February Club Night Report.
Improving a 1/6 scale RC Tiger Tank with the help of an Arduino,
by Mike Collins
At the February club night Mike Collins gave the members 'Tank Talk - Part 3' a talk about using an Arduino to improve the realism and usability of his 1/6 scale radio controlled Armortek Tiger Tank. This is the model that has been seen in action at our annual 'Big St Albans Model Show' at Townsend School in St Albans.
As built from the kit, selecting sounds is clunky and the way it drives doesn't look realistic.
Using an Arduino to read the radio control signals from the receiver in the tank, process them and send modified signals to the sound system and the motor controllers the tank is made far more usable and realistic. Mike's talks detailed the analysis of the issues, how the Arduino has been connected into the tank, the software that was written and a review of how effective the changes have been.
During the tea break Mike demonstrated the improved motion characteristics of the model and also the ease of which the various sounds can be selected now that the complex sequences required are now controlled by the Arduino mini-computer.
This technical talk was of great interest to the members and will be of great help to anyone who is curious about using an Arduino with models as well as large scale radio control models in general.
Mike's talk was filmed by Rob and a link to the YouTube video will be sent out to all club members.