Slashdot Mirror
R/C Vehicle For The Desktop
Slide100 writes "Just found the coolest desktop toy while browsing my latest R/C Aircraft magazine (
It's a 4" long tracked R/C vehicle with plenty of torque and a 200 foot range. Four frquencies are available (racing, anyone?).
You can also get a single board B/W UHF transmitter for remote telepresence!
Check the website for more information"
RC seems like a good hobby, with plenty of room for learning.
Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
Managers everywhere have a new toy... they can drive around on top of cubicle walls and spy on unsuspecting employees...
~ now you know
check out www.solarbotics.com, they've got some pretty cool little desktop type things there (little solar powered robots and the like, i think they've been on slashdot once before)
*rolls his eyes* Weird...
Damn, thought I had the fp, too.
Anonymous Coward: (n.) 1. nerd at school or library. 2. karmawhore in training. 3. embarrased prep.
Woa, wouldn't that be useful to go inside the kernel to see what's going on there? That would be much more cool than GDB.
goto NULL;
can you cluster them with only 4 frequencies? :-)
On a more serious note: the site seems to be slashdotted already. Mirrors anyone?
karma capped
Inspired by NASA Planetary
... Marvelous
Exploration Missions, Plantraco's
Desktop Rover is a Telepresence
Capable R.O.V. (Remote Operated Vehicle) that enables the user to
have a little taste of what it feels
like to actually explore an "Alien Landscape" remotely!
This Marvelous Miniature Tracked Vehicle can be very precisely controlled! Independant Control of the Tank Tracks allows you to spin in place and maneuver in all directions. With Plenty of Torque, the Rover can climb over books and keyboards like a Mechanical Billygoat.
At 4 Inches in Length, The Desktop Rover is ready for play wherever you go!
Its Radio Controlled Fun that can fit in your pocket! And it won't take over your closet space - The Storage Case fits on your Bookshelf! Miniature Radio Control is Fun for Father and Son!
Add our Miniature Wireless Video Camera (The PTV16) to the Desktop Rover and now you have a Remote Operated Telepresence Vehicle that can transmit a view of the world from the Rover's perspective - throughout your home! Place the Rover in the dining room and maneuver precisely by using the broadcasted television picture as your objective navigational reference.
This Miniature Mobile Rover will Appeal to both executive and child. Hey, If you are a child executive, you need our entire product line! Well, back to the point here, The Desktop Rover is a really cool Desk Accessory - Discard that Brass Clock with the Mont Blanc Pens and lay down a Rover .
If you DO bring it to work to play on your desk, we would suggest you purchase an extra set of batteries because you may not get to play with it much. Better yet, Take the Rover and the small 50's style remote with you wherever you go - Its one of the most pleasant ways to spend a moment. Yes, people will think you are crazy for playing with a "Toy" in public, but the feelings of joy that you will experience as you climb over your keyboard and push a coffee mug across the table will outweigh the social rejection and envy that will be glaring at you from all angles.
Independantly Controlled Tracks allow you precision control that only a Tracked Vehicle can deliver!
This Miniature Mobile Mechanical Masterpiece's Maneuvers Makes Most Mom's Mad
Bookmark our site and come back later to see some of the interesting "Modules" that will be available for the Desktop Rover!
It only took 15 seconds to bring that sight to it's knee's.
Slash dotted to hell.
http://www.desktoprovers.com/
With a model rocket I could deliver this payload to some rich person's estate and go looking around. What fun! Could that be illegal?
Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
Heh, when I first read that subject line, I thought that RC had actually came out with an RC car that drives around on your computer's desktop, with a wireless control like a normal RC car. :) Plug a little RF receiver into a serial port, and you're good to go. With a little thought and innovation, it might even be a decent replacement for a wireless mouse (though the little RC car tire skid marks might be a little distracting on a webpage...)
Now THAT would be a great time killer... and would finally force me to erase that cute little sheep.exe program.
Sounds like a really usefull addition to our 2 goldfish, Blub-Niggurath and Azagblob, our toy cat Pookie, our fridge, the MP3 server and those cd's my co-worker cut up so they now function as Ninja stars.
:)
I wonder if we can fit those things with our nerf guns, that'd be cool. Remote nerfwars!
We need more stuff in our office! MUST BUY!
Slow site though
-- Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
Exploration Missions, Plantraco's
Desktop Rover is a Telepresence
Capable R.O.V. (Remote Operated Vehicle) that enables the user to
have a little taste of what it feels
like to actually explore an "Alien Landscape" remotely!
I hope you can turn off the 20 minute delay feature.
