RC Robot Toy Tank Controlled via Android-Running Handset

An inventor who calls himself Tamlyn has come up with a remote-controlled toy tank that is driven by an Android-running device and an IOIO board connected to the vehicle.

The developer decided to use the IOIO board due to the fact that it boats a simple mechanism and low cost. In addition, it features an incorporated USB port that is used to connect one of the smartphones to the board. The second handset is used to give commands to the tank.

Because the board can have a practical issue of connecting with a handset running Google's Android, the inventor tested it on Nexus One and HTC Desire and the trials proved to be successful.

The phone that is connected to the board features an app that creates a web server on it that can be connected to any browser. On the laptop the modder then used Firefox browser to open a website where the control buttons appear.

The modder removed all RC circuits from the toy tank together with the turret and afterwards mounted a TB6612FNG motor driver that made it possible to connect the default tank motors to the broad. Everything was then fixed to a breadboard to perform an easy re-configuration.

The final step was installing the software that allowed the robot tank to be controlled via the Internet.

In the future the Tamlyn looks forward to making a few improvements of the tank like a voice protocol and behavior-based robotics API, and giving it a more appealing look.

Check out the video below to see how everything works.

[via Tamlyn]