Hacking an RC Car
The Creeper Bot makes keeping an eye on your pet a breeze!
Many times, the electronics project we think of as particularly cool or noteworthy are not very complex. It's not what technology you use in your project, but how you use it. The microcontrollers used in most projects are so much less technologically advanced than the guts of the average cell phone - but the projects you all are out there creating with 8-bit (or what have you) technology are still really cool! So...on to my point...
Radio controlled cars have been around for ages - nothing particularly mind-blowing about them at this point. But check out this project from SparkFun customer Dan Howery. He hacked an RC car and an Xbox 360 controller to create his "Creeper Bot" - an RC car outfitted with a controllable camera. The camera is linked to a screen where he can scope out what the car sees - and it's all piloted by the Xbox controller.
Dan does an awesome job documenting his build on his website and did a very clean, well-functioning hack. This is a great example of relatively simple project, done very well. Plus, Dan documents the project so well it is pretty much a tutorial for anyone looking to do a similar project. Awesome work!
