WEBVTT - TechStuff plays with R/C 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.680 tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.239 and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:21.880 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:24.360 com and sitting across from me, as he always does, 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.160 senior writer Jonathan Strickland. In my younger and more vulnerable years, 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.320 my father gave me some advice that I've been turning 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:36.400 over in my mind ever since. With a shovel. Uh 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.080 possibly if you know the source of quote, let us know. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:45.280 And if you don't go to a library people. All right, So, um, 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.960 today we're going to talk about something that that several 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.880 listeners have requested over the past well probably two years 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.040 or so, but we've had a lot of people ask 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.120 about radio controlled toys. I think RC helicopters is the 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.000 one that we tend to get the most requests for, 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.039 but we've also had for r C cars and and 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:09.319 and just radio controlled vehicles in general, and they all 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:13.039 work at least on the radio side, with the same 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.520 basic premise. So we're going to cover that and then 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:20.600 maybe we'll get into some specifics. Yes, and oddly enough, 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:26.399 I have a little history, and boy do I mean history, 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:32.000 because this goes back to eight and one of our 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.600 old friends who messed around with radio in its very 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.800 very early days, and who had believe it or not. Actually, 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.679 you probably believe it if you know who. We're talking 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.679 about a patent for it. So there was an electrical 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:51.480 exhibition in Madison Square Garden and a guy named Nicola 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:56.360 Tesla faced off against Marconi in a no whole bar, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:02.120 two out of three falls match. So not not this time. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.960 Madison Square Gardens has a special place in my heart 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.760 as a wrestling fan. That's go ahead. Uh no, actually, uh, 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:14.760 this was a let me see hold on. Oh yes, 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:16.720 I wanted to make sure I was right. It was 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:22.120 a radio controlled boat, basically a steel boat about four 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.519 ft long or so. And um, he brought out this 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:29.440 radio controlled boat and people thought he was controlling it 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:33.799 with his mind powers because you know, radio was still 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.320 pretty new at that point. Remember, if a technology is 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:42.280 sophisticate enough, it would be indistinguishable from magic. Yes, however, 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:47.960 Tesla had his boat powered by several batteries on board. Um. Also, 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.680 there were like eight guys underneath the water, just pushing 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.160 it along holding their breath. Uh, this is Tesla we're 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.760 talking about. You know, he had access to future technology. 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.639 Eight robots underwater holding their breath. That's more like it. Um. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.440 But yeah, I mean it wasn't in a way, it 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.600 was not terribly different from from our current r C technology. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:13.679 And there did there so there were switches that were propelling, propowering, 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:18.760 powering the propeller, the rudder, and uh running lights. Oh 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.000 so he could even make the lights go on and off. Yeah. 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.320 And he even had a coherer, which is a switch 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:28.000 that act that was activated by radio. Um. And uh 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.519 had it had it set up so that he could 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.240 power or or control it by radio. And uh people 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.840 were freaked out by it because again it was magic 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.160 like to a lot of the people. Yes, he has 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.320 a U S Patent number six one eight zero nine 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:50.280 for a wireless remote control nine. Yeah. Now, A a 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.120 reporter from the New York Times was covering this and 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.360 he said, hey, you know what, you could make this uh, 0:03:55.480 --> 0:04:01.080 this boat go under water and carry explosives and uh, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.640 Tesla basically said no, no, no, no, no no no, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.320 this is not a torpedo. It's a robot. They to 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.600 help humanity not destroy it. Yeah, thanks for the Mitchell 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:15.000 and Web fans in the audience. Yeah, but yeah, basically 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.760 they suggested you, oh, you could use this for a torpedo. 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:19.960 They said, no, no, this this could be used to 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:24.400 help people, not destroy people. Um. And then it turns 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.200 out the military really wasn't interested in it. They were 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:29.760 it was too it was too much of a novelty 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:31.880 at the time for it to be of course, you 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:36.320 know now you know, we've got unmanned aerial vehicles and 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:42.440 all sorts of other remote controlled technology less. Um. But yeah, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.960 at the time, back in the late late nineteenth century, 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.279 they weren't interested. Yeah, technology ahead of its time, really 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.600 really Tesla and technology ahead of its time Tesla. If 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.520 Tesla had, if if he had been able to hold 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.240 onto his patents and his sanity, um, I think I 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.160 think the world would be would look a little different today. Yeah. Probably. