WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Plays with R/C 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:14.480 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:20.280 I'm your host executive producer Jonathan Strickland, and I love 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.240 all things tech and today it is time for another 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.560 classic episode of text Stuff. Today we're going to look 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.640 at r C toys radio controlled toys. How do they 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.760 work and what are what is their history? Chris Pillette 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:36.239 and I had a lot of fun talking about this. 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.600 We both are big kids at heart, so it was 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.239 a lot of fun to look into this topic. It 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.760 originally published on January four, two thousand twelve. I hope 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.839 you enjoy. We're going to talk about something that that 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.800 several listeners have requested over the past we probably two 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.160 years or so, but we've had a lot of people 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.959 ask about radio controlled toys. I think r C helicopter 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:01.440 jers is the one that we tend to get the 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.680 most requests for, but we've also had for r C 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.840 cars and and and just radio controlled vehicles in general, 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:13.720 and they all work at least on the radio side, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.280 with the same basic premise. So we're going to cover 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:20.039 that and then maybe we'll get into some specifics. Yes, 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:26.720 and oddly enough, I have a little history. And boy 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:31.880 do I mean history, because this goes back to eight 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.800 and one of our old friends who messed around with 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.600 radio and it's very very early days and who had 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.160 believe it or not. Actually, you probably believe it if 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.400 you know who. We're talking about a patent for it. 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.280 So there was an electrical exhibition in Madison Square Garden 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:56.120 and a guy named Nicola Tesla faced off against Marconi 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.200 in a no whole bar, two out of three falls match. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.120 So I'm familiar, not this time. Madison Square Gardens has 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.160 a special place in my heart as a wrestling fan. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:14.520 That's go ahead. Uh no, Actually this was a let 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.160 me see hold on. Oh yes, I wanted to make 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.600 sure I was right. It was a radio controlled boat, 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.840 basically a steel boat about four ft long or so. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.160 And um, he brought out this radio controlled boat and 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.320 people thought he was controlling it with his mind powers, 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.200 because you know, radio was still pretty new at that point. 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.119 I remember, if a technology is sophisticate enough, it would 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:45.200 be indistinguishable from magic. Yes, however, Tesla had his boat 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.680 powered by several batteries on board. Um. Also, there were 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.520 like eight guys underneath the water just pushing it along 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.280 holding their breath. This is Tesla we're talking about. You know, 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.760 he had access to future technology. Eight robots underwater holding 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.680 their that's more like it. Um. But yeah, I mean 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.480 it wasn't in a way, it was not terribly different 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.520 from from our current r C technology. And there were 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:15.880 there so there were switches that were propelling, propowering, powering 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.280 the propeller, the rudder, and uh running lights. Oh so 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.280 he could even make the lights go on and off. Yeah. 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.600 And he even had a coherer, which is a switch 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:30.079 that that was activated by radio. Um. And uh had 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.160 it had it set up so that he could power 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:36.120 or or control it by radio. And people were freaked 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.760 out by it because again it was magic like to 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.680 a lot of the people. Yes, he has a U 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.800 S Patent number six one eight zero nine for a 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:52.240 wireless remote control nine. Yeah. Now, a reporter from the 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.000 New York Times was covering this and he said, hey, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.280 you know what, you could make this uh, this boat 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:03.440 go under water and carry explosives and uh, Tesla basically 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.280 said no, no, no, no, no no no. This is 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:10.160 not a torpedo. It's a robot to help humanity, not 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.600 destroy it. Yeah, that's for the Mitchell and web fans 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.120 in the audience. Yeah, but yeah, basically they suggested you, oh, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.120 you could use this for a torpedo. They said, no, no, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.599 this this could be used to help people, not destroy people. Um. 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.920 And that it turns out the military really wasn't interested 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:29.720 in it. They were it was too it was too 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.120 much of a novelty at the time for it to 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.440 be of course, you know now, you know we've got 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.839 unmanned aerial vehicles and all sorts of other remote controlled 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:44.480 technology vehicles vehicles. Um. But yeah, at the time, back 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.480 in the late late nineteenth century, they weren't interested. Yeah. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.320 Technology ahead of its time, really really Tesla and technology 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.000 ahead of its time. Tesla. If Tesla had, if if 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.080 he had been able to hold onto his patents and 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.360 a sanity, um, I think I think the world would 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.920 be would look a little different today. Yeah. Probably. We'd 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.680 also probably be in fear for our lives whenever we 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.240 stepped outside about being zapped by some sort of MC 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:18.880 huge electronic ray. PA. Anyhow, we're broadcasting power over to 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:23.240 New York, stay inside. Well no, no pun intended, I'll 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.920 factor you some electricity. Um. That was a Delbert reference. Um, 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.960 so so yeah, it's sort of if you uh, we'll 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.080 pardon the pun. It's sort of submerged for a while. 