DPRG mailing list archives: [DPRG] DPRG Spring 2008 Outdoor Robot Challenge 10 May 08: update

Tue Mar 18 20:40:05 CDT 2008

On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 9:56 AM, dpa <dpa at io.isem.smu.edu> wrote:

> ...Is this an Ed Okerson style robot frame that a 200 lb human
>  can ride on?

Oh, not that big! (I haven't seen Ed's - only heard about it).

My brother bought a cell tower back-up battery, 12V and 100AH.  It
weighs a shade over 60 lbs.

We're intending to use it at an amateur radio field day event, but
neither of us wants to drag it around.  My brother also bought a
military surplus portable 35' tower.  Two duffel bags full of aluminum
pipe and a tripod transforms into a really nifty, gigantic, olive-drab
tower, perfect for mounting a high-frequency antenna.  So, Giant
Battery + Portable Tower +  very small HF transceiver rig *should* =
Field Day Fun.

When a friend threw out a Mattel Power Wheels vehicle (motors still
worked), I pounced on it, seeing a use for the pair of IFI motor
controllers that I won at a DPRG contest some time ago.  A motorized
RC pack mule for all our ham radio crap grew in my mind.

The motors now have Harbor Freight pneumatic wheels attached, and an
identical caster.  I've built the back-end of a metal frame that holds
the battery and mounts the caster at an appropriate height.

Now, I have to figure a way to attach the Power Wheels
axle/motor/wheel assembly to the new frame.

If I could, I'd bring the whole thing to RBNO, and I'm sure I'd learn
a way to do it.  Oh well...