Magician's robot assistant

[slowrc]

I know this is a very different application than normal but I need a very cheap and very slow crawler to fit my needs.

I want to buy an off-the-shelf remote control device that has powered wheels that is cheap and that I can activate while performing a magic act on the stage. I'm referring to this as "basebot".

I bought a $39 cardboard stand up of R2D2 that I plan to mount on the basebot and bring him out with a yellow silk etc as a comedy bit for 2 minutes during my act ("my assistant is on vacation so I've hired a temporary replacement").

Since I do a sci-fi based act I may have several different cardboard standups (packs small plays big) each with its own basebot.

Initially my basebot (with R2D2) will be in the wings of the stage so that at the appropriate time when I push a button he will come out onto the stage and a minute later when I push a button a second time he will return to the wings. This means I do not need any steering controls since he will just come straight on and go straight back (I could glue the steering mechanism in place).

This is a one-man act so I do not want to rely on any off stage assistance.

I will have a four-wheeled free-wheeling base that the off the shelf robot will be velcro attached to. The cardboard stand-up will be mounted to the free-wheeling base.

Below are my ideal criteria for my basebot (I know that these criteria will probably not all be met):
1. push of a button brings him on.
2. non-infrared remote (need a reliable remote)
3. powerful enough to move the cardboard stand-up R2D2.
4. needs to be slow (most RC toys are way too fast except for the proportional speed controlled crawlers but they can be expensive)
5. cheap under $50 (but I may have to go higher)
6. single drive control (tank controls are bad for this because it requires two hands also the timing when pushing the two levers has to be perfect to make it go straight)
7. no "time outs" (most programmable toy robots have either a fixed three minute or fixed five minute time out shut down when not in use, this is very bad for my purposes)
8. not too noisy
9. two-wheel drive goes straighter than four-wheel drive

I have bought, tested, returned a bunch of toys and they are all weak in one or more of my criteria:
a. fetch robot (has 2 or 3 minutes time out)
b. botley robot (has 5 minutes time out)
c. rad robot (3 minute time out, 5 minute in stealth mode)
d. Target Jurassic World RC Jeep (almost slow enough but to noisy in reverse)
e. Hobby Lobby big RC crawler (plenty powerful but way too fast for my needs, it needs proportional speed control)
f. Hobby Lobby blue RC Jeep crawler/off road vehicle (this may work because it has reliable 2.4 remote and is almost slow enough and is two-wheel drive which is good). I wish it had proportional speed control.
g. Walmart grave digger crawler (same comments as the Hobby Lobby Jeep)
h. maisto r/c rock crawler from Amazon (this meets all my criteria except it is way too fast for my needs).

I have not found any toy grade RC vehicles that have proportional speed control.

Note that to get proportional speed control you normally need to buy a hobby grade RC vehicle and they typically cost more than $100.

That being said I found and have on order a 2 wheel drive (a good thing) WPL D12 RC delivery truck that has proportional speed control and cost around $50.

I have looked at the numerous programmable Arduino and raspberry pie robot base kits but I want something that's off the shelf ready to run because I've got way too many other projects going on to spend time on a kit.

Additional note: I used a programmable small 10-in high R2D2 toy to power my stand up cardboard R2D2 in an actual show at the police youth camp and it did work just barely.

The problems were that the little programmable R2D2 toy does not have a reverse so you have to program it to turn around which I did and it worked but the new aiming for its return can be a problem also it is just barely powerful enough to do the job so I held my breath during the show and it happened to work but I need something better.

Note that a programmable toy solution is better than an RC solution because you can push a button and do other things during the 5 seconds that it takes the robot to come on stage whereas an RC toy you have the hold the trigger the entire 5 seconds while it's coming on and same when the robot is going off.

On the flip side the RC toys seem to be more robust.

RC is not a showstopper, either way (RC or programmable) is acceptable as long as it pretty much meets my other criteria.

If any of you out there know of another solution to my criteria please post or if you know of a toy grade RC that has proportional speed control.

 

[WickedFog]

I know this is a very different application than normal but I need a very cheap and very slow crawler to fit my needs.

I want to buy an off-the-shelf remote control device that has powered wheels that is cheap and that I can activate while performing a magic act on the stage. I'm referring to this as "basebot".

I bought a $39 cardboard stand up of R2D2 that I plan to mount on the basebot and bring him out with a yellow silk etc as a comedy bit for 2 minutes during my act ("my assistant is on vacation so I've hired a temporary replacement").

Since I do a sci-fi based act I may have several different cardboard standups (packs small plays big) each with its own basebot.

Initially my basebot (with R2D2) will be in the wings of the stage so that at the appropriate time when I push a button he will come out onto the stage and a minute later when I push a button a second time he will return to the wings. This means I do not need any steering controls since he will just come straight on and go straight back (I could glue the steering mechanism in place).

This is a one-man act so I do not want to rely on any off stage assistance.

I will have a four-wheeled free-wheeling base that the off the shelf robot will be velcro attached to. The cardboard stand-up will be mounted to the free-wheeling base.