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:37.680 For for a few decades, it really didn't have a 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:42.159 lot of remote controlled stuff. Um, there were people who 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:44.600 were into the technology, I would I would say hobbyists 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.240 probably more than anything else, who are into different kinds 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:52.120 of of radio controlled technology, But it really didn't come 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.320 back again as something that people were interested in until 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.200 I would say, at least, according to my research, around 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.840 the nineteen sixties was when you started seeing people with 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:06.880 remote controlled cars and planes and and gizmos for toys. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:12.760 the basics behind us are are fairly simple. Uh. The 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.279 you hold a controller and that controller has inside it 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:21.320 a transmitter and uh, we actually talked quite a bit 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.640 about transmitters when we did our podcast about how radio works. 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.960 But in case you don't remember, the basics behind a 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:33.120 transmitter are well, it's all based on on things like 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:39.080 magnetic fluctuations and the way that the the relationship between 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:43.160 magnetism and electricity. That's about two thirds of our podcast. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.200 it sounds might sound really familiar to those of you 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.320 who have been listening to tech stuff for a while, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:51.560 but uh, here's a very basic transmitter. You'll say you've 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:56.080 got a battery, and you've got two different lengths of wire, okay, 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:00.160 and one lengths of wire you connect to either end 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:05.360 of a some sort of voltage sensor. So you've got 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.239 a meter there that's going to register whenever voltage passes 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.320 through the wire. But it's not connected to anything else, 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.560 not connected to a power source. And then you've got 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.080 a battery and another length of wire, and you connect 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.840 the length of wire to the two ends of the battery. Now, 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:25.000 the moment that current begins to flow through that wire, 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:29.760 that change in voltage creates a magnetic field. That magnetic 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:35.280 field will induce electricity to flow through the second length 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.400 of wire, the one that's not connected to a power source. 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.240 It's only connected to the voltmeter, and the voltmeter will 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.960 register that there's a change. Now it only will have 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:49.680 electricity flow as the magnetic field changes. Yeah, So you 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.440 can't have a magnetic you can't create a magnetic field, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.240 and it just perpetually creates this flow of electricity. It's 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.920 only whenever the man magnetic field itself changes. So by 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.520 connecting in disc connecting the wire from that battery, you 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.080 are going to change the magnetic field, which will and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.040 then induce electricity to flow through that second wire. That's 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.440 the idea of transmission there, it's the idea of transmitting 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.560 radio waves is essentially doing the same thing you're really 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:21.520 You're You've created a power source and a circuit, and 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:26.400 by making the the opening and closing the circuit and 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:31.400 a regular but rapid way, you can create this um 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.120 this change in magnetic fields. And then if by putting 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.160 it through an antenna, you can direct it and and 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.640 even uh amplify it in such a way that you 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.080 can detect it from a distance. And then depending on 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.120 how you do this and depending on how you've uh 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.560 programmed the receiver on the other end, that's where you 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:56.120 get the response. So, for example, if I were to 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.559 do this with you know, by recording music and then 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:04.000 encoding that so that it converts the sound into electricity, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.800 the electricity then is essentially converted into uh this this 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:13.400 changing magnetic field. A receiver would have would receive this 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.520 changing magnetic field, convert that into electricity, and then have 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:21.120 another encoding device that would convert the electricity back into sound. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.000 That's a very high level way of looking at it. Well, 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.080 we're not just limited with sound. We can transmit in 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:32.960 from other kinds of information this way, including directions essentially 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.560 to a device. So in this case, we're talking about 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.600 a controller that let's let's take a very basic controller. 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.120 Let's say you've got a controller that has a trigger 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:47.320 and a wheel, and the trigger is essentially your your throttle, 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.319 your throttle, your accelerator. So if you pull the trigger, 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:55.280 it's sending a series of pulses. It's it's a very 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.440 specific series of pulses through a very specific frequency, and 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:04.760 your receiver is within range of the whatever your transmitter's 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:10.480 power is. Uh. The receiver receives this, this series of 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:15.480 pulses and then interprets that as that's the accelerator button. