Problem Solved- The X-Terminator

I received a call from a pest control guy in California. He needed a wireless system to drive into the crawl spaces of homes to inspect for evidence of termites. Evidently the termites leave their poop on the top of sills, under homes and he wanted me to build a robot to find the poop… There were other requirements- but essentially, I needed to raise a camera and a light up 16 inches…

I started with the Spider Mite Platform and built a 16” articulating arm which he could control via RC Radio. The system featured a pan tilt on the end of the arm but also a metal probe which could “tap” floor joists to see if they were solid or affected by the nasty critters. In addition, Pest Control Guy wanted a flipper on the front end, operated on a separate channel, which could flip-over small pieces of wood to find termites or evidence of their invasive activity.

Although the contraption looked like something from a Tim Burton film, the modified Home Inspection Robot worked well, transmitting a Live-Video-Feed from inside the insect-riddled crawl space to the operator sitting outside watching on a 12” display. Eventually this concept would evolve into the Monster Minibot with a 24” Carbon Fiber Articulating Arm…