For my year 12 systems engineering project i have to create an electro/mechanical system. I thought that an RC car might be suitable for this.

I have about 6 months to build this. The limits i have are that

1, I have to build it myself (obvious i know).
2, I cant just go buy a kit.
3, I can't build anything thats extreemely harmful.

My real question is, what should i build? I want it to be a monster truck design but should it be petrol or electric? If you have the time could you also tell me the difficulty in building these thing?

I have a teacher that is quite adept at the mechanical aspect of things which is why i thought a petrol car might be good, but he isnt so good with electronics where as i am ok with it. I can solder and rebuilt a 4-stroke mower engine last term if that helps.

P.S. I have alot of time to decide on this as i havent finished year 11 yet.

What about a prototype moon rover? It would have to be all electric though, no gas stations on the moon (or air :o).

Are there any particular aspects he wants you to focus on? With electrics, you could possibly have a motor inside each wheel, geared down to run really slowly, but also really accurately and with lots of tourque. Skid steering would eliminate the need for a possibly complex mechanincal steering rig, which in my experience can be a bit of a hassle when building it yourself. Skid steering is pretty easy to manage.

Electrics would be easier to manage, and more remotely workable too, generally you need a human with a special starter motor to start model engines. What about control, are you just going to stick with radio and mechanical servos, or a more complex, long range cellphone/wifi communication, and computer controlled servos?

Radio would probably be cheaper and easier, but with the low price of networkable cell phones and low cost computer stuff, long range control would be impressive enough to be worthwhile.

He doesn't want me to focus on any particular aspect, it just has to have a mechanical sysytem and an electrical system in it. He did tell me however that he could help me when it comes to the mechanical side of things if need be.

This phone idea- would i have to call the other phone to control the device or would it be bluetooth?

P.S Thanks for the reply

He doesn't want me to focus on any particular aspect, it just has to have a mechanical sysytem and an electrical system in it. He did tell me however that he could help me when it comes to the mechanical side of things if need be.

This phone idea- would i have to call the other phone to control the device or would it be bluetooth?

P.S Thanks for the reply

Ideally with a mobile phone control system you would have two phones with packet-sending capabilities like a wireless modem, so you could 'call' the car with a phone that is connected to a computer, and control it via the packets you send it. I'm not too knowledgeable about that field, but it has always interested me to be able to control a vehicle remotely from anywhere on Earth via the phone company's relay towers.

The cell phone sounds like a good idea but im not too knowledgable in that area myself so i think i will stay with radio controls as it's easier to find the parts i need and set them up.

I want a remote control car but im not sure if buying the parts and making it myself can evade the whole no kits rule, ill ask my teacher about it.

The rover is a great idea as I could make the body somewhat easily and it would leave alot of room open for experimentation with things like suspension for clearing obstacles and solar panels on the body if i can afford them.