Send a rover around a planet

Drive the prototype R5

The rover will be released behind my house in Germany from time to time and you can drive it until the batteries are discharged (around 2h of operation time).
Go to the control center of R5.
Follow the robot on Twitter to get a message whenever the tiny explorer is online:

@R6Scout

1. Landing areas
2. Construction details
3. Schedule
4. Frequently Asked Questions

The video about the campaign

With the Indiegogo camaign I did not meet my goal but that doesn't mean the project died! The second approach is to build a clearly smaller R6 being less complex and more easy to handle that is also cheaper to send to your destination. With my newly created CNC v3.2 I have the capabilities to start a small volume series of the robot, so that a fleet of explorers can start multiple missions at once. You can become a sponsor of one of those rovers. More about that idea will be published as soon as the first R6 runs fine.

Links on the World Wide Web:

Blog of the Raspberry Foundation
Norbert "Homofaciens" Heinz is a long-time Friend of Pi (you may know him as That Guy with the Amazing Voice). His videos, available in both German and English, showcase some brilliantly imaginative engineering, and we're always excited whenever a new one comes out...
Read all

The idea behind the campaign:

The idea is to send one or more robot(s) around planet earth. The tour will be a relay "race" (it's a slow vehicle), thus besides money, I need your help to make my dream come true:

1. Candidates for landing areas

You have an exciting place that you'd like to show the world?
You are a teacher, professor or somebody else that educates people?
Your museum, castle, gallery or exhibition has a dark room with hidden treasures, but no access to the public?
You are a scientist working on an isolated place (with Internet connection) looking for a way to invite some guests?
Rent R6 to share your projects for at least 24 hours with people all over the world!

Name	Country / City	Remark	Votes
Raspberry Foundation	United Kingdom, Cambridge	Well, you should know about the Raspberry Foundation. If not, have a look at their pages: https://www.raspberrypi.org	...voting not open yet.
Eastlea Computing Club	United Kingdom, London Borough of Newham	We are a very diverse school in an interesting area of London. Our school is based over a large campus and is made from very old (Victorian) and very modern architecture. We are a leading school for teaching computer science. We also have a dedicated group of students who meet most lunchtimes to develop programs, robots and do computer science based work. It is this group who will facilitate the auspicious event. Have a look at the pages of the school: http://www.eastlea.newham.sch.uk
Chris & Ray Rumore	United States of America, Albertson, NY	Our landing zone: Sands Point Preserve We would take your robot on a trip to the Preserve with our robot "Volt" - there are so many areas to explore! Woody trails, castles, beach,etc. From there, another group may take the 'bot to Times Square, Museum of Natural History, or some other place.(We'd be willing to visit those locations as well). Have a look at Ray's page about his robot companion "Volt": http://rayrumore.com/projects/2015/volt

Go to top of page ↑

How to apply for a landing area and what to consider

The robot will be send to you by a parcel service. You must feed the robot with electricity (plug in the rover's battery charger or insert charged batteries) and provide a way to get connected to the Internet (usually a WLAN hotspot or a smartphone). Watch over the robot all the time it runs in your area (it can drive into trouble or might be removed by local species...).
You will get the robot for several days, so that you can prepare your landing area and test all functionalities. I will assist in setting up the robot. Try to give many people a hand on the robot the time it resides in your area - a primary mission goal is to inspire future engineers and makers.
Have a look at my RoboSpatium to see how it works (e.g. the infrared communication modules in my Automuseum). R5 will be online from time to time to give you an impression of an outdoor operation.
You must send the rover to it's next destination or back to me after your mission is over.

If you are interested in becoming a mission target, send a mail to landing-area@RoboSpatium.de including the following information:

Address data of the contact person:
First and last name
Full address (won't be published)
Telephone number of contact person (won't be published).
The name of you or your group.
Describe your landing area, who you are and why the robot should come to your place. The more detailed and exciting your application, the better the chance to become a candidate. Don't forget to add photos of you, your team and your landing area. You can also use links to Facebook, Google or whatever that describe your intentions in more detail (would be nice if you or one of your team mates is the admin of the page you refer to).
Tell something about how to get people around you involved in your project and how to give them a hand on the robot (no landing area should be a one-man-show).
Share your application on social platforms.
The legal stuff in short (I don't like that, but it has to be written):
No drugs, no weapons (maybe a museum having a couple of them), no religious or political statements. This project is about science and technology.
This list can get modified over time (nobody is perfect and I'm just Noby, not nobody...).
If in doubt, I am the highest and final authority that can unplug the connection at any time.

Go to top of page ↑

2. Construction details of the robot

The construction details of R5 are available.
Those of R6 will go online as soon as the robot runs.

Go to top of page ↑

3. Schedule

The world tour starts if there is a sufficient number of donations allowing me to build the robot and moreover to pay the shipping. The time between two missions depends on the travel time of the robot. Whenever it moves between countries, customs clearance might delay the journey. That time will be even longer if the robot travels between continents. To keep the time between two missions short, the sequence of missions will be planned with frontiers in mind. The journey will last until there is no money left, but it can be restarted whenever new donations are made.

Go to top of page ↑