Model Rowing Boat

Yessir

Member
Hi

I thought I would just share a few pictures and video clips of my most recent Picaxe project.

I have scratch built a model rowing boat complete with a rowing man using a modified Action Man toy. The body of the Action Man contains 4 servos to operate each arm, his back movement and his head movement. The rowing boat contains a further 2 servos which operate the oarlocks for each rowing stroke. All servos are controlled by a Picaxe 18M2 which is mounted on an SD21 servo controller board. The Picaxe receives inputs from an RC receiver to determine the rowing direction, speed and has the ability to operate the oars independantly in order to steer.

The project has taken about 18 months to complete - I hope you like it.

Rowing Boat 1.jpg

Rowing Boat 2.jpg

http://youtu.be/bwnHWhGSFQ4

http://youtu.be/0egbkLFnnV8
 

Jamster

Senior Member
Wow... That's pretty damn cool. :eek:

That looks like the sort of project that would drive me up the wall trying to get all those brackets in the body without dropping them! Very nice and quite realistic movement :)

Jamster
 

boriz

Senior Member
That's got to be one of the greatest scale RC models I've ever seen. Awesome!

Do you work in TV?
 

Yessir

Member
Thanks for all the comments - I am afraid that I don't work in TV (as you can probably tell from my focusing on the video) and I think it would take a long time to get to New Zealand because in anything other than a gently breeze it is one stroke forwards and then get blown backwards again!

I am still "tweaking" the code now that the boat is on the water to try and improve the rowing action - mainly timings and tiny servo adjustments. Due to the multiplying effect of the oar pivot position, a couple of millimeters adjustment in the rowers arm position translates to about 20mm movement at the end of the oar which can make the difference between being in the water and being out of the water!

I have attached a few more photogrpahs of the internal mechanism.

Rowing Boat 4.jpg

Rowing Boat 7.jpg
 

boriz

Senior Member
If I may be so bold...

Some padding or rubber, something flexible between the oar and the Oarlock might make the action a bit smoother? And something similar where the servo horns meet the push rods? (Some way of minimizing mechanical 'jerk')

This is definitely worth submitting to TV special effect department. If not for it's merits, then for yours.
 

Yessir

Member
The Oarlocks actually serve as two mechanical limit stops to set the oar up and oar down positions. Since the video was taken I have been making adjustments to the code to improve the rowing action which has reduced the jerk which you see. The code started life as 4 distinct subroutines to move the stroke back and forwards and the arms up and down. I have now started experimenting with starting the arms moving up and down before the stroke gets to its end position (and vice versa). I am also thinking if I can build and acceleration / deceleration routine into the code by updating the SD21 speed register every 20ms which may help produce a smoother action.
 
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