[Vincent] plays around with remote control tanks, and even though his current model is a WWII-era armor piece, he’d still like modern accoutrements such as a fire control computer and laser sighting for his main gun. His latest project did just that (French, Google translation) with the help of an Arduino, a few modifications to the receiver, and an IR rangefinder.
The stock RC tank includes servos to move the turret and the requisite electronics to fire an Airsoft gun. The precision of the mechanical movements inside the turret weren’t very precise, though, so [Vincent] had to gear down the servos to turn large movements into slight adjustments. After that, he installed an IR rangefinder and laser diode onto the barrel that allowed the gun to sight a target and read its distance.
After some experimentation with the rangefinder and laser, [Vincent] plotted data from firing a few BBs at a whole bunch of distances and targets. The graph came out fairly linear, and after plugging this into a graphing calculator, he was able to find an equation that took into account the distance and angle so the Arduino-powered fire control computer would hit its mark.
The accuracy of the gun is very impressive, all things considered. [Vincent] is able to accurately fire BBs downrange and hit an 8×12 cm target at five meters. You can check out that action below.
And another arduino rant coming…
Anyway, nicely done, that tank looks like a nice chassis to play with
AWESOME Work I want to do this to an RC Heli.
Polossatik “looks like a nice chassis to play with” haha I took it out of context.
great work. And as to an arduino rant…
Wonder if it might be possible for a skilled model engineer, to makes a miniature analogue mechanical fire control computer, that would be quite in keeping with WW2 era equipment
Didn’t they require pretty much constant input via people? A recent-ish Retrotechtacular vid on here certainly suggested that.
yes they did require input via people, but only for continuous updating of target data, where shells actually landed, atmospherics and to input predictions of where the target might be going. That’s manly because the data was collected manually anyway I’m pretty sure even now tankers will sight their targets before pressing a trigger to let off a round! Once that round is off, updates are only necessary if you want to fire at that target again. range is almost certainly automated today but I figure there’s still 2 variables that are input by human (elevation and rotation). In this kind of application it would probably be easiest to think of a fire control computer to be more like a servo system, taking aiming information from a human (or a different sub system if the aiming is automated), and then figures out how best to get the round to the right place.
Tanks didn’t have them.
I am surprised! I doubt it would need to be that complicated a gunnery computer. Distances could have been found using Coincidence rangefinders, simple enough to have that output on a dial( as a backup) and also as a shaft rotation. Then use the shaft output from the rangefinder to turn a cam. Depending on the shape of the cam, height of cam=elevation angle.
If the range finder and gun are referenced to the tank hull there isn’t even any need to correct for the tank body going up/down/across slopes. With a power traverse(as many tanks had) it wouldn’t be difficult to rig up a servo system to keep the gun pointing in the direction needed to hit where the rangefinder is aimed/focused.
But since he is French, it only fires when the tank is in reverse.
But it’s a german tank…
Hello,
I’m working on a scale model of a French tank that would detect the German one and automatically surrender.
Comme à Saumur ? http://tinyurl.com/mgqlopq
Quite similar with this project of mine from 2 years ago:
http://trandi.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/tiger-1-bb-airsoft-rc-tank-%E2%80%93-v3/
but “higher tech” now with a Raspberry Pi and a camera, I had to do with a Lego NXT brick and an infrared camera from a Wiimote… :)
Dan
The sound alone is enough to scare off an intruder. Ya know, especially the ones that carry parabolic microphones (and you know they all do).
How is he using an IR sensor for 5M distances? The longest advertised working range I’ve seen is 60″
Hello,
I used the Sharp GP2Y0A710K which can measure distances up to 5.5m but gives accurate readings under 3. It was the only affordable solution I could find for such range.
Don’t shoot your eye out, kid!
B^)
I was thinking that at 5m you could probably aim directly, too.
As the initial velocity of the pellets is quite low, the correction begins to be really useful at 3m and definitely so at 5m :)
very cool dude – congratulations…
Very neat
Bolo…
Could we get more speed for targeting so it would be useful against squirrels?
Actually the turret speed is progressive: small moves are slow but great ones are quite fast. Nothing useful against squirrels though :)
A little bit of work and you could convert it into a pellet gun :P
The fullsize photo(s) under Related Hacks is incredibly out of place. Leave it as a set of links…
That’s so damn cool. My favorite part is the graphing calculator. I carried a TI-83 for ages and it got used for games more than anything else, but it’s absolutely amazing what that little thing is capable of.
Giving an RC tank a fire control computer, es algo genial. Me encanta vuestra web.
hello everyone…
i am new to this group.came across this project.a very honest and dedicated work indeed. i would like to dwell upon another way of using a ultracapacitor for RC heptrs or movable vehicles.since it can gets charged even wid a small battery and using LM317 IC this capacitor can greatly reduce the heavier bty load.At the same time if it is incorporated well,it can help in flying the RC heptr for hours non stop using smaller solar chips like plates as wings and body nd can slowly keep charging a set of two capacitors wid a transistor / 555 timer circuit whose task is to imdtly switch over to another bank when the first one gets discharged.
i need somebody to help me in learning arduino board or rasberry pi……anybody pls help me….
Fantastic project and I was looking for this exact thing for my /
1/16 walker bulldog more detail or a instructional link?xx