THE BRAIN - It is important to protect computers and other electronic devices from water, that would short-circuit the printed boards, and could even cause a serious discharge from the quite sizeable batteries. A Raspberry Pi is shown in this picture, with other circuit boards (sometimes called hats) on which to mount sensors with which the AmphiMax interfaces with its environment. Robotaxis use far more advanced lidars and cameras to achieve the safe operation of vehicles in a city-scape. This is a very basic version, but could graduate to a more advanced setup, as commercial packages become available at mass-produced prices. Copyright © pictures RD August 2021.

Having experienced a fire in the robot lab, from an electronic speed controller malfunction, we decided to incorporate two emergency shut down isolation buttons, to kill the power from the lithium polymer batteries to the drone radio controls.

It is better to have a bad experience early on, if that helps you to build in safeguards for long term reliability. Electronic components will never be 100% dependable, and robots should always have a kill switch that is independent of their internal wiring, such that a robot can always be shut down (deprived of motive power), in the event of a malfunction.

SPEED CONTROLLERS - One of the proportional digital speed controllers of Chinese origin, caught fire and blew up. This took us by surprise, where we'd only done a test rig to see if the radio control gear worked. The radio control worked on the right circuit, but blew up on the left circuit. Luckily we have spare controllers. But we should have wired in a kill switch, to shut the battery power off quickly. At least we know about the danger and can alter the circuit design, before it is all fitted into the Black Box.

KILL SWITCHES - These neat little printed circuit boards hold a receiver and solenoid that can take a 10 amp load. This is not sufficient for the AmphiMax, but we can use the low power circuit breaker to trigger a higher power solenoid, as one might find in automotive applications. We needed two kill switches, where our left and right track circuits have separate lithium polymer battery packs. These devices are so useful, we may use them on other robotic and/or radio controlled vehicles.

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This is what the Amiphimax is designed to carry. The amphibious tractor submerges in the sea, so that the (plastic) fishing vessel can launch, as in float off. This picture does not show the guides, or the cradles that the SeaVax rests on when being recovered.

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