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The Crawlspace Tankcam

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the when-you've-got-the-inclination-you-can-find-the-time dept.

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!"

13 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. ThinkGeek by fembots · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:ThinkGeek by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Like the bigger version of these Desktop R/C Mini-Rovers with optional wireless video cam?

      The difference being the tank camera is mounted on the gun barrel and can be moved up and down, giving you a little more field of vision. The rotating turrent is nice as well since you can pan around without having to move the vehicle itself.

      --
      -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
  2. Yay death and tanks by soimless · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also This sould be useful for upskirting and makeing fortunes (9.95 USD) on the interweb

  3. Holy crap, that's my site by Chairboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have good Karma, I moderate fairly. What did I do to deserve this?

    My hosting service just caught fire.

  4. Mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mirror if needed

  5. Look at his shirt by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It looks like he was almost eaten by a grue.

    --
    -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
  6. done way before this guy! by AmigaAvenger · · Score: 4, Interesting
    A friend of mine did this years ago, used the tank for pulling cable in a network room.

    http://blizzard.rwic.und.edu/~nordlie/robotics/mar k6.html

  7. Weapons load by Marran+Gray · · Score: 5, Funny

    Obviously, now that we have recon covered we need to think about adding offensive capabilities. I mean, what good is it to identify all the major structural supports if you have no way to take them out? Robot Wars-esque saw blades are probably unsuited for implementation on the existing hardware base, even if external power could be supplied (viz. those "anemic motors"), so I'm thinking along the lines of a small thermal lance or incendiary package.

    --
    "There are hundreds of game theorists at the gates, sir, and they want to hold an election!"
  8. Re:Almost Slashdotted, Here's the article w/o pics by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 4, Funny
    Kirk: "I'm just lucky that thing had knees"

    "Those were not his knees, captain. Not everyone keep their genitals in the same place"

  9. Re:Let the. by eobanb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone else think for a second that it was a remote control ACTUAL Abrams?

    Now that'd be a hack.

    --

    Take off every sig. For great justice.

  10. Re:Regular Slashdot by shut_up_man · · Score: 4, Funny

    "You are likely to be eaten by a Grue."

  11. Re:Let the. by SEWilco · · Score: 5, Funny
    Anyone else think for a second that it was a remote control ACTUAL Abrams?

    Iraqi /. readers are impressed with the huge size of our houses.

  12. Infrared by null+etc. · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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 have the same camera. The 6 infrared LEDs on that camera are inoperative. They only work on the black & white camera model, which shares the exact same housing. The circuitry required for infrared to augment an RGB display is much more complex than the circuitry required to augment a monochromatic display, and thus couldn't fit within the housing.