+5:offtopic,but anti-American
I saw the word Aircraft in the submission text and thought it was going to be a little 4" R/C plane/helicopter that could be flown around the office for fun and mayhem. Now, that would have been cool. Ah well, the rover is still kinda neat, especially with the camera option.
Say hello to zMac.
Now this sort of simplistic toy would be a pretty cool project to put together from kit form. I'm thinking a big boys set of Lego's type kit. That's what my computer has become to me, another way to have fun while building and constantly changing the design to try and make it better. I have one original Lego design I could still put together in several alternative configurations because I spent SOOO much time refining it, I memorized the design. Anyone have any links on cool kit projects to build little toys like this that are sold specifically as electrical/mechanical learning kits? It's been awhile since last I've played with toys. :(
asking them to fire me.
I'm not important enough yet where I can do whatever, whenever.
blah blah blah, I'm right, and all evidence proving I'm wrong is insufficient and false.
a beowulf cluster of these?
Site down. Found at the Google cache here:w ww.plantraco.com/product_dtr.html+&hl=en
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:TWUhtrUri0E:
God bless Google
For great justice.
Do not read this sig.
than some other options if you want to crash them into the Iraqi desert.
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
Okay, I want one!
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
http://www.necrosys.net/mirrors/desktop-rover.html
It's just the page linked to from the article, nothing more.
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
what is a blub-niggarath (related to shubby?) and if where does one obtain such a fun toy. also yo need the Cthulhu plushy to go with your other evils if blub-niggarath and Azagblob are what i think they are
The subject of this article is misleading. When I see "desktop toy" I think of esheep or something that I can put on my desktop. I thought it was a game I could play on my desktop vs. other people on the net, while I'm taking coding breaks...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Anyone have any specs on the thing? I would like to know:
How fast does it go?
How much noise does this thing make? It's small but is the noise low enough so that it can be used for simple spying.
How big an incline can this thing handle?
Of course the perverts have made their posts. Yes, we all know this little guy has the power to land you in sexual harassment prosecution hell.
There is a use for this guy that you may not have considered.
Cabling. This is the number 1 most dangerous job that most techies will face, what with asbestos insulation and danger of falls etc. Putting a hook and a small light on this guy for cable running purposes will completely eliminate that small bit of danger and give techies more time to have fun doing things like rock-climbing, sky-diving, and bungee-jumping.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Just curious, but just how big of a desk do you have that would allow you to drive a 4" RC vehicle around it? I'd kill for a desk with that much free surface area! Heh..
sure why not cluster them, won't do you much good anyways. what would they do help each other move :)
actually come to think of it that would be an interesting thing, kinda like a remote controled voltron.
LITTLE REMOTE CONTROLLED THINGIES UNITE TO FORM SLIGHTLY BIGGER REMOTE CONTROLLED THINGY
When I was a young-un I made a throwing star out of an old pizza cutter and it was WICKED (and very accurate): I'd embed it into the wall with ease (thankfully not cutting into the wiring...), though of course I then covered this area with posters.
Search Ebay for "Epoch" and "1/43". (Ebay seems to be down now, otherwise I'd link to an auction of one of these.)
The Japanese maker's web site is http://www.rc-mtech.com but it's in Japanese, so I can't read it.
You'll find tiny, roughly 4" long (110mm long, 48mm wide) race cars that are the latest R/C rage in Japan. They're just a little bit larger than a "Hot Wheels" car. They're fully proportional, so they steer smoothly, and they come in many frequencies, so you can have your own little table-top NASCAR circuit going if you want. They look like Asian rally cars. (Toyota Supra, Nissan Skyline, etc.)
The winning bids for these Epoch 1/43 scale race cars on Ebay are usually about $110-$130.
ObSlashdot..ummm the server it's on runs Linux.
D
The first, last, and only tech news site on the net
Manufacturer page: http://www.kyosho.com/cars/kyod37x1.htmlh tml
My preferred supplier: http://www.towerhobbies.com/promos/00so/kyod49sm.
Real mini R/C cars. That little tank thing looks like some low-quality stuff. These things are fairly fast and have a real suspension, but they do cost a shade more than the crap tank and are a whopping 5" (instead of the tank's 4")... They've got 7 frequencies, though.
Reminds me of the 'turtle' we could plug into the BBC's (Acorn's) at school. You could control it using a vector drawing package and it would move around a huge piece of paper drawing things with the option of three colours!
Those were the days... I'm posting this from a ARM based device, so I guess a bit of that old Acorn lives on.
Bookmark our site and come back later to see some of the interesting "Modules" that will be available for the Desktop Rover!