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.320 We'd also probably be in fear for our lives whenever 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.720 we stepped outside about being zapped by some sort of 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:17.560 mac huge electronic rays. Anyhow, we're broadcasting power over to 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.920 New York, stay inside. Well no, no pun intended, I'll 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:27.640 fact you some electricity. Um. And that was a Delbert reference. Um, so, 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.000 so yeah, it's sort of if you uh, we'll pardon 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.520 the pun, it's sort of submerged for a while. For 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:36.520 for a few decades, it really didn't have a lot 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:41.040 of remote controlled stuff. Um, there were people who were 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.719 into the technology, I would I would say hobbyists probably 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.320 more than anything else, who are into different kinds of 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.480 radio controlled technology, But it really didn't come back again 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.680 as something that people were interested in until I would say, 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:58.000 at least, according to my research, around the nineteen sixties 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.880 was when you started seeing people with remote controlled cars 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.680 and planes and and gidsmos for toys. Yeah. Yeah, The 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:12.240 basics behind us are are fairly simple. Uh. The you 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.200 hold a controller and that controller has inside it a 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.280 transmitter and uh we actually talked quite a bit about 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.320 transmitters when we did our podcast about how radio works. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.680 But in case you don't remember, the basics behind a 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.839 transmitter are well, it's all based on on things like 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:37.760 magnetic fluctuations and the way that the the relationship between 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.880 magnetism and electricity. That's about two thirds of our podcast. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:43.919 it sounds might sound really familiar to those of you 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.040 who have been listening to tech stuff for a while. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.120 But uh, here's a very basic transmitter. You let's say 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.120 you've got a battery, and you've got two different lengths 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:57.560 of wire, okay, and one length of wire you connect 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:02.279 to either end of a some sort of voltage sensor. 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.679 So you've got a meter there that's going to register 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.320 whenever voltage passes through the wire. But it's not connected 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.600 to anything else, not connected to a power source. And 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.040 then you've got a battery and another length of wire, 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.960 and you connect the length of wire to the two 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.520 ends of the battery. Now, the moment that current begins 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:26.600 to flow through that wire, that change in voltage creates 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.840 a magnetic field. That magnetic field will induce electricity to 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.800 flow through the second length of wire, the one that's 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.120 not connected to a power source. It's only connected to 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.320 the voltmeter, and the voltmeter will register that there's a change. 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.840 Now it only will have electricity flow as the magnetic 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:49.640 field changes. Yeah, so you can't have a magnetic you 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.840 can't create a magnetic field, and it just perpetually creates 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.360 this flow of electricity. It's only whenever the magnetic magnetic 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:59.600 field itself changes. So by connecting and disconnecting the wire 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.720 from that battery, you are going to change the magnetic field, 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.040 which will and then induce electricity to flow through that 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.200 second wire. That's the idea of transmission there. It's the 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.640 idea of transmitting radio waves is essentially doing the same 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.960 thing you're really You're You've created a power source and 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:24.400 a circuit, and by making the the opening and closing 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:28.160 the circuit and a regular but rapid way, you can 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.920 create this um this change in magnetic fields. And then 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:35.240 if by putting it through an antenna, you can direct 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.400 it and and even uh amplify it in such a 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.080 way that you can detect it from a distance. And 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.480 then depending on how you do this and depending on 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:49.199 how you've UH programmed the receiver on the other end, 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:54.320 that's where you get the response. So, for example, if 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.600 I were to do this with you know, by recording 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.120 music and then encoding that so that it converts the 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:05.960 sound into electricity, the electricity then is essentially converted into 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:11.040 uh this this changing magnetic field. A receiver would have 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.760 would receive this changing magnetic field, convert that into electricity, 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.680 and then have another encoding device that would convert the 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:22.080 electricity back into sound. That's a very high level way 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:25.640 of looking at it. Well, we're not just limited with sound. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.640 We can transmit in from other kinds of information this way, 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:34.240 including directions essentially to a device. So in this case, 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.160 we're talking about a controller that let's let's take a 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.200 very basic controller. Let's say you've got a controller that 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.960 has a trigger and a wheel, and the trigger is 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.240 essentially your your your throttle, your accelerator. So if you 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:53.400 pull the trigger, it's sending a series of pulses. It's 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.160 it's a very specific series of pulses through a very 0:09:56.200 --> 0:10:01.120 specific frequency. And if your receiver is within range of 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:08.120 the whatever your transmitter's power is, uh, the receiver receives this, 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.880 this series of pulses and then interprets that as that's 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.679 the accelerator button. Hit the gas. Although it's not necessarily gas. