Radio Shack Hummer 2 and Robotics??
Greetings,
I just picked up two of these, including 2 full sets of Mattracks, and 2 rechargable batteries for the price of ONE of the Hummers. Of course, the second one does not work so is just for parts. I have disassembled most of the non working Hummer now, and have isolated the front and rear drive sections except for remobing the front bumper. I think the motor is still good but the electronics blew smoke when I tried to start it up. Well, at least I hope it was the electronics and not the motor because I don't know if I can get to the motor to remove it without breaking anything.
Anyways, assuming the motor is good, is it possible to use the drive sections with the common microcontrollers for a robot? The drive sections have nice suspension.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network
http://www.thedynaplex.org
I just picked up two of these, including 2 full sets of Mattracks, and 2 rechargable batteries for the price of ONE of the Hummers. Of course, the second one does not work so is just for parts. I have disassembled most of the non working Hummer now, and have isolated the front and rear drive sections except for remobing the front bumper. I think the motor is still good but the electronics blew smoke when I tried to start it up. Well, at least I hope it was the electronics and not the motor because I don't know if I can get to the motor to remove it without breaking anything.
Anyways, assuming the motor is good, is it possible to use the drive sections with the common microcontrollers for a robot? The drive sections have nice suspension.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network
http://www.thedynaplex.org
Comments
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- Stephen
I know about that, but it is not what I want to do. I'd like to take advantage of the suspension with the wheels or mattracks.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network
http://www.thedynaplex.org
However, if you want to do it, you simply need to get a motor controller for the motor. You can try the HB-25, although it is probably overkill. You may want to look into hobby level ESC's as they start around $30 and should be sufficient for your application. Whatever you use, it just needs to be able to convert the PWM signal from your microcontroller into motor control capabilities (which a microcontroller cant do by itself).
For steering, you should probably replace the existing electronics with a real servo motor for proportional steering.
I want to keep the car style features though, so this is alright for what I am considering trying to do at some point. It's just something to fiddle with when I can not do anything on either of the Octapods I will be working on starting this coming week. I have already ordered the parts to build phase one of my development Octapod and hope to start actual construction this week (if I get all the aprts in, coming from three different companies).
I don''t know what kind of motor is driving these Hummers - unipolar or bipolar, brushless or what. I just know it has two leads coming off it which are blue and yellow. That's all I know at this point..
I will do this if I can get to the existing servo. I have not fully disassembled the front and rear wheel platforms on the non working Hummer yet. I want to make sure I understand to some degree how it is setup and how it works befiore I rip into itb ecause I don't know if I will be able to reconstruct it afterwards. This second Hummer is just for parts so I guess it won't matter as long as I keep all the pieces.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network
http://www.thedynaplex.org
>I will do this if I can get to the existing servo. I have not fully disassembled the front and rear wheel platforms on the non working Hummer yet. I want to make sure I understand to some degree how it is setup and how it works befiore I rip into itb ecause I don't know if I will be able to reconstruct it afterwards. This second Hummer is just for parts so I guess it won't matter as long as I keep all the pieces.
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Respectfully,
Jay K. Jeffries
Were you able to get th front bumper off? It seems to be 'welded' to the gearbox assembly. I have disassembled the from suspension and wheel assembly, but could not get the gearbox halves separated and it broke. I am sure glad this one is just for parts. I may have a similar problem with the rear suspension and wheels. I think there may be pins holding things together even after all the screws have been removed.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network
http://www.thedynaplex.org
Just looked through the September issue of Popular Science and note that one of these Hummers with traxs has been modified as a robotic grass cutter.
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Respectfully,
Jay K. Jeffries
Has anyone succesfully realigned the drive shaft? I have yet to get this to work, and I'm a friggin ME.
Has anyone replaced the servo? I'm curious as to the linkage you've used. I didnt feel like making one, so I just took an IC out of a futaba servo and wired it to the motor/pot in the RS one- so that I could run the servo off my bs2.
All in all I think it's a great platform for outdoor roving. I've got tons of replacement/upgrade parts for it, I just havent had time to put it all together again.
I've got a bunch of li-ion cells that I'll be using for more Ah's with less weight(didnt want to swap out the shock springs- so I'm trying to keep the weight near stock), an ifi 60A esc, a couple 1 Watt leds, and of course my BS2. (Soon to come, a Basic X..the bs2 will become my servo controller). Accelerometer, current sensor, temp sensor, hall effect for rpm and futaba radio(c'mon, its fun to bash) will also have their place.
I'm pretty sure the motor is a standard 27T 540. It might be bigger (like a 600), but I havent taken the gearbox apart.
I noticed RS listed this as in-store only. I might have to pick up another before they're all gone.
I-Scott
I just took as much of the rear drive apart as I could. It looks like there is a cross member at the top that is keeping the two halves from coming apart. This cross member may come off, but I hesitate to force it and break something like I did on the front drive.
I could not get to the servo on my broken Hummer. It looked to me like there was a seal keeping the halves of the front drive together and ended up accidently breaking it. I have not been able to get the motor out or the gear box apart yet.
I have enjoyed running my working Hummer around the property of the apartment complex where I live. We have some nice rolling grounds my Hummer likes.
How did you get to the front servo without breaking something? I doubt I will really try to hack my working Hummer. I'll wait until I can get an E-Maxx which is truely hackable.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network - Home of The Octabot Project
http://www.thedynaplex.org
When I speak of upgrading, I dont mean making it perform like an E-maxx...I mean mostly robotics kind of stuff. Upgrading something that doesnt have spare parts is kind of pointless- you'll just break it faster. When I want performance upgrades I'll get hobby grade r/c car.
The Hummer I disassembled was non-working anyway and I got it free for the parts. So, it was OK to experiment with it. I took out every screw I could find and still I could not get the rest of it apart without breking.
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I can handle complexity.. It's the SIMPLE things that confound me.
The Dynaplex Network - Home of The Octabot Project
http://www.thedynaplex.org