Nowadays, innovation should be as interactive as possible. The days of one or two people dictating what technology will be made are over. Even copyrights are becoming obsolete with the expansive accessibility of information everywhere. Companies that embrace this new idea of business and innovation are set for great success.
Meet Turtle Rover. Turtle Rover is essentially a Mars Rover drone used on Earth. It can be used as a land-based drone, among other things, in extremely harsh conditions. The base is purchased and from there users can reinvent it any way they would like. With open USB, I2C and servo connections one can use any of-the-shelf components to provide new functionalities. The Turtle Rover team that came up with the idea while in Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland and worked on Mars rover prototypes for student competitions throughout Europe and the United States. Szymon, one of the founders, says, "As we took high places in University Rover Challenges and even won the European Rover Challenge, we decided to move further and build something similar, but for the Earthlings - to allow everyday people to dig into robotics and use robots in any situation you can think of."
The rover they built is an extremely durable and modifiable piece of equipment. "When taken out of the box, Turtle can act as a little ground drone capable of working in harsh terrain while video streaming to your phone or tablet," Szymon says. It is actually pretty small, only about 1.25 feet by 1.25 feet, but, as a result, it can go just about everywhere. Also, it can carry about 11 pounds of equipment on top (about its own weight) for modifications, tablets, phones, etc. It includes a robotic arm and gripper that can be used for a plethora of things as well as a full HD camera. The casing is completely waterproof, so it really can be used everywhere it has traction. "To accomplish the 'wherever' we designed the Rover to be waterproof, wirelessly controlled and easy repairable - mostly built of aluminum, steel, and durable plastics," he says.
The Turtle Rover is a modifiable earth drone inspired by the Mars Rover. [Photo/Turtle Rover]
Developing the Turtle Rover to be waterproof and easy to modify was a challenge. "Imagine, normally you connect to your computer or phone using USB connector; try to find one that is waterproof and stays waterproof when connected as well - it took us 1 year to finally be able to tell that it's doable and then second year to tell it's manufacturable," Syzmon recalls. He says they utilize 3D-printing and learned how to assemble the robots in quantity to make it affordable and marketable to consumers. "Turtle, compared to drones, is full-metal and hard to damage," Szymon says. "You can even give it to children and they won't break it and that's a hell of an achievement!"
Once the design was complete and the means to manufacture it were established, it was important to Szymon and his team that the code and ideas are open source - meaning folks can build on ideas that other folks develop to utilize the robot. Even after a year of being on the market, there are plenty of examples of this innovation. "Most of our clients are in academics where they use the Turtle to build their own research, like using the Turtle Rover to map radiation in Fukushima," points out Szymon. "But there are early adopters in different niche markets, too, like construction site inspection, agriculture, and the space industry." Szymon says that the rover is used in space research in Switzerland, building inspection in New Zealand, and to take photos of wild lions in South Africa.
He is excited by all the possibilities and sees a bright future for the Turtle Rover as a result of the sharing and open source concept they are adopting. “Imagine a band of Turtles acting as snow plows, cleaning your front yard or securing the perimeter in your garden,” Szymon ponders. “That's the future; we just need to kick the market to take the leap of faith and finally do the things everybody is dreaming about for decades.”
Turtle Rover is attempting to create opportunities for development with forums on their website, as well as using rover competitions as a way to have people come up with ideas to improve the Turtle and test it out. On their Facebook, they bring up fun examples of using the land drone, such as collaboration between Turtle and popular YouTube channel - The Slingshot Channel. The Slingshot Channel is run by a German vlogger that comes up with crazy, innovative, and interesting slingshot weapons. Turtle predicts that he will weaponize the Turtle as a mini-tank.
What does this mean to an average person or an RVer? Basically, the possibilities are endless. Turtle is a base that can be used as a simple drone, in harsh conditions and hard to reach places, which is impressive by itself. But more than that, for folks that have ideas on what a mini-rover wireless robot can be used for, it is the perfect means to make those ideas a reality. On the website, Turtle’s vision is “to support even the craziest robotic ideas.” And they already took care of the hard part; all you need is the idea and some creativity.
Business, Industry Edge, Off Road, Outdoors, Products, Technology