Below are my ideal criteria for my basebot (I know that these criteria will probably not all be met):
1. push of a button brings him on.
2. non-infrared remote (need a reliable remote)
3. powerful enough to move the cardboard stand-up R2D2.
4. needs to be slow (most RC toys are way too fast except for the proportional speed controlled crawlers but they can be expensive)
5. cheap under $50 (but I may have to go higher)
6. single drive control (tank controls are bad for this because it requires two hands also the timing when pushing the two levers has to be perfect to make it go straight)
7. no "time outs" (most programmable toy robots have either a fixed three minute or fixed five minute time out shut down when not in use, this is very bad for my purposes)
8. not too noisy
9. two-wheel drive goes straighter than four-wheel drive

I have bought, tested, returned a bunch of toys and they are all weak in one or more of my criteria:
a. fetch robot (has 2 or 3 minutes time out)
b. botley robot (has 5 minutes time out)
c. rad robot (3 minute time out, 5 minute in stealth mode)
d. Target Jurassic World RC Jeep (almost slow enough but to noisy in reverse)
e. Hobby Lobby big RC crawler (plenty powerful but way too fast for my needs, it needs proportional speed control)
f. Hobby Lobby blue RC Jeep crawler/off road vehicle (this may work because it has reliable 2.4 remote and is almost slow enough and is two-wheel drive which is good). I wish it had proportional speed control.
g. Walmart grave digger crawler (same comments as the Hobby Lobby Jeep)
h. maisto r/c rock crawler from Amazon (this meets all my criteria except it is way too fast for my needs).

I have not found any toy grade RC vehicles that have proportional speed control.

Note that to get proportional speed control you normally need to buy a hobby grade RC vehicle and they typically cost more than $100.

That being said I found and have on order a 2 wheel drive (a good thing) WPL D12 RC delivery truck that has proportional speed control and cost around $50.

I have looked at the numerous programmable Arduino and raspberry pie robot base kits but I want something that's off the shelf ready to run because I've got way too many other projects going on to spend time on a kit.

Additional note: I used a programmable small 10-in high R2D2 toy to power my stand up cardboard R2D2 in an actual show at the police youth camp and it did work just barely.

The problems were that the little programmable R2D2 toy does not have a reverse so you have to program it to turn around which I did and it worked but the new aiming for its return can be a problem also it is just barely powerful enough to do the job so I held my breath during the show and it happened to work but I need something better.

Note that a programmable toy solution is better than an RC solution because you can push a button and do other things during the 5 seconds that it takes the robot to come on stage whereas an RC toy you have the hold the trigger the entire 5 seconds while it's coming on and same when the robot is going off.

On the flip side the RC toys seem to be more robust.

RC is not a showstopper, either way (RC or programmable) is acceptable as long as it pretty much meets my other criteria.

If any of you out there know of another solution to my criteria please post or if you know of a toy grade RC that has proportional speed control.

That WPL might do the trick but I dont have that one to say for sure. With the other WPL trucks you can get 2 different gearboxes. One is a single speed and the other is a 2 speed. The 1st gear of the 2 speed is pretty slow. But the D12 uses it's own gearbox and I am not sure there is a 2 speed for it. Kevin Talbot did a video of the D12 where he loaded it with tools and it hauled them, so a cardboard body if R2D2 should be nothing.

Good luck. Wish I could help more. Oh and got any vids of your act? Would be interesting to see

 

[slowrc]

That WPL might do the trick but I dont have that one to say for sure. With the other WPL trucks you can get 2 different gearboxes. One is a single speed and the other is a 2 speed. The 1st gear of the 2 speed is pretty slow. But the D12 uses it's own gearbox and I am not sure there is a 2 speed for it. Kevin Talbot did a video of the D12 where he loaded it with tools and it hauled them, so a cardboard body if R2D2 should be nothing.

Good luck. Wish I could help more. Oh and got any vids of your act? Would be interesting to see

Thanks for your response. About your request for a video:
Below video is 2019 act I threw together just to display to other magicians some of my ideas, the video is not professionally done (the hot assistant is my wife, hard to believe 60 years ago I took her to her junior prom):

This second video (below) is more representative of the kids act that I want to use the R/C R2D2 (go to the five minute mark because the camera is too far away and the beginning part of the act has small items that are hard to see):

Each year for the last 40+ years we have about five magicians do about 15-20 minute routines each at the Nashville police FOP youth camp.
The above 2018 video closely represents my act. I do add and change portions of the routine every year and have some talking routines. The kids are very excited all through this show and go wild at the ending when the alien appears. One year fellow magician Stephen Bargatze commented that If doing a show for kids he would hate to follow my act. The above video was done on a large stage before an adult magicians audience whereas the FOP camp performance is done on a flat multi-purpose room with the kids sitting very close with the lights dimmed.

Note I am recovering from open heart quadruple bypass surgery and numerous heart ablations, stents, pacemaker, shock therapy so I'm not nearly as agile as I was 15 years ago. I am now on the Dr Esselstyn heart healthy diet and many things are improving.

Back to the RC topic: I wonder if there are any cheap RC vehicles that have room for a 3 to 1 gear reduction?