We hope [Kabir’s] driving skills are top-notch because the camera stuck to the front of this toy is a high-ticket item. It’s ironic, since the donor toy for this hacked RC car only cost about five bucks. It had been gathering dust in the dark reaches of his bedroom until he sat down and gave it a proper upgrade.
He started the project by getting rid of the stock battery and moving to a pair of Lithium Polymer cells. They give the vehicle more power and more than twice the running time between charges. A couple of springs were added to the suspension system for a smoother ride. Turning had been a problem since the original design offered no control over how far the wheels turn. You can just make out the body of the servo motor he rolled into the system to allow for more precise turning.
The most recent addition is the HackHD camera on the front of the vehicle. It records to an SD card rather than streaming the video in real-time. Check out the clip after the break to see the interesting perspective achieved by filming so low to the ground. The one thing we would add is a cage around that board which retails at around $165.
Anyone else reminded of Katamari Damacy?
$5 car with a $165 camera, don’t drive it too fast!
Step 1: Straighten up camera
Step 2: Put on some clothes
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit
The camera is pricey. You can get a small HD camera with reasonable quality video that records to an SD card for $30-40 on sites like dx.com.
no you cant, keycam cameras are 720p, with only 3 models being real h.264 720p :)
decent 1080p cameras are about that price
LIQUID IMAGE EGO
Xdreme HD
all in the ~$150 range
They’re still vastly more suitable to the task than a $150+ development board. This is like turning your old android phone into a clapper circuit. For that kind of investment you could get five keychain cameras, orient them front-back-left-right-up, and combine them in software to get a very nice resolution 360 degree panoramic view.
How about using your old android phone as the camera? Either record to SD like he’s already doing or install IP Webcam with a WiFi router/AP nearby and stream the action.
1080p keychain cam $60 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Newest-1080P-Jumbo-camera-DVR-Video-Driving-Recorder-AV-OUT-720P-60f-1080-30f-/150942387498
“The camera has had a problem with dropped frames in 1080p mode, and fluctuating codec compression (but no dropped frames) in 720p (60 fps) mode since day one.”
basically its garbage
the best you can do is RD32 II $130, or same cam with no case from hobbyking at $100
Wanna make it impressive? Hook the camera onto a quadcopter.
Ground based RC vehicles are so last century! :-)
Hey Stu,
Already tried the camera on my FPV Bixler. In fact I am working on a micro-quad which is capable of carrying this camera.
Also, while ground-based vehicles are a bit outdated, they are a fair bit of fun and the hacking counts too!
Kabir
This would be a nice hack for the touchless vibrator, ;-), hahaaha, sorry.
Wonder what’s the FPS here? That ceiling fan seems to be spinning pretty fast…
I just ordered mine from http://www.hackhd.com looks perfect for my rc drone project