Houses with crawlspaces are fairly common in some geographic regions. The crawlspace can make it easier to access things like plumbing and electrical wiring, and can even be used as storage in homes that don’t (or can’t) have a basement. Along with improved building ventilation, these some of the perks compared to homes built on a solid slab of concrete. These crawlspaces aren’t exactly easy to get around in, though, but [Dave] has an easier way to get stuff in and out of these useful, but small, spaces.
Enter the crawl space forklift. Made with largely off-the-shelf components, the robot includes a few standard motors and linear actuators to move around and operate the front fork. That’s all pretty standard, but this build really shines with its use of FPV camera, monitor, and transmitter that allow the pilot to navigate the robot in the small space using remote control. For those safety-conscious among us, there is also a fire extinguisher ball on board which self-activates in case the robot catches on fire under his house.
This is a great, high-quality build that shows how common parts can make something revolutionary with the right idea. Identifying a problem and then building a solution, while not forgetting to spring for some safety equipment, can really make a difference even with something as simple as unoccupied space in a home. They can tackle tasks around the home, too.
Cliff Stoll has been using a similar homemade robotic/RC forklift to retrieve individual units from his inventory of 1000 Klein bottles under his house for years now. Search for “Cliff Stoll Klein bottle” for some true entertainment. Then watch ALL of his other videos. This man is a true “wacky scientist”.
Stolls book Cuckoos Egg is a really good read for hackers, it’s a really account of computer forensics in the mainframe/cold war era of computer espionage.
That was such a good book. Nova did a very enjoyable episode on it, with reenactments from Cliff Stoll and friends.
Found it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcKxaq1FTac
Hackaday agrees!
https://hackaday.com/2017/10/19/books-you-should-read-the-cuckoos-egg/
I totally agree. That is an excellent book. The movie in the link posted by Angus is not bad but the book is great.
I ended up buying one of Cliff’s Klein bottles a while back for my sister, based on an article I read on here. Genuinely great experience too, he sent photos of it being packed up and posted, and on top of that my sister loved it. :)
I thought it was going to be this video.
https://youtu.be/-k3mVnRlQLU?t=125
Or this one.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6woZULFeM
So did I! I did a double-take before posting it to make sure it wasn’t Cliff Stoll’s.
Came here for this
A fantastically efficient build – minimal, functional, modest cost.
What’s that tank tread gray thing in the corner, I wonder?
That’s his remote control snow blower lol: http://sandsprite.com/blogs/index.php?uid=15&pid=418
Treads for his snowblower, it can be seen at time 4:40 in the background
Oops, I thought you meant the spare treads in his “warehouse”
Always great to see video updates from dzzie, really detailed video process of the making of each of his contraptions.
It’s a great idea, design, and implementation! Now it just needs a mecanum wheel upgrade ;)
Are crawlspaces really a good environment to be storing things?
Many of my older relatives have used crawl spaces as root cellars ever since they lost access to real root cellars, and that tradition is at least hundreds of years old.
Depends on what you’re storing.
Mine was a great place for spiders.
I am a member of the hackers group referred to by Stolls book.
Espionage is a wild exaggeration of what happened at the time.
Just a bunch of bored German kids surfing the networks.
Of course this is supposed to be a reply to [Spacedog]’s comment.
I hope the ceiling joists are up to it.
Load + forklift itself + counterweight…
p.s. in Australia, crawlspace also describes the underfloor void – also useful for (some) storage
I think you need to stand on your head and watch the video again. Crawlspaces are under the house up here, too.
The little Cliff Stoll who lives inside my head is quite adamant that all houses that can’t have a basement don’t have a basement.