ROBOTICS

Panzeroids

Become a desktop general with these battlin’ bot tanks.
By Dave Prochnow

W ELCOME TO THE BATTLEFIELD OF A Robot Hacker’s Delight
the future, where robot gladiators fight to For tanks, I used two Leclerc French Army Main
decide the political power of their human Battle Tank (MBT) kits from Academy Models. I
commanders. Robots have replaced human sol- bought them for just $16 each, and at that price,
diers, and human deaths on the field of battle are a these kits represent one of the best bargains in
historical memory. Yeah, right — dream on! robot hacking. You get two motors, complete with
Well, actually, this vision of tomorrow is here gearboxes, mounted in a neat, self-contained chas-
today, scaled down a bit. Behold: Panzeroids, robot sis. Even if you don’t build a tracked robot, you can
tanks that battle to the death — an LED-flashing use the kit’s motor/gearbox combination for numer-
death. The field of conflict? Your kitchen floor. The ous other projects.
scale may be small, but the combat is real. Best of The first step is to assemble the plastic body of
all, Panzeroids won’t cost you the national debt; you your model tank, as described in the kit’s instruc-
can easily build two dueling tanks for less than $50. tions. But you should stop just before the part

To build a Panzeroid, you start with a stock motor- where you attach the remote control cable to the ized model tank kit. Then you hack in a type of motor gearboxes. This is where the hacking begins control circuit called a “bicore” and an infrared (IR) and the Panzeroids are born. Instead of connecting LED emitter flasher. What you get is a robotank that to the tethered remote, each motor gearbox will can independently locate, track, and “kill” another connect to your robot’s bicore “brain.” similarly equipped tank. Here’s how I built mine.