Has anyone hacked one of those Mini R/Cs yet?

In the June issue of Nuts & Volts Magazine, L. Paul Verhage shows how to hack mini R/C cars in the Personal Robotics column. It may be what you are looking for.

Dan Danknick Technical Editor N&V, SERVO Magazines

Shawn Brown wrote:

I purchased 2 char-g cars. I removed the motors and gears and started to build a nano sumo robot. The motors dont have too much torque to be used as a really serious sumo but for my first one I think they should work fine!

jamie

I remember reading somewhere recently in Servo Mag about hacking some kind of cheap, dollar wise, R/C toy.

Looking on-line at Servo Magazine June 2004 issue... There is an article "Hack This Budget Airplane" by L. Paul Verhage.

Don't know if this is what you want but... Mike

P.S. Oh, have I done this? Not yet.

Somewhere I heard of hacking one of these for more drive time. It just seems to be a capacitor that is charged up, for a power supply. These people just put a bigger capacitor in it to get more drive time.

The steering, from what I could tell, is just an electromagnet/magnet combo that pulls the wheels one way or the other. Little pager type motor for drive.

Nothing too informative, but perhaps a start.

BAM

at one point, i found the data sheets on the web too.

I found the same when I took one apart - was kinda hoping for a way to make the steering a bit more effective.

If anyone wants I can post some pictures that I took at the time. Gives you an idea of what is in there, or at least what was in the one I have.