This will not even begin to be cool unless someone makes a laser guided bee cannon module.
Don't run them off Windows, or they'll crash a lot.
Womens' dormitory/lockerroom "surveillance"
Password capture a'la Sneakers
Chasing pets around the house
Making the geek next door jealous
Producing amusing video's to send Bob Sagget
Sorry, part numbers on that supplier page don't seem to work. Go here http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0097p.pgm and search for "mini-z" with "kyosho" as the manufacturer... Lists some hop-ups and the cars themselves.
remote control cars are fun. i used to steal them from wal-mart, but since they installed face recognition software now I just steal them from neiborhood kids. when the batteries die, i throw them down the storm drain and tell the kid where it is. kids are so much fun. rc cars are more fun.
Think of all the subversive uses:
Looking up someone's skirt, corporate
spying, stealing valuable intellectual property.
And on top of that it is popular among those
dangerous "geek" types. Obviously we need
a DMCA ("digital motorized control act") for
these little guys.
The original schweet desktop toys: Mindstorms
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
I was merely playing with my new state of the art toy and wasn't remotely interested in the lady's white-with-pink-flowers-and-lace panties. Honest!
dude, those don't have cameras on them or anything.
There's always been tons of cool R/C crap, the topic thing has a CCD camera on it so you can drive it around and "see" what it sees.
Actually, it looks like someone already thought of this:
, DAY08-06-2001_NAV47-68-86-103_STO62889,00.html
ComputerWorld's Shark Tank 8/8/01:
http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/sharktank/0,1130
Want ot buy one? Have a look at
http://www.nipponhobbies.com/radio/epoch.htm
Unable to read the /.'d article, but I think that these would be cool for running under the raised floor in the computer room.
Put a guide string and a light on it, stuff it under the floor and have it come out at the destination. Tie the string that it pulled for you to the cable and pull the cable in.
Technology is only a vehicle. People are the ones that drive it.
Why bother planting Zombies all over the net when you can just plant a link on Slashdot? q:]
The T90 is a wee bit big for most desktops, but it plays well on the kitchen counter and the like. Dogs and cats don't mind them unless you shoot them... in which case they don't like you to get the tank down off the shelf at all. The little Airsoft pellets do sting, and leave a mark: my wife ended up with a tiny welt (completely accidentally, of course).
The model itself is very well done and it's easy to put together. No painting needed, though. Contrary to what Dan says (at the link above), the tank does work in grass. It'll climb a stack of books, up to about a 60 degree incline. It'll go right over a bunch of bananas, a 2x4, Doc Martens, etc. Works great on tile, kinda good on carpet (turning isn't so great on carpet). The pellets have a decent range. You can can them bounce off your neighbors house across the street for instance. (Nothing works better for keeping the young kids off your lawn, BTW, than a couple pellets headed down their direction.)
Anyway, fun stuff. You can also get red and green 6mm paintballs for your tank as well. I haven't tried them yet. My wife is upset enough without having to see little red and green splotches all over the house. Maybe for Christmas, though...
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
There is a great mirror located Here:l
http://www.necrosys.net/mirrors/desktop-rover.htm
Much faster response time, seems this server won't be slashdotted as quickly as the original.
I used to work installing phone systems and computer cable, and a tech I knew had a (larger) RC Tank that he used for pulling a pull-string through the ceiling across large offices and down long hallways. as long as there was enough space, and the AC ducts weren't too bad, he could get a cable through in a lot less time then throw 15-25 ft, replace tile, move ladder, open tile, recoil cable, throw 15-25 ft, etc, etc.
Some of the other things I've seen used are
Crossbow
Slingshot
dart gun
( it doesn't take a whole lot to pull a 10-20lb test fishing line for a pull string)
Ideal has come out with a cable gun that shoots a suction-cup tipped dart about 50ft, trailing a line (from a reel)behind it for cable installers.
"Theory is when you know everything but nothing works. Practice is when everything works but no one knows why. In our
might as well check out this film, it has some shots of programmers using solaris, kind of strange plot but the 'cameo' shots by the hackers were very cool. Planet Wired: Unix
... hey thats hollywood
lots of shots of Solaris/Linux and AIX with some NT overtones.. a stupid ending but
with a mulching mower, GPS, proximity sensors, a few cams,audio, all over 802.11. then I want to control it using my Playstation via usb-802.11 on my tv set.
then I could mow the yard from my tvset using my force feedback steering wheel.
am I asking too much?
