It was a video about a reconnaissance robot called Recon Scout that inspired me to design a clone of it. Recon scout is a rugged, stealthy and mobile reconaissance robot which can be thrown through a window, over a wall, or down the stairs and it lands ready-to-go. You can even drop it from an unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle. Once deployed, you can control its movement at a distance using a hand-held operator control unit.
The Roller Bot
The Recon Scout helps you explore hostile or dangerous environments by providing real-time mission-critical reconnaissance video . My clone is not as rugged as the original Recon Scout and may not withstand extreme conditions, also it is much bigger than the original .The body is built using a PVC pipe and its both ends closed with a PVC cap. Holes are drilled through the cap to mount the motor. The robot is powered using a 12 V, 4.5Ah Lead-Acid battery. The motors are 12V 100 rpm DC geared motors. An additional tail like structure is also provided to enhance stability of the robot while it is moving. The roller robot is also provided with a wireless camera operating in the 2.4GHz ISM band. The camera has a number of Infra Red Leds, which helps much in night vision.The robot is controlled using a custom built RF remote control and the common motor driver H bridge L293D, although any off the shelf RF remote controller can be used.Here are some photos:
The camera, surrounded by IR LEDs
The Power button and the charging jack
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