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Watney

Watney is a low-cost, 3D-printable, Raspberry Pi-based FPV telepresence rover with HD video and bi-directional audio.

  • Wheeled
  • Open source
  • 3D printable

Suggested by Robotheca, created by @nikivanov (opens in a new tab), from github.com/nikivanov/watney (opens in a new tab). Pinned to commit 95ab8e0 (opens in a new tab).

Fork on GitHub (opens in a new tab)Download the files at this commit (.zip)
Hardware license
GPL-3.0-only (opens in a new tab)
Software license
GPL-3.0-only (opens in a new tab)
Commercial use
Allowed

Some folders have their own license: js/ui/ (MIT).

This repository contains executable files that Robotheca doesn't check. Only run them if you trust the creator.

Which files (5 scripts)

Photo and 3D model

Watney, photo from its repository
Photo:@nikivanov (opens in a new tab)GPL-3.0-onlysource file (opens in a new tab)

3D preview converted from github.com/nikivanov/watney at 95ab8e0, under GPL-3.0-only. View the original files from GitHub (5.6 MB) (opens in a new tab)

What it can do

Written by Robotheca from the project's documents.

  • Telepresence rover built on a Raspberry Pi, controlled through a browser interface on port 5000.
  • Streams low-latency HD video from a camera module as hardware-encoded h264.
  • Provides bi-directional audio with echo cancellation.
  • Drives with motors on each side and can detect being taken off its charging dock.
  • Can attempt to re-dock by driving forward for one second when off-charger re-docking is enabled in its config.

Bill of materials

This repository has no parts list Robotheca can read yet.

Build guide

The creator's steps, each with its instructions.

  1. 1Update the UPS power supply firmware to v10
  2. 2Print the 3D printable parts with 0.2mm layer height (tires in TPU, others in PE
  3. 3Write the Watney SD card image to an SD card
  4. 4Assemble the rover following the detailed assembly video and wiring diagrams
  5. 5Configure Wi-Fi and rover settings

The guide appears here as you scroll.

Guide by @nikivanov (README.md), under GPL-3.0-only.

More guides

Wiring and electronics

Notes written by Robotheca from the project's documents.

Main parts

  • Raspberry Pi (3A+ is the design target; 4B reportedly works).
  • Raspberry Pi camera module (v3 needs a software change to work).
  • Motors driving each side of the rover.
  • Servo(s) listed in the wiring diagrams.
  • LEDs listed in the wiring diagrams.
  • UPS power supply board (firmware v10 recommended).
  • Lithium Ion batteries and a charging dock with passthrough charging.
  • Audio hardware (wiring diagram provided, parts not named in the text).

Connections

  • Wiring diagrams for audio, LEDs, motors and servos are provided in the images/wiring folder.
  • Motor direction can be corrected by swapping ForwardPin and ReversePin in rover.conf.
  • Other GPIO pins can be chosen by editing the pin settings in rover.conf.
  • Most connections are made with standard breadboard jumper wire, with some soldering.