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The Crawlspace Tankcam
Saint Aardvark writes "Here's a page on the fun you can have with a remote control Abrams tank and a wireless video camera. "I really wanted a way to look for under house leaks and stuff and, in the manner of a responsible home owner, get early warning so I could increase the effectiveness of... Ok, that's a lie. In reality, I wanted an excuse to put a camera on my R/C tank and drive it around scary tunnels, and this just happened to fit my purposes perfectly." Movies included!"
Like the bigger version of these Desktop R/C Mini-Rovers with optional wireless video cam?
:)
Here's the Coral Link since this guy put so many photos on one page, I read its hit counter at 230, we'll see how long before it's dead
Movies Included = Slashdotted Soon
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Putting a camera on my R/C tank
...but it was still uncomfortable. The floor was something like 18" from the 'ceiling' on my crawlspace. I had to be really careful or I'd hit my head, but it wasn't so bad because of the nice soft padding on the ceiling.My shirt, just kidding.
...which spread. Within 5 minutes of leaving the hole, my entire body was itching, especially my exposed skin. As it turns out, the fluffy ceiling in the crawlspace was in fact fiberglass insulation. When I was a kid, my parents repeatedly told me to stay away from insulation because of the itchiness. I assumed this was just a trick to keep me from finding presents in the attic, so I ignored the advice but some how never worked up the energy to go treasure hunting. While I still think it's possible they stored presents up there, the itchiness of my old teddy bear I got for Christmas as a child makes a good deal more sense now.
Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
1. The Problem
I had to crawl around under my house recently to figure out where to run some wires, but it was dang uncomfortable. My foundation isn't a slab, at least not on the top.
It's gravel.
The sharp kind.
So after throwing away my bloody shirt and healing, I put some cardboard down and crawled around some more, and it was better.
After crawling around in this claustrophobic space for a while, I crawled out. Something began to slowly occur to me. It was like an itch, but I couldn't put my finger right on it. After another minute, I realized it was an actual physical itch.
time passes
After a few weeks, I thought back to completing my under house survey. I really wanted a way to look for under house leaks and stuff and, in the manner of a responsible home owner, get early warning so I could increase the effectiveness of... Ok, that's a lie. In reality, I wanted an excuse to put a camera on my R/C tank and drive it around scary tunnels, and this just happened to fit my purposes perfectly.
2. Tanks for the help
I started out with an R/C tank I bought last year. It's got a lot of articulation. The turret rotates, and the barrel goes up and down, so I figured that plus the treads would make it a good platform.
The wireless camera I had around the house was one I had bought for another project last year off the eBay. It seems just about perfect for the job as it is super small, self contained, and seems to have good range.
One thing I noticed during testing was that the camera had poor low-light performance despite the 6 infrared LEDs on the face, so I included a mini Mag-Lite in my plans.
I pondered the best way to mount my booty, then decided to focus on putting the camera on the tank first.
3. Immediate success was not forthcoming
(eg, "stupid damn tank")
First, I tried a clever combination of scotch tape and... more tape. The end result was a pretty skewed camera, "mounted" to the turret in the loosest sense of the word. When I drove the tank, the 'tape snowball' flopped around in all directions like a wet metaphor. I realized that the only way this would work would be with a good supply of Dramamine, so I thoughtfully stepped back and reconsidered. By 'thoughtfully' I of course mean 'fitfully', and by 'stepped back and reconsidered' I mean 'ripped the camera off the tank and immediately gave up on the whole idea'.
4. Slightly less failure
A few hours later, my wife asked me if I needed anything from the store. Eager at the idea of not having to actually do the shopping myself, I answered in the affirmative. She ended up getting me some painters tape, easier to work with then scotch tape, a little more resilient (which is strange, because painters tape is designed to be easier to remove so it doesn't pull up stuff), and a lot more blue. Using this, I attached the mini Mag-Lite to the barrel and taped the camera next to it. Theoretically, this should give me a platform from w
Mirror if needed
From TFA:
;-)
After a minute of trying, I realized I would have to go down myself and unstick it. I climbed down the hole and looked down to see that it was about 10 feet away, apparently jammed up on a rock.
I dropped to my stomach and began to crawl towards it, pushing as much cardboard ahead of me first to minimize my time in the pain zone. I crawled ahead and made it to the tank, then pulled it free of the rock.
Ummm... I appreciate the geekiness and all, but couldn't you have just looked around at this point!
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
Yep, we're having his birthday party tomorrow. At least, that was the plan. Now, the plan is probably more like 'find a new hosting provider' after hostsave kicks me off.
And after you put the fires out?
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
Cake and ice cream!
I thought about doing that, and probably will in a future version for exactly the reasons you mention.
If not a control cable, at least I could do a thin gauge metal cable for the tugging part.
You mean like these guys? ASR