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.319 Hit the gas. Although it's not necessarily gas. There are 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.760 r C cars and other vehicles out there that use gas, 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.400 but not all of them do. Yeah, many of them 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.040 will use electricity, but there are others that will rely 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.280 on some form of fuel besides like uh, you know, 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:37.480 an electrical current. So that's a but. But the the 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.640 series of pulses from that accelerat ratar is going to 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:42.320 be different from the series of pulses. Then if you 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:46.360 were to twist the wheel, uh to the right, which 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.000 would tell the vehicle, let's say it's an r C 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.320 car to turn right, that series of pulses is going 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.840 to be a different series. So that way, when the 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:00.440 r C car receives that message, it can interpret that essay, Oh, 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.120 this means turn the wheels to the right as opposed 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.160 to hit the gas. We're gonna take a quick break 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.880 from our conversation about our C technology and take a 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:20.360 moment to think our sponsors. It's also important to note 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.520 one of the things from our radio podcast, uh that 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.360 radio has can take in a number of different forms. 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:32.240 I mean, we use there's a broad spectrum of electromagnetic 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:37.359 radiation UM, of which radio is apart, and the radio frequencies. 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:42.520 It all depends on UM a number of factors amplitude, wavelength, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:48.320 and frequency UM. But just you know, so it sort 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.319 of depends on the shape of the radio wave basically 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:52.520 if you want to get right down to it, and 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.600 how many there are UM but over a certain period 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:58.920 of time. But the there are a couple of frequencies 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:03.640 that are specifically in the United States devoted to consumer 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.400 electronic consumer electronics and and this this is this is 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.800 something that's regulated by the Federal Communications Commission in the 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.360 United States, the FCC. UH, and it's the reason you 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.520 might wonder why there needs to be such an entity. Uh. 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.600 The reason for it is that if you had all 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.800 of your different electronics and it was unregulated, there's a 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:28.480 lot of potential for interference. Because if you've ever had 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:33.360 a let's you've had a remote control car before, right, right, Yeah, 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.400 If you have a remote control car and your buddy 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.640 has a remote control car, and they're both running on 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.160 the same frequency and there's no way of differentiating it, 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.840 then you can't race your car against your buddy's car 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.880 because every time you press up on your control both 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.320 cars start to move because they you know, they can't 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:56.440 differentiate between two signals sent along the same frequency. So 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:01.320 imagine that multiplied by an astronomic whole number. If all 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.280 devices were unregulated, I mean, there's all you could have 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.760 the argument of, well, if it's unregulated, what are the 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:08.840 odds that the frequency you chose is going to be 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.439 the same as someone else. Those odds are pretty good. Actually, 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.400 if you look at the entire breadth of radio, everything 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.600 that relies on radio transmission, because it's not just radio, 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.480 it's television, it's all these other sort of devices. Um. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.520 So that's why you had to have a some sort 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.400 of of body that would regulate this and say, all right, 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.439 we are dedicating this part of the spectrum of the 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:37.120 radio frequency spectrum to consumer electronics. Yeah we can. Uh, 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:39.160 I mean there are a number of of real world 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:44.400 non RC examples. Uh. You know, it's the reason why, Um, 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.440 wireless hubs in your house have the ability to change 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.240 channels to ensure that you don't interfere with the neighbors 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.320 and vice versa. Um. You know, their their tales of 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.280 pilots being able to hear baby monitors. I don't know 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.240 if that's or the old areless phones the wireless phones 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.160 to Uh, they've they've changed the frequencies on which they 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:09.560 broadcast simply to avoid all the radio transmissions in the home. 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.439 Now that they're people have wire wireless networks and things. Um, 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.560 they interfere with one another. Yeah. I remember having a 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.240 wireless phone where if you turned it on sometimes you 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.600 can hear other people's conversations, like like not not conversations 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.320 that were happening in your home. Yes, but you know, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:27.840 you turn it out, you turn it on you. Yeah, 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.360 like I don't know if I can even make a 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.120 phone call, and I don't know if I want to, 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.760 because if I do, then maybe someone else is hearing 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.000 what I'm saying. Yeah, but so yeah, that that's the 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:42.239 reason for the regulation. And I remember to our conversation 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:46.160 about the remote controls. They used to use sound to 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.400 change the channel, and I used to, Uh, I would 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.200 drop magnets on this toy that I used to play 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:52.800 with in my grandmother's house. She had one of those 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.240 early TVs with or TVs with early remote control, and 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.920 I could change the channel simply by uh the magnetic 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:02.440 