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.880 There are r C cars and other vehicles out there 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.440 that use gas, but not all of them do. Yeah, 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.040 many of them will use electricity, but there are others 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.760 that will rely on some form of fuel besides elect uh, 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.840 you know, an electrical current. So that's a but. But 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:39.120 the the series of pulses from that accelerat ratar is 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:40.800 going to be different from the series of pulses. Then 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.680 if you were to twist the wheel uh to the right, 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.599 which would tell the vehicle, let's say it's an r 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.880 C car to turn right, that series of pulses is 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.120 going to be a different series. So that way, when 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.199 the r C car receives that message, it can interpret 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.760 that as saying, oh, this means turned the wheels to 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.800 the right, as opposed to hit the gas. Yeah. Now, UM. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.600 It's also important to note one of the things from 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:13.160 our radio podcast that radio has can take in a 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.880 number of different forms. I mean, we use there's a 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:21.120 broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation UM, of which radio is apart, 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.320 and the radio frequencies. It all depends on UM a 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:32.040 number of factors amplitude, wavelength and frequency UM. But just 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.360 you know, so it sort of depends on the shape 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.840 of the radio wave basically if you want to get 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.760 right down to it, and how many there are UM 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.679 but over a certain period of time. But the there 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.400 are a couple of frequencies that are specifically in the 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:52.080 United States devoted to consumer electronic consumer electronics and UH. 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.480 This is this is something that's regulated by the Federal 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.080 Communications Commission in the United States. The c UH and 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.960 it's the reason you might wonder why there needs to 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.560 be such an entity. Uh, the reason for it is 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.160 that if you had all of your different electronics and 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.640 it was unregulated, there's a lot of potential for interference. 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.719 Because if you've ever had a let's you've had a 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.040 remote control car before, right, Yeah, If you have a 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.120 remote control car and your buddy has a remote control 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.160 car and they're both running on the same frequency and 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.199 there's no way of differentiating it, then you can't race 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.679 your car against your buddy's car because every time you 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.000 press up on your control both cars start to move 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:40.000 because they you know, they can't differentiate between two signals 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.760 sent along the same frequency. So imagine that multiplied by 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:49.079 an astronomical number. If all devices were unregulated. I mean, 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.160 there's all you could have the argument of, well, if 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.880 it's unregulated, what are the odds that the frequency you 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:55.600 chose it's going to be the same as someone else. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.199 Those odds are pretty good. Actually, if you look at 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:03.520 the entire breadth of radio, everything that relies on radio transmissions, 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.719 because it's not just radio, it's television, it's all these 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.719 other sort of devices. Um, So that's why you had 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.080 to have a some sort of of body that would 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.440 regulate this and say, all right, we are dedicating this 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.719 part of the spectrum of the radio frequency spectrum to 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.640 consumer electronics. Yeah we can. Uh, I mean there are 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:27.680 a number of of real world non RC examples. Uh. 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.520 You know, it's the reason why, um, wireless hubs in 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.760 your house have the ability to change channels to ensure 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.760 that you don't interfere with the neighbors and vice versa. Um. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.040 You know, their their tales of pilots being able to 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:45.760 hear baby monitors. I don't know if that's the old 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.480 wireless phones. Yea, the wireless phones to uh, they've they've 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.800 changed the frequencies on which they broadcast simply to avoid 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.160 all the radio transmissions in the home. Now that they're 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:00.000 people have wire wireless networks and things, um, the interfere 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.439 with one another. Yeah. I remember having a wireless phone 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.520 where if you turned it on, sometimes you can hear 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.760 other people's conversations, like like not not conversations that were 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.560 happening in your home. Yes, but you know you turned 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.120 it out, you turned it on, you Yeah, you like, 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:16.760 I don't know if I can even make a phone call, 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:18.560 and I don't know if I want to, because if 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.520 I do, then maybe someone else is hearing what I'm saying. Yeah, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.320 So yeah, that that's the reason for the regulation. And 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.480 I remember to our conversation about the remote controls. They 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.000 used to use sound to change the channel, and I 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.480 used to, uh, I would drop magnets on this toy 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.160 that I used to play with at my grandmother's house. 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.720 She had one of those early TVs with or TVs 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.160 with early remote control, and I could change the channel 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.560 simply by uh the magnetic or actually it was a 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.640 sound thing, so it was the sound of the magnets falling. 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.520 It was an ultrasonic system as opposed to infrared or 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.920 radio waves. Yeah, I had the same thing with a slinky. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.760 But you happen to have that say that that interference, 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.560 and it was a sound interference, not an electromagnetic interference. 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.000 But it's it's funny when those little things happen. And 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:07.880 this is uh their courting off so that that people 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:13.440 can enjoy their radio controlled stuff and uh not interfere 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:15.560 with other people in and vice versa. Right, And a 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:20.120 lot of the the RC toy uh toys out there 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.840 are at least the older ones anyway, are dedicated in 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.240 either the twenty seven mega Hurts or the forty nine 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.000 Mega Hurts ranges. Some of them are actually capable of 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.640 doing either, so that you know, if you have a 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:34.200 whole bunch of friends together and you all want to 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.520 race your vehicles, you can switch from one frequency to 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:40.920 the other, so that way, you know, you you avoid 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.720 this interference problem. And also you can get more specific 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:48.720 within a frequency. So let's say that I'm say twenty 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.320 seven mega hurts is what my my vehicle runs on. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.400 Like that, that's it doesn't can't accept information from the 0:15:55.440 --> 0:16:00.280 forty nine mega hurts spectrum or frequency range. But I 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.760 could possibly if you this is all up to the manufacturer, 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.080 but you could create a device that could accept different 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.120 channels within the twenty seven mega hurts frequency range, so 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.840 twenty seven point one, twenty seven point two, twenty seven 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.520 point three, so you might have multiple channels that you 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.560 can switch on and that way, um, if you do 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.360 have a bunch of friends and you want to raise 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.960 your vehicles, you can all try different channels to make 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:29.560 sure that you know your signals aren't uh uh conflicting 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.920 with someone else's UM. And this is you know, that's 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:36.640 of course really important if you're in a competition, because 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.440 there are plenty of actual events out there where people 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.800 are building our C cars or our c whatever's and 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.480 competing them against each other in various races or obstacle 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:51.040 courses that kind of thing, um, And some of them 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.800 are kit based, and a lot of them now are 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:57.000 really you buy. You spend a lot of money from 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.000 a particular manufacturer and buy a racing our vehicle. But 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:06.000 of course skill comes into play too, So just because 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:07.480 you have the fastest car doesn't mean you're gonna be 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.439 the best driver automatically, that's true. Yeah, I mean there 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.000 has to be a receiver, of course, on board the 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.479 device that you're controlling. That's that's the second part of this, Right, 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.360 You've got the transmitter in your hand, but the vehicle 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.520 itself has to have a receiver, and of course it will. 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.760 The receiver will be attached to a micro controller of 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.840 some type that operates the servos on board the remote 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:38.000 controlled thing. Um. So you know, and it gets more 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.600 and more complex. Like for a car, you might have 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.200 ford in reverse and you know the wheels turning left 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.080 and right. That's that's pretty simple, you know, when you 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.440 get into something like a remote controlled airplane. Then you've 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.320 got other servos and other control surfaces. You've got uh, 0:17:55.440 --> 0:18:00.879 the you know, the engine or engines you've which of 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:03.160 course you're going to have to maintain speed to keep 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.200 the airflow going over the wing and keep the plane moving. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.600 But you've also got the rudder controls, you've got the 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.200 you know, the control surfaces on the wing to help 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.679 you go up and down, not not necessarily left and right. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.040 And you've got to operate all of those things. Um. 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:20.080 For a submarine, you might have the same type of 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.679 thing where you have control surfaces that that move the 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.440 sub up or down, left or right through the water. Um. Yeah, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:31.240 So the stuff that that you know, servos and motors 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.439 are very important in these devices. Yes. And this is 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:39.160 stuff that takes electrical energy and converts it into mechanical energy. Yes, 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.760 so we really the fascinating thing to me about an 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.760 r C car is seeing how many different types of 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.560 energy are being used. Yes, you know how many. And 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:54.680 it's relying on several different things. It's relying on uh, 0:18:54.720 --> 0:19:00.119 it's relying on electricity, on magnetic changes in magnetic um states. 