RealDriver Project Log

Project as of 11.3.06

An eMagin Z800 visor with integrated head tracking has been added to control the pan and tilt base. The video feed from the wireless camera is fed into a Hauppauge USB-Live video video capture device and displayed on the visor.

A program running on the PC ties the headset, wheel, and PCTx together. The application also allows the user to dial in any vehicle with the use of custom mid and end point adjustments. Below is a screen capture.

The sensitivity of the headset and steering wheel can also be adjusted to the user and R/C vehicle. Due to drift in the headsets sensors the center position of the camera needs to be adjusted from time to time. The driver can reset the headset at any time by pressing specific buttons on the steering wheel.

Project as of 9.26.06

A PC game wheel and pedal system have now been integrated into the controller software! The car is much much easier to drive with the wheel compared to using the mouse and keyboard. The car itself has not changed since the last update but here is a video of the whole thing working.

Project as of 9.13.06

I have added aluminum brackets to the pan and tilt system to make the setup stronger. The aluminum brackets also helped to balance the camera and to help keep movement down.

The camera's power cable was also replaced by a longer one.

 

Project as of 8.31.06

With the camera mounted on top of the Hummer body driving proved to be difficult. After some experimentation I found that moving the camera forward made driving a lot easier. I would have liked to keep the Hummer body but I'm willing to sacrifice it for ease of driving.

I also added a Dynamite Tazer ESC to make the car's throttle smoother.

 

Project as of 8.26.06

This is the project in it's initial state. It was created using the following items:

1. Tamiya Hummer R/C car
2. 1.2GHz wireless camera
3. Video capture device
4. PCTx interface
5. 4 channel radio
6. 2 extra servos

Two servos were connected together to create the pan and tilt mount for the camera. One servo is vertical to control pan, and the other is mounted on it's side to create tilt. Custom plastic mounts were fabricated to attach the camera to the Hummer body.

Software was written using the PCTx C++ API. Control of the car is achieved with key presses and the mouse. The experience is similar to a first person shooter video game. W moves the car forward and S reverses.

Moving the mouse forward and back will cause the camera to move up and down. Moving the mouse left and right will cause the camera to swing right and left. The front wheels are synchronized with the left and right movement of the camera. Maneuvering the car is fairly straightforward with a "point and drive interface."

The wireless camera sends images to the PC to be displayed on the computer screen. The camera's RCA outputs will also allow a connection to a big screen TV as well. In this case a video capture device would not be needed, but a laptop might.