"The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
That's a nice toy -- and a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than the telerobot "Tycho" that some friends (Will Smith, Henry Vanderbilt) put together about a dozen years ago. (That was based on the "Clodbuster" R/C car, a Sony WatchCam, transmitter, etc.)
Teleoperating something on the Moon is going to have about a 3-second delay between the time you send the command and the time you see the result. Gets worse the further you go (at least 20 minutes for Mars, more depending on relative positions in the orbit.)
The Tycho machine (wish there was a web page for it, maybe I'll grab some stills from the video we made) incorporated the time-lag in software: control input went to the computer, three seconds later it sent the commands to the vehicle. We watched the video feedback live in the living room while the vehicle roamed around the parking lot. (Had remote pan/tilt on the camera and a digital voltmeter in the camera's view to give "telemetry" on the battery. It really needed an artifical horizon, otherwise the only clue that you were sideways on a hill (and about to roll) was that the trees were tilted...)
Even in real-time driving one of these things takes a bit of getting used to. (But it's fun!) With a three-second delay it takes a lot of getting used to...
-- Alastair
Compared to the "full size" Raptor helicopter I fly, with its 48" rotor diameter, the Piccolo is tiny. The smaller size and lighter weight of the Piccolo's rotors also means that they store less energy when spinning, so it's possible to crash a Piccolo without completely destroying the rotors every time (my Raptor's heavier rotors turn into toothpicks when it crashes...)
However, don't buy a model heli and expect to be able to fly it straight off, if you don't already know how - it's not as easy as it looks. One of the simulator software packages like RealFlight Deluxe will help you learn to fly and save lots of money in parts (ask me how I know).
The tank and camera would make a cool office toy but I'd rather not have to bring in a uhf capable tv into work as well if a $40 tuner card will do.
Do most video tuner cards have built in support for UHF or would you have to use some kind of hokey uhf to cable converter box?
jerking off while browsing at -1... mmm mmm mmm...
I'd feel a lot safer flying one of those RC blimps indoors. I've seen them before but don't have a link.
You are a fucking idiot. No wait, you are a fucking moron. Or maybe a fucking sub-moronic insufferable retard.
A little larger than "Hot Wheels?"
Dude, hot wheels were about 1.25 inches long.
http://www.plantraco.com/product_tri.html
I have been trying to post articles on Slashdot for a month now, but they are insistant on publishing other articles. I just posted an article on Quantum Computing. I think you will all enjoy it quite a bit. For those of you who do not know what Quantum computing is, the article explains it quite well. Here is the link . You can post comments on the article below it. Please tell me what you think.
http://www.desktoprovers.com/ thing? How cool, something similar is over $25 at Radio Shack.
AC's cheerfully ignored
Didn't I see this sort of thing in For Your Eyes Only? The traditional "James Bond is interrupted during post-climax (of the movie, sickos) nookie" scene involving a little remote-control robot with a camera?
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
The Piccolo is great, I must have crashed mine 50 times, and it just gets glued back together.
:)
It can clear all the papers out of cubical in like 20 seconds with the down wash from the rotors, thats why I stopped flying it around the office
I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
Last I checked, 4" wasn't quite small enough to easily roam a desktop. You can only go a short distance in each direction, and it'd be to easy to get stuck. Now, 4" would make a great toy for driving around the office, but on the floor, no the desk.
Multiplex makes a four engine R/C plane, with bomb bays, capable of carrying around 1 lb payload.
You could fit one of those cameras to the plane itself, use a high gain antenna, fly out somewhere, land and roll out your rover from the bomb bay.
Woah, getting carried away here.
Maybe you'd also like:
/.ted)
/. "editors" aren't in the habit of posting "news" like this over and over and over and over again, and thank god they can spot shills in an instant, there'd be REAL POTENTIAL FOR ABUSES, WOULDN'T THERE!
The Pro-Trim paint roller! Paint your desktop in infinate high-tech colors, including Red, which is the actual color of Mars!
The Red Devil Smokehouse Grill! Cook burgers on your desktop with real artificial flavor! Artificial, like the Moon Landing!
Epil Stop & Spray! Keep hair from growing on your desktop! Like it doesn't grow on the surface of Mars!
Donut Smart! Make mini donuts on your desktop! They look like actual spaceships that may have visited Mars from another galaxy! Just add water! Mmm...donuts...
Big Mouth Billy Bass! Put a singing fish on your desktop, inspired by the fish that might have existed on Mars at one point!
These and other "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters" available from:
www.AsSeenOnTV.com
(or if that gets
www.RonCo.com
Order in the next 15 minutes and get a FREE slashdot plug! Now, the publicity tool utilized by shills everywhere to promote lame, uninteresting products can be yours at no cost!