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:05.520 It's relying on radio frequencies, it's relying on on mechanical energy. Uh, 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:09.720 it's a great lesson in basic physics really when you 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.439 look at it that way. And when I said that, 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:14.560 you know, the older ones run on twenty seven Mega 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.320 Hurts and four nine Mega Hurts. There are radio controlled 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.960 vehicles now that are in have our work in the 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.640 giga Hurts range because the gig Hurts also opened up 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:25.919 for some of the gig Hurts range open up for 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.840 consumer devices. So some of the professional I guess what 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:33.000 you can call it professional, some of the sports enthusiast ones, 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.280 the r C racing ones are in the Giga Hurts range, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.920 not in the Mega Hurts range. Yeah, of course this 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.359 is This is yet another one of those hobbies that 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:45.000 you can get into for a fairly reasonable cost if 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.760 you have have some money squirreled away. But you can 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:53.600 also really get into things, build things yourself, more complex devices, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:58.639 more expensive devices. You can move, say from a propeller 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:03.239 plane to a ducted fan, which is what people use 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.359 to sort of simulate a jet the appearance of a 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.320 jet basically the fans inside the engine, and so it 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.880 appears to be to work on jet. Also, I think 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.640 you can now buy jet engine real jet engines for 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.679 these aircraft, which I imagine need quite a bit of space. 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.359 And you know, we've even seen this sort of technology 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:27.480 used in actual vehicle vehicles, not model vehicles. Mean the 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.359 MythBusters have done it. Yeah, where where they were trying 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:33.560 to recreate a stunt that was too dangerous to have 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:35.920 a human behind the wheel of a vehicle or behind 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.920 the helm of a vehicle, whatever you want to call it. Um, 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.560 And so they would rig up a robot that would 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:46.080 be remote controlled and they would uh use that to 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.080 manipulate the vehicle. And you know, so, yeah, it's there 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.080 are a lot of different applications to this beyond the 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.520 typical I want, you know, I've got little little remote 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.480 control four by four and I want to drive it 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.000 around the neighborhood. You know. Well, battle bots, you know, 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.560 that was another type of remote controlled vehicle that uh 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:10.440 required things. Well, I mean that that actually is sort 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:16.840 of another illustration too, because say you have a bot 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.639 that has crawler treads on it, so you have your 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.960 left tread and your right tread, plus you might have one, 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.560 two or even more weapons on the battle bot. Then 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:30.640 you have to have um your controller and you you'd 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:32.879 have a couple of people on some of those crews 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.399 where somebody would drive the bot, so they would be 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.200 in charge of making sure it got where it needed 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:40.919 to go or got away from the other body if 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.960 their weapons were disabled. And then you had somebody operating 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:49.160 the weapons. So that required several different frequencies UM and 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:53.520 the receivers and controllers, the transmitters and controllers to manipulate them, 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:56.040 and the receivers and controllers on the device itself to 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.439 handle all those different things. They can get quite complex 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:03.280 UM and again costly, because you know, those machines cost 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:07.479 thousands of dollars. It's it can be uh, it can 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:09.400 be a lot of fun, and it can be very expensive. Well. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.840 And I mean I've also seen them in uh it's 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:17.879 it's not unusual to see it in applications like UM puppetry. 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.399 You know, the the Hinson Company has used remote controlled 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:27.400 servos for some of their more advanced puppet characters in 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:31.000 movies like Labyrinth and uh, you know, so that they 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:35.120 could have more articulation in the character's face, but operating 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.920 under the same principles as the remote control car. UM. 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:41.680 It's just you have like a remote control goblin face, 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.160 which I think it's pretty awesome, and unfortunately I don't 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:48.320 know anywhere where you can buy it. It's UM, it's 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:51.560 really funny that you know that's something that's ubiquitous is 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:55.760 actually fairly fairly easy to accomplish UM. And of course 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.800 there are many different kinds of hobby stores UM. Some 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:01.920 may be local to you depending on where you live. 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:06.760 Others are online and pretty easy to access UM and 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:09.359 they offer all kinds of different things. One of the 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:13.439 big toys I saw for this this past holiday season, 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.159 the one we just uh finished up since we're recording 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:18.640 this we actually we're recording it before this happens, but 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:23.520 we're publishing in early were the UH air Swimmers line 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.520 of inflatable toys that have remote control. The it makes 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:31.000 the there's a fish and a shark that can it 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:32.919 looks like they're swimming through the air, which is kind 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:37.080 of an actually pretty cool effect to see. But I 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.320 mean they're they're using the same kinds of remote controls 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.960 that we've had for decades more or less, just different 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.680 frequencies maybe on the transmitter and receiver. Yeah, And I've 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:52.159 been I've been kind of UM searching since Chris is 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:55.040 wondering why I've been staring at my computer. I've been 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:59.359 trying to figure you were just on YouTube again now. No, 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:06.320 but I've been trying to find a specific UM toy 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:09.359 because I owned one, and I can't remember what it 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:14.200 was called. But it was essentially a little toy battling robot. 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.520 They I think there was something like six different types 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:21.320