How to Make a Remote Controlled Spy Rover

Ever wonder who took the cookie from the cookie jar? I certainly wanted to find out, so I decided to make a RC Spy Rover! The rover uses a 3d printed pan tilt fpv system in order to spy on an area and can move from place to place by using two modified servos to drive around. Building this project is as simple as it gets (Just plugging wires into a receiver) so its a great project for kids or beginners! While it is simple to build, nearly every piece of the rover is 3d printed, so if you don't happen to own a 3d printer, try visiting shapeways, an online 3d printing service for the parts!

So with that being said lets start the build!

(Dont forget to watch the video though!) Thanks!

Step 1: Gathering Parts and Tools

You will need access to a 3d printer if you want to make this project, I highly recommend either shapeways or buying a cheap 3d printer such as the Anet A8

You can download all the 3d printed parts from my thingiverse page here!

UP TO 70% OFF For Tools Deals: https://goo.gl/Kzq14T

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Some tools you will need:
1. A Transmitter

2. Wire Strippers(10% OFF Coupon: Elec)

3. A soldering station (8% OFF Coupon: ToysHo)

4. And a soldering iron with some solder!

For the actual parts you will need:

1. 2 Servos(You will need to modify them to be 360 servos)

2. An All In One FPV Camera

3. A Power Distribution Board

4. A Receiver

5. Two Micro Servos (8% OFF Coupon: ToysHo)

6. A Lipo Battery

7. A whole bunch of 3d printed parts.

Step 2: Solder PDB

The first step is to start with the power distribution board. Normally you would solder the xt60 straight to the pcb, however, If you did this on the rover, the lid wouldn't shut! To avoid this, what you need to do is solder two wires about 4 inches from the board to the xt60. Make sure to triple check polarity! I almost fried my pdb when I accidentally soldered the xt60 backwards! Also, solder two wires about 6 inches long from the 5v positive and negative of the power distribution board, we will use them in the next step.

Step 3: Power the Receiver!

In order to save some room, the next step is to take the case off the receiver. To do this, I simply used a small Flathead screwdriver and popped the case apart. Then I took the two wires that I soldered from the 5v positive and negative and added them to the battery channel on the receiver. If your receiver doesn't have a battery channel, just use any channel from 5 and up. make sure to tripple check polarity again!

Step 4: Its Getting There!

Next your going to add the modified 360 servos to the 3d printed base. I used a bit of hot glue in order to keep them in place. Next I took the servo wires and I plugged them into the receiver. You can use any channel you would like, However I used channels 1 and 2 to drive my rover. (Note in picture two the servo leads are in channels 2 and 4, that was my original plan, but I sort of changed my mind last minute) Keep in mind though, what ever channel you decide to use, you will have to set up channel mixing on the transmitter in order to turn steer the rover.

Step 5: Create the Wheels!

To create the wheels, get the two 3d printed wheels and using some hot glue, attacth any one of the servo horns to the wheel. Next pop the servo horn onto the servo and that's it!

Now if you just want to drive the rover around, just add the lid and you're done! However if you'd like to turn the rover into an fpv spy mobile, keep moving onto the next step!

Step 6: Pan Tilt System

Next you're going to get the 3d printed pan tilt system and assemble the parts. The awesome system created by fbuenonet can be downloaded here.

To assemble start by screwing in one of the micro servos, and pop the other into the little box. Next flip the little box servo over and push it into the slot and screw it to the base. The rest should be self explanitory , just put the other servo into the U shape created by the upside down servo. Then I used a little dab of hot glue on the top of the system to mount the aio fpv camera. I put the camera on the top rather than the middle because I still wanted to access the buttons to change the channels and such.

Step 7: More Wiring!

In order to organize the mess of wires, I used a zip tie and bunched all of them together. Then I soldered the power wires of the fpv camera straight into the pdb board, because it could take the full voltage of the lips. The two micro servo leads got pushed into slots 3 and 4 of the receiver and that was it for the wiring!

Step 8: Nearly Done!

Next put the electronics into the shell. The pdb goes on one side while the receiver goes on the other. Next I pushed the 3d printed lid onto the rovers shell and then pulled the receivers antennas out of the little slots in the lid. Then I mounted the pan tilt system to the lid of the rover just using a little hot glue.

I thought I would be done, however the rover keep tilting over backwards too far and I didnt really like the look of it. To solve this, I 3d printed a support beam and Superglued it to the back of the rover. Then I cut a ping ping ball in half so the rover could glide over surfaces a little bit better.

Step 9: You Are Done!

Nice! Now you're done! Pair the fpv camera to a fpv receiver and go out and drive around!

I hope you find out who took the cookies from the cookie jar, and I would love to see your version of the rover! If you make this, please take a picture and post it in the comments under the "I made it" section!

If you enjoyed this instructable, don't forget to like and vote for the rover in the various insructable contests!

Also If you want to stay updated on my projects, follow me either on intructables, youtube or instagram for new projects every month!

(I post sneak peeks on instagram!)

Thanks!