Wow, that's a pretty cool platform. Larger and hardier than I expected.

I wanted a platform that could actually perform some "real" work. It will serve as a security bot and be equipped with night vision cam, an alert siren( taken from a used car alarm), a paint ball gun turret for marking prowlers ( and perhaps motivating them to leave) and possibly a "stun gun" of some type. I also want to put a little hitch on it that will enable me to hook a riding lawnmower trailer to it and tote stuff around the yaruilding and use go forwardd. Its a work in progress. I'm sure it will evolve as building and use progress forward. I wanted to share it with everyone on the forum; perhaps someone else might want to build one.

That's going to be a pretty fun mobile robot if a kid gets their hands on it! I can only imagine being a child and seeing a robot car drive around. I'd want nothing but to be inside!

Yeah, and I have two little ones next door and one across the street. However, backyard is fenced. That will have to be my proving ground.

lostcreek, i'm actually working on stun gun designs that will be seen from multiple sides at once. you may wish to install a strobe light to flash when the stun gun activates to help make the effect more dramatic. i will upload pics when i finally get it made. i have the autoturret program but no pan/tilt for the paintball guns/airsoft guns yet. a gun would look good mounted in the back of that jeep. i have 2 fully auto airsoft guns ready, and about 5 types of semi auto paintball guns, not sure which to use yet myself. i also bought a 10 lb. c02 tank that i will have mounted on the robot with a hose fed directly into the paintball gun so it will not run out of C02 as often as the small 12-20oz tanks. a suggestion to the stun gun is a cattle prong sold at tractor supply type farm stores. also you can get $12 stun guns from ebay if you are ok with buying from china (2-6 week delay in shipping). you may also wish to hack an invisible dog fence, and instead of the dog collar shocking the dog, you may can wire it up to your bot to make it turn around and come back on your property. looks like you have good traction on your wheels, nice! i dont know what type of lights you have, but you may want to change to LED so that your batteries last longer. are you using only 12 volts? you may want to get a small 12 volt solar panel to help keep your batteries charged too. just some ideas you may like

good job

Thanks for the good words on my jeep. You've made some great suggestions. I'd really like to see pics of what you're doing with the guns and turret. Where did you get the autoturret software? Really liked the cattle prode idea. How many times can a cattle probe be fired? The invisible dog fence idea is AWESOME!! The headlights are actually 6 volt lantern parts from Lowes (The yellow one). The glass and reflectors fit the headlight rings like they were made for it. I will be putting LED's in them. Will also be adding additional LED lighting for effects. I will post more pics as the build progresses.

i bought the small board and software from PaintballSentry.com

click here to see the auto turret site.

but since i dont have a pan/tilt system working yet, i dont know if it works good or not.

about your leds... Find a Deals store, or Dollar Tree. they sell $1 solar powered garden/landscaping lights. maybe not now, you may have to wait until spring or buy from their website. take the plastic post off. you will have just the small 2" diameter by 1" cylinder. then you can have a solar powered light that has a photocell so it only comes on at night. you may also de-solder the white light and add a red light in it. you may also drill a hole through the top near the mini solar panel, and install the led next to the solar panel. normally the solar panel is on top and the led is on the bottom, to light up the sidewalk. but if you put the led and panel on the same side, then it will receive sunlight, and shine automatically when needed.

if you want decals on your jeep: buy contact paper at walmart or dollar tree. its white water resistant material, that one side is a big sticker. people sometimes put them in their kitchen cabinets. you can print out decals on normal paper, tape it to this contact paper, then using a hobby knife with cardboard under it, cut out the decal. i was thinking a big white star would look good, like the old usa army jeeps, but you can put whatever you want. like "powered by ez-b" lol

i have made fake security cameras with these, where i cut a 2x4 board, painted it black, hacked the $1 solar light, switched the led to near the solar panel, painted it with red marker (didnt have red led at the time) and then drilled hole in back, put super glue in hole, stuck in coax cable. used black tape and about 3/4" from 2x4 i taped up the cable. i also taped up the black 2x4. i then used metalic gold paint to paint the coax cable near the 2x4. after it dried i took off the tape. now at a distance, it looks like it has a gold coax connector. and the light comes on at night, like it is recording.

these would make good eyes, if you are out in the sun a lot.