3-in-1 All-Terrain Robot

I’ve been building OWI robot kits since the mid-1980s. Some have been good, a few not worth the box they came in. Every once in a while, OWI does a kit that’s great — their 3-in-1 All Terrain Robot (ATR) is one of these.

This entertaining kit, suitable for kids 12 and up, lets you build three different tracked robots. You start by assembling separate modules, then snap the modules together to create a rover, forklift bot, or gripper crawler. You can always unsnap the modules and reconfigure them for another style. I built the forklift version, spending about three hours while watching reruns of Star Trek. The assembly manual is clear and concise, with great 3D pictures to show how things go together.

The robots are motorized using a wired control box. Two motors operate the left- and right-side tracks, while a third motor operates an extended mechanism — the forklift goes up and down, for example, and the gripper opens and closes.

The ATR is immensely hackable, thanks to its modular design. Unplug the 4-pin connector from the control box, and substitute your own microcontroller. Looks like there’s just enough room on top for an Arduino, a motor shield, and some LiPoly batteries. Seems like I’ll be watching more Trek episodes!

2 Responses to 3-in-1 All-Terrain Robot

A SUSHANT on February 7th, 2012 at 7:39 am said:

hi,
my name is sushant.I keen to make a terrain robot .
Can u guys please guide me on this issue……how to built ,what r the components required……..,how to combine them………..

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Cissy on June 18th, 2012 at 1:07 am said:

Thank you for your review! You sound very knowledgeable. I just bought the kit for my younger Brother’s birthday and for some reason our control board doesn’t seem to be working thoroughly….ie. the motor controlling the forklift’s arms can only move up, not down (the right button is unresponsive) and the other motor controlling the legs can only work backwards (pushing up is unresponsive).

I feel like I’m cursed because this is the 3rd toy I’ve chosen from that store and each time had to return them because there was a problem.

Is there any easy way for me to fix this? We spent so much time building it together and he loves it so much.

I’ve tested the control board directly (without the controller case) and it still doesn’t work…

Thank you sooooo much for listening/reading, I am feeling so disheartened!

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