IR Battle Tanks


To add an element of strategy, I used the repair robots to enable/disable the tower. Previously the repair pulse only fixed vehicles, but now the tower will respond to a repair pulse by stopping its scan and firing.

Another possible future option would be for a repair robot to repair a disabled enemy unit and "claim" it for the friendly side.

Note: I hacked up this rumble robot pretty bad. The problem ended up being old AA batteries. It needed fresh ones. The way their motors are geared, they don't behave well with marginal batteries.
I ended up adding a TIP120 (NPN transistor) to the arm movement because I couldn't find the pin that controlled them. If anyone knows where this pin is located, please send me a .jpg...thanks.

Most people place their rumble robot controller in the head, but this requires that the arm motors be removed. I kind of liked the arm motion, so I had to place my controller on the outside of the robot...Not very pretty, but the arm motion is cute for simulating the repairing of the vehicle.

I think landmines could be made cheaply using: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Force-Sensitive-Resistor-FSR/step5/Notes/ force sensors made from conductive foam + atmega168

Update for Huan Qi Tanks. They now support 4 channels

Hi Paul

Do you find multiple ultrasonic sensors from the towers etc interfere with each other much? Or how do you avoid that?

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Ultrasonic sensors have a range of about 3 feet. I suppose that there is a potential for the transmission of one to be received as an echo by another, but I'm not sure if internal hardware may discount it (as the value would be higher than a normal echo). Its a fair question and honestly I haven't created enough sensors to be able to test for this.

Which brings up another point that I am just starting to grasp. An IR battlefield is composed of mobile units and static models and static interactive units. I have been focused on the mobile units, but truly the larger effort is creating the Battlefield complete with models of cities, farmlands, terrain and static units. To create a quality battlefield is at least as time/money consuming as creating a quality G-Scale train layout. This hasn't necessarily discouraged me from continuing but it has given me a better grasp of what I want to create.

, but I'm not sure if internal hardware may discount it (as the value would be higher than a normal echo)

I think you may be overestimating the sophistication of U/S sensors.
I've seen them fooled by the U/S components of the sound of keys being jangled.

I hacked the star wars "Hellfire" tank. Here is the board pins identified for left/right forward/reverse and fire:

Here is some more info:
http://atmega.site40.net/default.php?bookmark=#StarWarsTank

I will post a video shortly

Those are really cool! Do you have any pictures of the mechanical workings, motors, tracks etc?

Any particular model that you would like to see gears/motors? I have a bunch of Heng Long 1/16, no Tamiyas. The GI Joe tanks I've actually had trouble with the gears and need some help to refurbish them.

You know what would be cool?...Take a wifi camera that has pan/tilt, and hack the pan/tilt to control the movement of the tank. I have a wanscam that I am trying to get to work...Anybody read chinese?

Paul

Hi, Paulware!

Nice work!!! I loved your tanks!!! XD

I have only one Huan Qi Tank, model 516-10 and green color and 40MHz, I could not find the yellow one yet and I'm working on a arduino bot to fight with green.

I made arduino tank using chassis from another tank, it is controlled by bluetooth and I added an IR emitter and receiver. I found on your library the code for barrel shot (huanQiPulses[] = {12500, 600, 2150, 600, 700, 1950, 600, 8500}:wink: and now my arduino tank can fire against green tank with barrel XD. Thank you for it.

Now I want one little favor from you ^^

Can you scan machine gun pulses? Please?

Oh.. and sorry for my bad english, i'm brazilian and my portuguese is bad, imagine other languages lol

I am alert here to see your upcoming projects!!! :wink:

Happy development!

Machine gun is very similar. I'm glad you liked it. I'll have to check my library, or do quick check. I have a library for hacking an ir pulse. That may be useful as well. Can you point me to how you did the Bluetooth control. I have a Bluetooth shield but I'm not sure if you need a master or a slave.
Thanks
Paul

Hi, Paulware!!

I have used GitHub - Arduino-IRremote/Arduino-IRremote: Infrared remote library for Arduino: send and receive infrared signals with multiple protocols and using dump sample I got pulses codes from my green tank (arduino can receive shots now).

My problema was know the pulses that green tank recognizes as barrel and machine-gun (from the yellow tank, that I not have). Thanks to you I have the barrel and I will be very happy if you can hack (dump) machine-gun pulses from your 27MHz yellow tank.

I'm not using an arduino bluetooth shield, I'm using a module, this one Recommendations For You - DealeXtreme.

I use this module to PC connection as a simple serial connection, to control the tank using keyboard or my ps3 controller connected to PC. I'm on work now, but I use codes similar to this: http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-Control-arduino-by-bluetooth-from-PC-pock/?ALLSTEPS

I'm following the most easy way :wink:

Hey guys,
Sorry I haven't replied for awhile. I can't find my old version of code that had the machine gun pulse so I will have to resurrect my little lab to sample the pulse.
I just saw something today that explained why I was getting (relatively) crappy range on my IR firing. I had the IR LED directly connected to the DIY arduino so that it was limited to Arduino power (20 mA). I should've using a transistor and ground/power to amplify the pulse like this example: http://www.instructables.com/id/Duino-Tagger/step4/Transmitter/

Also I saw this cool flamethrower pumpkin http://www.instructables.com/id/Flamethrowing-Jack-O-Lantern/and I think it would make an awesome addition to the battlefield. But instead of a pumpkin we will put it inside a plastic building!

What do you think?

Paulware:
But instead of a pumpkin we will put it inside a plastic building! What do you think?

Oh my. I think your insurance premium just went up.

Flame affect mockup of building or vehicle should probably be placed outside, surrounded by non-flammable rocks. Even better: Make a fenced off arena which has these kind of affects and don't let the patrons inside the arena. Sounds like a great kickstarter idea. Kids would love it. What boy doesn't like fire. yeah he he yea yea burn

Hi buddy!

Do not worry! My job stole all my time in last months and I could not play with my arduino. I hope I return to the scene in a few weeks.

I tried to find in my country the Yellow tank, but is hard to get here (for a just price). I will purchase from ebay/China probably.

About IR Transmitter, 20mA is really low (I was doing the same thing as you ^^) But 300mA sounds so much (for short intervals between pulses).

Fire is nice!!! But strykeroz is right... lol

I just saw this chasis. I've been waiting for a cheap base I think this could be used for a basic frame $12. Radio Control Planes, Drones, Cars, FPV, Quadcopters and more - Hobbyking what do you think?

I just saw this chasis. I've been waiting for a cheap base I think this could be used for a basic frame $12.

Leave your browser open on that page for a couple of minutes, and they'll offer you a discount :slight_smile:

Sounds nice and cheap... I need to see how much will be the shipment to Brazil :~

The robotic things are expensive here =(

That looks very cheap compared to other platforms. Looking forward to your review, then might pony up for a couple.