Facetime/ Gopro Spy Tank

Many RC Camera Cars on the market today, such as the Brookstone Spy Tank, are extremely expensive, so here is an easy way to create your very own inexpensive custom RC tank with a camera and remote control using Little Bits.

Materials You Will Need:

1. Little Bits Parts:

I5 slide dimmer - 3 total

P1 power adapter - 4 total

W12 wireless Transmitter - 1 total

W11 wireless Receiver - 1 total

W1 wire - 7 total

A1 battery cable - 2 total

O5 dc motor (there are better and faster ones on the market) - 4 total

O2 long LED - 2 total

Pin adapters to little bit motor - 4 total

2. Lego Pieces:

Lego axle pin - 4 total
Large rubber tires - 4 total

Large technic wheels - 4 total

3. Camera Gear (We used both but it is optional):

2 iphones (Facetime compatible)
Or

1 GoPro and 1 ios or android device with companion app w/ 1 3m tape GoPro mount

4. Miscellaneous:

9v Batteries - 2 total

Duct Tape

Wood Glue

8th inch thick wood or cardboard (tank structure)

Paints (optional) (we used green, white, and black acrylic)

We used OnShape (a free application to design our parts)

- all measures given are in inches and we used cardboard cut by a laser cutter to get precision and made the body light weight fro more speed.

5in x 8in piece is bottom

2.5in x 4.75in piece is back

5in x 6in piece is top (do not secure with glue)

5in x 3.202in piece is front

2.5in x 6in + right triangle leg 1= 2.5in leg 2= 2in hypotenuse= 3.202in (make two of them x2) pieces are sides

Remote:

Connect Little Bt pieces like so including the battery to make the remote controller: Carefully follow the images

Motors and LEDs:

Do the same following this image and making sure the wires match up to the same numbers on the transmitter and receiver on the remote. Little switches on the motors can change the direction you desire them to go. put the connectors on the motors.

Assemble the cut parts like so using tape and wood glue making sure not to completely seal the top of the body so that you can access the circuitry:

cut holes in the places where the lights and wheel axles go and paint it if desired (we used green, black, and white)

put lego tecnic axles into lego wheels and glue.

Next secure the motors and LEDs in place with tape and glue inside the body matching the motor connectors up with the holes made for the wheels. Then stick the lego wheel axles through the holes and glue it into the motor connector connecting the motors and the wheels. Finally stick the LED lights in the holes made.

before moving on make sure all the parts inside are secure

Connect the camera gear desired:

connect go pro to app and connect it to the go pro mount (using the phone you can stream what the go pro sees and takes videos and pictures.) we connected our phone to the controller using tape.

You can also use two phones and FaceTime. To do this we switched the directions of all the motors making the back the front and taped one phone to the back of the tank (which is now the front) and one phone to the controller. Using this method you can stream sound and talk through the tank.