB

Hi DAB

There will be plenty of pro's and con's...designing a motor controller for the base at the moment, and determined to ignore all other designs, until I have gone through the design process properly...this where I have most fun so please be patient with me as I can tend to take a while!

I am also impatient to get it running around...but I will resist the urge to rush
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robotonics over 13 years ago

I am going to design a motor controller for the ROVER 5 chassis using a 17511A 6.8V H-Bridge Motor driver IC and a MMA7660FC 3 axis orientation/motion detecton sensor...all from Freescale.

The MMA7660FC will be used for bump/level detection...hopefully!
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DAB over 13 years ago in reply to robotonics

Hi David,

Using the motion detector for bump detection is an interesting choice, especially if you plan to use it at high speed or over rough terrain.
I would be interested in seeing how well it works and at what level you need to filter the data to make it work.

Don't worry about taking your time. Since my injury, I have learned to take life at a pace dictated by my body and not by my desires.

So take your time,

Good luck,
DAB
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robotonics over 13 years ago

I have decided that there is no way I am going to be able to print the pcb layout for the motor controller, the QFN-24 and DFN-10 parts are too small for my printer to cope with.

So I will have to have them made for me....
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Nate1616 over 13 years ago

Very cool chasis. looks very similar to a lego nxt chasis. Let us know how you like it. what kind of printer do you use to print your boards?
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robotonics over 13 years ago in reply to Nate1616

I use a Canon MP270 inkjet with HP inkjet transparencies, not very professional,but adequate for prototyping up till now.
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Nate1616 over 13 years ago in reply to robotonics

cool thanks for letting me know David
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Former Member over 13 years ago in reply to Nate1616

Hi,
David i have seen your "ROVER 5" nice design but i think it should have better motor for great performance which type of motor your using?

thanx in advance
regards,
meet
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