or actually it was a sound thing, so it was 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.960 the sound of the magnet's falling. It was an ultrasonic 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.840 system as opposed to infrared or radio waves. Yeah, I 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:11.800 had the same thing with a slinky. But you happen 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.200 to have that say that that interference and it was 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.280 a sound interference, not an electromagnetic interference. But it's it's 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.960 funny when those little things happen. And this is uh 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.640 their cording off so that that people can enjoy their 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.120 radio controlled stuff and uh not interfere with other people 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.400 in and vice versa. Right, and a lot of the 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:35.040 the RC toy UH toys out there are at least 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.800 the older ones anyway, are dedicated in either the twenty 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.200 seven Mega Hurts or the forty nine Mega Hurts ranges. 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:45.120 Some of them are actually capable of doing either, so 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.240 that you know, if you have a whole bunch of 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.360 friends together and you all want to race your vehicles, 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.160 you can switch from one frequency to the other, so 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.400 that way you know, you you avoid this interference problem, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.920 and also you can get more specific within a frequent 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.400 See so let's say that I'm say twenty seven Mega 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:07.040 Hurts is what my my vehicle runs on. Like that's 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.200 it doesn't it can't accept information from the forty nine 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:15.720 Mega Hurts spectrum or frequency range. But I could possibly 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.400 if you this is all up to the manufacturer, but 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.800 you could create a device that could accept different channels 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.600 within the twenty seven Mega Hurts frequency range, so twenty 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.280 seven point one, twenty seven point two, twenty seven point three, 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.080 so you might have multiple channels that you can switch 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.920 on and that way, um, if you do have a 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.120 bunch of friends and you want to raise your vehicles, 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.640 you can all try different channels to make sure that 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.960 you know your signals aren't uh uh conflicting with someone 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.360 else's um. And this is you know, that's of course 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:51.040 really important if you're in a competition, because there are 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:55.320 plenty of actual events out there where people are building 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:59.480 our C cars or r C whatever's and competing them 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.080 against each other in various races or obstacle courses that 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:06.400 kind of thing, um. And some of them are kit based, 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.520 and a lot of them now are really you buy, 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.320 you spend a lot of money from a particular manufacturer 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:16.280 and by a racing r C vehicle. But of course 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.200 skill comes into play too, So just because you have 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:21.760 the fastest car doesn't mean you're gonna be the best 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.919 driver automatically, that's true, Yeah, I mean there there has 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.080 to be a receiver of course, on board the device 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:31.560 that you're controlling. Yes, that's the second part of this, right, 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:35.440 You've got the transmitter in your hand, but the vehicle 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.600 itself has to have a receiver, and of course it will. 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.840 The receiver will be attached to a micro controller of 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:47.919 some type that operates the servos on board the remote 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:52.080 controlled thing um. So you know, and it gets more 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.680 and more complex, like for a car you might have 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.280 ford in reverse and you know the wheels turning left 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.119 and right. That's that's pretty simple. You know. When you 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.520 get into something like a remote controlled airplane, then you've 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:09.440 got other servos and other control surfaces. You've got uh, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:14.959 the you know, the engine or engines you've which of 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.240 course you're going to have to maintain speed to keep 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:20.280 the airflow going over the wing and keep the plane moving. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.679 But you've also got the rudder controls, you've got the 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.280 you know, the control surfaces on the wing to help 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.760 you go up and down, not not necessarily left and right. 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.119 And you've got to operate all of those things. Um. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.119 For a submarine, you might have the same type of 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.760 thing where you have control surfaces that that move the 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.440 sub up or down, left or right through the water. Um. Yeah, 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:45.280 So the stuff that that you know, servos and motors 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.919 are very important in these devices. And this is stuff 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.240 that takes electrical energy and converts it into mechanical energy. Yes, 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.840 so we really the fascinating thing to me about an 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.840 r C car is seeing how many different types of 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.639 energy are being used. Yes, you know how many, and 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:08.760 it's relying on several different things. It's relying on, uh, 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:14.040 it's relying on electricity, on magnetic changes in magnetic um states. 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:19.600 It's relying on radio frequencies, it's relying on on mechanical energy. Uh. 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.800 It's a great lesson in basic physics really when you 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.520 look at it that way. And when I said that, 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:28.600 you know, the older ones run on twenty seven Mega 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.359 Hurts and four nine Mega hurts. There are radio controlled 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.359 vehicles now they're in have our work in the giga 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.960 Hurts range because the gig Hurts also opened up for 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.040 some of the gig hurts range open up for consumer devices. 