Help with RC Duck Idea

[AMD1]

At work we have a lake overlooked by offices and this is what I want to do....

Buy a RC decoy duck which can be operated an iPhone / Android smartphone using Bluetooth enabling staff to move the duck around the pond from their desks / side of the lake. Is this possible? Is there a UK based company that could build me one or two?

TIA

[wildoliver]

What sort of total range and what kind of speed would duck need to move at? What sort of recharging facilities would be preferred, would someone take the ducks in on a night? Would they need to dock themselves automatically to charge?

[AMD1]

Range about 20m so can be used from the lake side decking. The speed would be duck speed, although 30 knots would be fun. Someone would take it in at night to charge on conventional mains supply.

[sgrimshaw]

Bluetooth range is not really going to be good enough.

If you're prepared to go R/C then you can buy them:

http://www.proboatmodels.com/Products/Default.aspx...

[AMD1]

Thought of the usual RC transmitter, but I would like any member of staff (6000 of them) being able to pair with the duck and move it with their own smartphone.

Am I being too ambitious?

[wildoliver]

You have realistic expectations, although you could go a different route.

Speed is not going to be a problem, your issue is the control of it, as has been said bluetooth isn't going to cut it, if it were within a wifi network it could be controlled via wifi though, the biggest jobs going to be the phone aspect, I could knock you up a couple of radio controlled ducks in a few hours using a controller, which may be worth going back to considering if your aim is for people to control the ducks from the lakeside, if however you want it to be a more mobile spur of the moment type of use, for instance for someone who is sat at a desk mulling over a new design and using their phone as you suggest then you need to look at using an app.

That app would likely communicate either through wifi or mobile network with a simcard in the duck, if it were mobile network controlled then never mind control the duck from your desk you could control it from the other side of the world.

That would be the expensive part of the process. Mainly the building of the app, knocking the electronics together is easy as is building the duck.

My advice, a duck control station, well probably a few, gets past the problem of several people wanting to control the duck on an app and being queued.

[AMD1]

Using a SIM card would not be an issue at all, the offices are that of a well known mobile phone company! Wifi is also in place throughout the whole campus.

[sgrimshaw]

Couple of ducks between 6000!

How much time will be wasted with people trying to get control?

Also, consider the battery capacity of the duck. Going to need some serious capacity to last all day powering the connectivity and propulsion.

How big is the lake?

How easy to recover a duck which has run out of juice?

[wildoliver]

I actually think the duck dock is the answer, although in fairness with a very small motor and plenty of batteries on board which with a duck wouldn't be hard you would get a long run time, but I really like the idea of programming it so when it starts to run low on power it trundles off to it's dock to charge up, saves a stranded duck situation.

Wifi control, duck dock so minimal maintenance and app controlled would be a neat solution. Sorting out the quantity of ducks - people so everyone gets a go is the question.

[AMD1]

I would want to prove proof of concept first and then have a couple of ducks in the pond (along with the real ducks). In terms of the 6000 staff all wanting to play.....we would have to be selective on who gets the app / passcode.

I like the idea of the dock, but that sounds expensive?

[wildoliver]

The whole idea isn't going to be cheap, the cost saving is in cutting out mistakes and design flaws early, there is potentially a massive labour/hassle cost involved for a man to have to collect the ducks in every night and charge them/remember to charge them, then recover them when they go flat or he forgot to charge them.

I'll be honest while I love the idea there are cheaper ways to amuse staff!

[AMD1]

We have full time onsite staff who maintain the ponds and grounds so manpower is not to much of a problem.

I would start with one duck and judge the reaction, if successful, maybe more in the summer when staff use the outside decking by the pond.

The idea is create the right tone of creativity, fun, technology for the campus and employees. Other initiatives are being developed.

[groomi]

What about solar power?

[wildoliver]

Don't forget even in the most basic form the first "roboduck" will be the most expensive, future ducks would be a unit cost which would probably have an actual cost per unit of circa £150-200 each. Getting the infrastructure in though would be the expensive bit depending how set you are on that controlled from phone function.