Order now and we'll also include an excuse for why the latest version of Slash broke the "search" functionality!
Wow, thank god
AC's cheerfully ignored
If anybody has problems with the original site, I've temporarily posted information about the product at http://www.conceptlab.com/desktoprover/
Enjoy!
Lego will sell you two remote control tracked vehicles for $89. They call them Manas and are part of their Bionicle series. But nevermind that -- you get two IR remote control vehicles with three channels. Plus you can control them from the Mindstorms RCX.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Hmmm...maybe www.thinkgeek.com just found a new product to carry. Anyone from there reading this thread?
What I really want to see is one of these r/c cars that can be controlled from my Gameboy Advance while I watch the camera output on the GBA's screen. I'd pay big bucks for that.
Wow, a radio control car with a camera on it that you can use to spy on people or just make yourself look really geeky. Been there, done that, got tired of it 5 years ago... Sure my version used an old Color QuickCam, so it was tethered 15' from a laptop, but it still got interesting reactions in the dorm. These days, you could probably make a much better one with a wireless color CCD camera and a cheap RC car from Radio Shack. Just rip the body cover off, mount the camera, and customize as desired for a functional yet geeky toy to amaze, impress, and scare everyone you know.
For instance, this could open up a whole new category in Battlebots! It would give new meaning to "feather"-weight.
Kurdt
I'm not anti-social. Just pro-technology.
http://www.hobbyjapan2000.com/choro-q/Home.htm
Coming to Japan in September will be RC versions of the popular Choro-Q cars. These are the old US "Penny Racers," smaller than matchbox cars. Maybe an inch and a half long. I saw them on TV when I was in Tokyo a couple months ago, but they aren't on sale until next month. These things will be the coolest toy around (for big kids).
They couldn't even keep their server alive. :)
/. effect.
Score one more for the
// Hunter, Angler, Photographer, Dad. (In no particular order.)
Ooh, you did it five years ago, you're so cool. Dumbass.
This little toy has been around for like, forever. "While reading the newest edition of your R/C Airplane magazine?" Psych. That thing has been appearing in R/C mags for a couple years now. Dumbass.
Bog. Any quality TV is UHF capable. It's not like it's something special or high-tech or anything. Dumbass.
Thank You everyone for your interest in our Desktop Rover miniature tracked vehicle! I only wish our website was ready for this traffic! We have been quite overloaded today! In addition, I would like to inform everyone that we at plantraco have added some very interesting features to the Desktop Rover that I think you will want to know about! 1. INFRARED LASER TAG SYSTEM! 2. COMPUTER INTERFACE TO TRANSMITTER BOX - AND ACCOMPANYING JAVA SOFTWARE (Which will run on any computer that has a Java 1.2 (Java 2) Virtual Machine. This includes Win 95-2000 and, yes, Mac OS X ! We have not tested on Linux, but if you have JVM and a serial port, you should be in business! 3. Various plastic modifications - prevent rubber track derailment and other mundane bug fixes We want happy customers! I want to post a PDF of our Desktop Rover Brochure - which was just completed today!
desktoprover_brochure.pdf
http://www.plantraco.com 306-955-1836 orderline 306-931-0055 Fax
I agree with the other AC. Do you even know what R/C means? Also, the word "Desktop" has more meanings than just that blue-green screen you see behind your pretty little Windows icons. Dumbass.
Hello! Bud here, from Plantraco! ummm - Cluster them eh? You mean tie 2 or more together? Yes, this cna be done - maybe if you have some micro robotics needs you could use 2 rovers. Here is a link to the PDF of our Desktop Rover Brochure - which was just completed today! It isn't even on our website yet
desktoprover_brochure.pdf
http://www.plantraco.com 306-955-1836 orderline 306-931-0055 Fax
Nippon Hobbies is located in California and imports a lot of these cool Japanese toys, including the Epoch cars. My quick glance over the stuff put 'em at $110 each.
Mod parent up please. +5 Insightful.
I got me a nice red truck last year. ... much like how a tank turns. Cool cos i can do a 360 degree tursn on the spot.
.... i'm too lazy to recharge the batteries ... besides ... car games on the pc are more exciting. (especialy since i don't have a dog to chase about.)
It's cool and i paid ZAR400 that's about $50. so, it's low end but it's really cool.
it turns by spinnig the wheels in opposte directions
However, because it's low end here, i can't change the frequency and found that i can't race my buddies (theirs too are low end ones) as there's interference and the cars get confused.
I still like mine alot. However, i don't think i usod mine in the last 3 months or so