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:44.280 So some of the professional I guess you can call 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.359 it professional, some of the sports enthusiast ones, the r 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.520 C racing ones are in the giga Hurts range, not 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.199 in the Mega Hurts range. Yeah, of course this is 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:55.600 This is yet another one of those hobbies that you 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.159 can get into for a fairly reasonable cost if you 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.200 have have some money squirreled away. But you can also 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:07.680 really get into things, build things yourself, more complex devices, 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:12.720 more expensive devices. You could move, say from a propeller 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:17.320 plane to a ducted fan, which is what people use 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.720 to sort of simulate a jet the appearance of a jet. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.840 Basically the fans inside the engine, and so it appears 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.080 to be to work on jet Also, I think you 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:30.680 can now buy jet engine real jet engines for these aircraft, 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.240 which I imagine need quite a bit of space. And 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:37.000 you know, we've even seen this sort of technology used 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.479 in actual vehicle vehicles, not model vehicles. Oh, I mean 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:43.800 the MythBusters have done it some humber of times. Yeah, 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:46.639 where where they were trying to recreate a stunt that 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:48.800 was too dangerous to have a human behind the wheel 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.240 of a vehicle or behind the helm of a vehicle 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.520 whatever you want to call it. Um, And so they 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:56.840 would rig up a robot that would be remote controlled 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:02.320 and they would uh use that to manipulate the vehicle. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.560 And you know, so, yeah, there are a lot of 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:09.679 different applications to this beyond the typical I want, you know, 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:12.600 I've got little little remote control four by four and 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.679 I want to drive it around the neighborhood. You know, 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.240 little battle bots. You know, that was another type of 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:23.000 remote controlled vehicle that uh required things. Well, I mean 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.840 that that actually is sort of another illustration too, because 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:33.080 say you have a bot that has crawler treads on it, 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:34.879 so you have your left tread and your right tread 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.120 plus you might have one, two, or even more weapons 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:42.680 on the battle bot. Then you have to have UM 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.800 your controller, and you you'd have a couple of people 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:49.399 on some of those crews where somebody would drive the bot, 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:52.399 so they would be in charge of making sure it 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:54.320 got where it needed to go or got away from 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.880 the other body if their weapons were disabled. And then 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:00.720 you had somebody operating the weapons. So that acquired several 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:05.920 different frequencies UM and the receivers and controllers, the transmitters 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.880 and controllers to manipulate them, and the receivers and controllers 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:11.520 on the device itself to handle all those different things. 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:15.919 They can get quite complex UM and again costly, because 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:20.440 you know, those machines cost thousands of dollars. It's it 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:22.160 can be uh, it can be a lot of fun, 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:23.760 and it can be very expensive to well. And I 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.480 mean I've also seen them in uh it's it's not 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:32.439 unusual to see it in applications like UM puppetry. You know, 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:37.080 the the Hinson Company has used remote controlled servos for 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:42.240 some of their more advanced puppet characters in movies like 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.479 Labyrinth and UH, you know, so that they could have 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:49.639 more articulation in the character's face. But operating under the 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:53.400 same principles as the remote control car. UM. It's as 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:57.159 you have, like a remote control goblin face, which I 0:22:57.200 --> 0:22:59.719 think it's pretty awesome and unfortunately I don't know anywhere 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:01.840 where you can buy it. Chris and I have more 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:05.560 to say about radio controlled toys in just a second, 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:08.480 but first let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.639 It's really funny that you know, that's something that's ubiquitous 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:23.760 is actually fairly, fairly easy to accomplish. UM. And of 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.960 course there are many different kinds of hobby stores UM. 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:30.160 Some may be local to you depending on where you live. 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:35.000 Others are online and pretty easy to access UM, and 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:37.520 they offer all kinds of different things. UM. One of 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:41.680 the big toys I saw for this this past holiday season, 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:44.440 the one we just UH finished up since we're recording 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:46.800 this well actually we're recording it before this happens, but 0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:51.760 we're publishing in early were the UH Air Swimmers line 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:55.760 of inflatable toys that have remote controlled the It makes 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:59.280 the there's a fish and a shark that can it 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:01.200 looks like they're swimming through the air, which is kind 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:05.199 of an actually pretty cool effect to see. Yeah, but 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:07.119 I mean they're they're using the same kinds of remote 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:10.600 controls that we've had for decades more or less, just 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:14.920 different frequencies maybe on the transmitter and receiver. And I've 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:20.320 been I've been kind of UM searching since Uh, Chris 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:23.160