In the package you'll find the rover, the transmitter, and a manual. If you bought batteries with your order, they should be inserted in the three holes for them to fit into. The remote takes one 9 volt battery, while the rover itself takes two CR-123A-type batteries. These batteries may not be at the corner store, but they should be easy enough to find since they are standard camera batteries. If in doubt, you can always get a pair with your order.
Specifications
Remote Dimensions
· Length: 100 mm (~4 inches)
· Width: 66 mm (~2.5 inches)
· Thickness: 25 mm (~1 inch)
Rover Dimensions
· Chassis Length: 102 mm (~4 inches)
· Chassis Width: 37.5 mm (~1.5 inches)
· Overall Height: 42 mm (~1.65 inches)
Operating Range
· 60 m (200 feet) - Line of sight
· 30 m (100 feet) - Average building, distance may vary
Battery Life
100 minutes+ continuous run of both tracks
Setup
The Desktop Rover is easy to set up--just but it the batteries and turn it on! The rover has a small switch on the back, and a tiny red LED tells you it's on. The remote has a switch labeled Snooze and Groove, and a light. The remote has three sticks, the right and left for independent control of each track, and the middle one to play a game of IR laser tag. Unfortunately, I didn't have two rovers, so I couldn't try out the laser tag. The antenna on the remote can be extended to about two feet for a controlling distance of about 100 feet in normal conditions, and about 300 feet for line of sight distance.
Performance
How does the Desktop Rover perform in the real world? Pretty good. The rover handles well on most terrain, as long as you aren't constantly turning on carpet. As this is a caterpillar drive vehicle, the tracks do tend to come off on carpet, but I don't perceive it as a major problem. My first major problem did come up with the noise, though. For the rover to maintain its torque it has to be geared down significantly, and this produces a loud noise. Though this doesn't affect performance, it is distracting.
The rover maneuvers very well, and control of the individual tracks makes it very precise. On a surface with good traction the rover can climb a 45° angle, but much more and it begins to slip. Subsequently, the rover can't climb as well on a surface with less traction. Part of the trouble may be with the weight distribution. The rover has its two motors situated towards the back, while its batteries are towards the front. If the batteries were more centrally located the rover might be able to climb steeper "terrain."
Using It
I used the rover in a number of different locations. Most places I used it were carpeted, so the tracks had a tendency to come off; but if I kept it straight and didn't turn consistently, it worked fine. It can handle inclines and has good traction on most surfaces. It's just a really fun thing to drive!
Computer Control Software and Interface
Another option available for the Desktop Rover is the Telecommander Interface. This consists of Java-based software and either a serial or USB interface cable. The remote has a headphone-style jack on the top where the serial or USB cable plugs in. While the cable is inserted, you can't operate the rover from the remote.
The included software installs easily, and since it is Java it works on PCs and Macs (OS X only). If you are connected to the Internet, the program automatically checks for a newer version, and in my case a newer version was found and installed.
The software has a variety of different modes, including Server, Manual, Remote, and Default. In Default mode you are able to drag the command block, one for each combination of track on/track off, to the playfield and set the duration of each one. You can then press the PLAY button and the Desktop Rover will execute your commands. In Manual mode, each command block you click is executed immediately and continues for one second.
The remaining two modes are interesting--they allow you to control your rover over the Internet using TCP/IP. You must set one computer with the interface cable and remote into Server mode, and the machine you wish to use to control it with into Remote mode. For Remote mode, you must know the IP address of the server machine. Plantraco has set up a version of this running on its website, using a Java applet instead of the Telecommander software. You can see the demo at
http://www.plantraco.com/telecommander.html.
Ratings Defense
I give Plantraco's Desktop Rover 4.5 Geekheads for Quality, only because I thought a bit more could be done to keep the tracks on the rover. Also, sometimes the rover would go as soon as I turned it on, but stopped as soon as I turned the remote on. This was probably radio inference that was blocked out when I turned the remote on. The rover does comply with FCC Part 15, so it has to accept radio interference.
The Desktop Rover gets 5 Geekheads for Geekness because it's just a cool geek toy! With the Telecommander interface and software, you can program it and control it remotely. The Rover is a very cool thing to show off. Don't want to take it somewhere to show it off? Set it up with the Telecommander and a Web cam.
The Telecommander software gets a perfect rating as well. The software is great, and there are great features. If you're going to get the Desktop Rover, get the Telecommander, too--it's a great addition.
hope this helps a little...
beetyii
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