74. 6wd Ontos II

This will be a follow-up from my last robot, being that this will be the upgrade for my new robot called the Ontos II. It features similar functions such as aiming the laser pointer and controlling the arm, but it also has a much better chassis. This new chassis is not only durable, but its size means it can carry more electronics inside. The motors were much more powerful than before, allowing for greater speed to move the robot around.

<Ontos II>

This robot utilizes the Actobotics Mantis chassis kit, which originally has 6 motors (3 on each side), coupled with suspensions so that the robot can roam through rough terrain without bouncing all the way. Speaking of the terrain, the kit also comes with tires w/ wheels, which allows the rover to get through even the toughest roads with ease.

<Chassis>

Before I assembled the robot, I thought I would increase the width of the chassis to add the electronics, which is now done. With the expanded chassis finally assembled and the 6 motors installed, I wired up the ESCs to the motors. Each ESCs will run 3 motors in parallel, which can be done if the ESCs can handle at least 30A or more.

Once I got the motor wiring done, I tested out the robot by wiring up the battery to the ESCs and the 3 wires from the ESCs to the receiver. As I operate with the receiver, the robot moves very fast, which tells me that it was a massive improvement over the last robot. This is when I installed the aluminum panels on the robot chassis so that it makes mounting other structures very easy.

<Installing Arm>

Once it's installed, I decided to recycle the parts from the last robot to this robot-staring with the robot arm. I make sure that the robot arm was assembled properly, and so the joints can move. Once the arm was assembled, I installed it to the front of the robot so that the arm can grab items more easily.

To create the laser turret, I created some kind of tower using the same recycled parts from the last robot. There, I make sure it's tall enough so that the arm will not interfere with the laser badly, as well as make sure the laser pointer has room to shoot it all around. With some final checks on the Laser turret, it was complete.

At this point, I will need to inspect it so that the robot looks right to my taste. If not, I will need to reposition some parts until it's just right.

<Needs Wiring>

After the inspection, all that is left to do was to wire everything up. The receiver will be the brains of the functions, which as mentioned, controls the arm/laser turret, and the motor drive. Unlike the previous robot, this robot will utilize better lipo batteries, which are powerful enough to drive the main motors and servos easily. As the servos are connected to the right spots of the receiver channels, I would need to program the receiver unit so that the controls go to the right channels. In the end, When the functions are working properly, it's time to work on the FPV side.

For better results, if you have a 12-volt transmitter, use another lipo battery that is rated for 11.1 volts. Make sure the FPV transmitter has the antenna installed before you power it on, and check to see if the power connections of the receiver/camera are correct, the video connection is also correct.

<Editting the Chassis>

 

We are almost complete, but seeing how the Chassis was a bit too wide, I will need to disassemble the structural parts but not completely disassemble them, and then cut the with down by half so that it looks compact. Once the final modifications were made, I reassembled everything, checked the wiring, and test it out (With the FPV camera enabled).

At this point, the robot is complete, and it is ready to use. For this purpose, this robot will be like an RC rover, with its ability to grab certain objects and a nice FPV view!