taking a walk

[treehugger]

so the wife an i were walking the mutt today and we passed by my on road spot (very large car lot, new shinny i mean Boeing large ) and in the distance was the unmistakable sound of rc motor noise so i wandered over and started up a chat . so he brings the car back a 2wd traxxas and i see a pair of wires coming of each wheel so know my curiosity is getting the better of me he didn't want to talk about it but in the end he came clean .he is an electronics engineer and he is working on traction control . has anyone heard of this before he said it was almost complete and was working out the glitches

Paul

[Halgar]

Traction control is a big deal in the realm of 1:1 vehicles, which is why we have ABS, AWD, and 4wd features that are common today. You look at any super car and it's got all kinds of traction controls on it which overall improve the quality of handling.

Whether such devices are warranted on an RC, who knows, but if you think about how it benefits a real car, then you could see where there could be some serious benefits to an RC, particularly since you have no "driver feel" with an RC to tell you what the vehicle is doing.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Well, I hate to say it, but if anyone comes out with it first it would be Traxxas. Everyone else seems to be content to watch what they do, see how it does, and then copy it if it does well. Of course by the time they do Traxxas is already miles ahead in sales. I have nothing against Traxxas, but it would be nice if someone else would take a daring leap forward. I guess the HPI B5 is a clear exception. I mean large scale off-road vehicles have been around forever, but none of them touch the popularity that the B5 boasts. More to the point, don’t modern radios have something to the effect of a traction control system? Maybe not as advanced as what he was working on, but something. Maybe even my M8 if I knew what everything did.

The real question is why didn’t you yell “Hey look! Sasquatch!” and then grab the car and run? I mean sure, he may have caught your wife, but you’d be long gone and we could be looking at pics of his latest endeavor. It was very selfish of you not to steal that car!

[treehugger]

well ive seen Sasquatch and i dont think that would have made a good distraction and the little box of electronics would have been as much use to me as a chocolate t pot but i did one better i got his number and made plans to meet on our square acre of mmm nice new black top did i tell you this lot is big
so im going to take my tf2 down there next week and no wife and put this new fangled box of magic for a spin i already asked how much to deck out my car with this new control and like all people with more brains than me (ie everyone else )he didnt have a clue on price
so i will keep you bad drivers posted
edit
oh i guess a description would be good it looked like a small cog had been installed on each hub this was a 2wd car but it had this gizmo on on all four
and of this came two small wires into a small box of obvious prototype electronics

[Halgar]

well ive seen Sasquatch and i dont think that would have made a good distraction

Good God man! You had a woman there! She could have flashed him and you'd have been home posting pics before he knew what happened!

oh i guess a description would be good it looked like a small cog had been installed on each hub this was a 2wd car but it had this gizmo on on all four
and of this came two small wires into a small box of obvious prototype electronics

My guess on those would at the very least be wheel speed sensors, though possibly an independent 4 wheel braking system. In the rear that would be able to slow the faster spinning tire (less traction ) so that more power goes to the slow side. Braking in the front could possibly help with under/over steer.

Was there a servo attached to the wing so that it could be used as a drag brake?

[treehugger]

well i just scored my super spy kit including shades with cameras in the frames and i will be installing cameras in the lot (this is a big new freshly paved black acer of flatness mmm ) yes so i will set the stage for the next weekend i just have to get a buyer it has to be someone with a large trench coat and a thick Russian accent preferebly turning up in a old Sikorski helo

[Jay Dub]

Jurgen Lautenbach (sp?) from LRP fame was developing a traction control system many years ago, until IFMAR and subsequently ROAR, etc. deemed them illegal for sanctioned races. It might be cool, for bashing. But it is a waste of time for racing, as they cannot be used. This goes for real time telemetry too btw. -Jeff

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Well, I think it’s impractical for r/c racing at this time anyway, but if Traxxas did develop it they would throw those rules right into their bank vault along with all their other treasures.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

As I walked back to finish Beowulf I thought that my post might come off a bit brash. Not that I mind that if it’s my intent, but since this is not the case I felt I should clarify. You are exactly right and those sanctioning bodies are wise to repel this sort of technology. Expense to the average racer is always in the forefront of their minds even though it may not seem that way. They have to maintain balance between the average Joe and the company that happens to have the fattest wallet at the time. Every form of business falls victim to this syndrome. Not to go on too long, I’m just saying “Well said”. Facts are facts until dollar signs replace the s. Luckily for us racers Traxxas really doesn’t have their eye on trophies so much as they do the gold that they’re made of. I truly admire them though, so I don’t mean this as a bash. It’s just good business.

[treehugger]

well maybe i have misled the guy had a traxxas i dont think that meant anything except that's what he had i think he was making the traction control for a coarse project (and to make me drive better )not some traxxas RnR

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Yeah, I doubt he works for them. I sorta got even more off topic in a thread that was already in the “off topic” section. I guess that makes it “off off topic” or “off topic to the 2nd power” or something like that. Anyway, I would be very interested in seeing whatever it is he’s doing. Enjoy that lot too. Sounds like a good one.

[Mr. ED]

traction control was available for cars at tsome point , not just under development. But yes, the banning made them unpopular and they disappeared of the scene again.
They werent't much different of gyroscopes used in rc helicopters I heard. Another variant is the 'drift-assistant' as released by... wasn't it yokomo?

[SteveK]

Jurgen Lautenbach (sp?) from LRP fame was developing a traction control system many years ago, until IFMAR and subsequently ROAR, etc. deemed them illegal for sanctioned races. It might be cool, for bashing. But it is a waste of time for racing, as they cannot be used. This goes for real time telemetry too btw. -Jeff

I remember this, I thought it was Schumacher but maybe he just ran with/for them. The picture I saw was a tiny little device, like the old FET boosters for servos, and what looked like a servo lead went to a sensor at each wheel. Without the torque-splitting diffs all traction control in an R/C car could really do is limit the power to control wheelspin. Probably wasn't worth the trouble anyway once tires got so sticky.

[markt311]

GM was the one you guys are thinking about, it had traction control and "slide control", of course it was banned as soon as it was released. But I still ran one on my Schuey touring car back in 97 or 98.