RoverSentry is a project that transforms a standard RC Car into robotic sentry that will circle a property and take pictures of any suspicious activity it encounters. Once programmed with the patrol path the RoverSentry is autonomous and will continue its patrol until the entire patrol path has been traversed.
- Protrols a property and takes snapshots of intruders
- Utilizes GPS to traverse a property (reqires mission planner - see below)
- Heat sensing snapshots
- Web based dashboard for setup and mission monitoring
- Gallery of mission snapshots
- Video capture with night vision mode
- Real time viewing of mission using standard browser
- Support for real time telemetry monitoring (mission planner compatible) built in
Here's a shortened list of the parts needed to recreate this project. See the part list page for detials on the individual parts and the Rover layout page for details o the assembly of the components onto the RC Card frame.
- RC Car
- Raspbery Pi 2
- Raspberry Pi expansion board
- Raspicam with night vision LEDs
- APM 2.6 module
The APM2.6 supports the optional use of a telemetry modem which is supported by the Mission Planner application (see below). A Wifi dongle is required for real time viewing of the Video stream from the camera.
The overall cost to reproduce this project from scratch is about $400, < $250 if you have an RC car and RC controller to start with. All of the costs are Hardware related (not including your time). The software is entrirely free!
The RoverSentry software is comprised of open source and custom software running on both the APM2.6 and a Raspberry Pi 2. Whenever possible open source software was used to provide camera, sensor, or GUI services. Custom software was necessary to contol the APM module, interface with sensors, and provide a web based app to control and view a real time video stream. . The modules of code assembled is shown to the left. Refer the Software Architecture wiki page for further details.
RoverSentry will require a mission planner (e.g. [Mission Planner](http://ardupilot.org/planner/index.html)) to load waypoints for property bounderies. Once the waypoints are loaded and the is autopilot is armed, the Roversentry will start its rounds.
The Rover Sentry also support real time telemtry if a telemetry modem is configured for use. The Mission planner application can be used to monitor the RoverSentry as it traverses the mission waypoint. The Mission planner can also be used to control the mission if desired.
See the Mission Planner wiki page for detials on setup and mission settings.
The RoverSentry web app provides a graphical user interface to view a live video feed from the drone, and give the ability to execute basic functions including photo taking, photo management, and path redirection. The web app provides the following pages:
- Main Page
- Displays a real time video using the Rovers Sentry video camera
- Provides easy asccess buttons for basic commands (Start mission, pause, resume, stop, take snapshot, etc.)
- Links to other pages
- Photo gallery that allows the user to view, sort, and delete photos taken by the drone and snapshots taken by the user.
- Help page that provides basic help for operation and information on app settings.
See the Sentry web app user guide for detials.
View the RoverSentry wiki for detials on recreatin the RoverSentry including mechanical drawings and software installation guidance.