The robot is wired up so you can only use one mode at a time being either the tank on control through its normal on switch or having the normal on switch off and having the collision detection circuit on. The circuit I used was one of Mark Tilden's simple sumo robots that uses two relays, two LEDs, micro switch, and a electrolytic capacitor. The circuit has two LEDS that come on when the robot bumps into something. The robot uses skid steering and has two treads.
1 infrared controlled toy tank with controller by New-Ray $24.95+shipping & handeling $5.95.
1 SPDT switch $Free
1 DPDT switch $Free
wire $Free
5 pieces of double sided foam tape $Free
2 red LEDs $Free
1 3300uF electrolytic capacitor $Free
2 DPDT 5vdc coil relays $Free
1 micro switch $Free
6 AA batteries $Free
Total: $30.90
Problems:
I had two problems but I fixed both of them. See the tanks main control circuitry was interfering with the collision detection circuit so I wired the motors going to the circuit thru a SPDT switch so that when using the tanks infrared control circuit it would not ground the whole thing out and when I use the collision detection circuit I can cut the switch on so the motors are connected and the tanks infrared circuit is off. Also there was a problem with the toy tanks gears because they were skipping but I fixed it by adding a spacer I made to keep them togethor.
This is my 12th robot to build that's not in kit
form but from scratch.
Year built: 2005
Tankbot's demensions:
Length: 10.5 inches
Width: 4.5 inches
Height: 3 inches
Weight: N/A
Tankbot's controller demensions:
Length: 4 1/8 inches
Width: 2 3/8 inches
Height: 1 7/8 inches
Weight: N/A