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I was recently sent a preview of Rogue Robotics' ATR Kit. As a big fan of the Rogue Blue BOE Kit, I was very keen to try out the new kit.

It is very important to remember that the kit I received is inherently different to the kit that is shipped commercially. I received an additional level, an OOBoard brain, NiCAD battery pack and IR ranging sensor so I could evaluate the kit as part of a larger robotics project (as opposed to just the chassis).

Building

Simply put, building the ATR kit was a lot of fun. The ATR kit is extremely well built, and has an excellent feel of quality about it. All the parts are precisely engineered, making construction a very simple affair. The ATR kit though features a Tamiya gear system to drive the tank treads. Instead of using servos, two small hobby motors are used to drive a 203:1 gear system that powers the tank wheels. The motors are in turn powered by Rogue Robotics' low-cost H-bridge (included). Nevertheless, even with this added complexity, the ATR kit shouldn't take more than a few dedicated hours to build.

It is worth mentioning that the ATR tank wheels come in a rather violent orange so I spray painted them gold (as recommended in the building instructions) to give them a more 'authentic' feel.

The standard ATR kit comes with one level that fits tightly on top of the base, and from there you can mount your "robot brain". Once I had fitted the second layer and mounted the OOBoard and IR ranger, my ATR kit looked like this:

Operation

When I first turned the robot on, operation was pretty bad. The tank treads would come off the wheels extremely easily, making operation nearly impossible. I then took the robot apart and secured the centre three wheels using the NiCad battery pack, and attempted to tighten everything up. This yielded much better results, although the tank treads were still prone to occasionally coming off. Rogue Robotics recommended adding additional wheels to the top portion of the tread system to further stabilize it (these are included in the kit as spares).

With the tank treads secured, operation of the ATR kit improved dramatically. While the treads won't navigate over larger objects (especially when the robot is in a top-heavy, two-level configuration), it will successfully clamber over small objects and other obstacles that would halt most other hobby kits.

Conclusion

The ATR kit is a sturdy addition to the Rogue Robotics line-up, with superb build quality and design, only occasionally let down by the Tamiya tank tread system. While the Rogue Blue chassis allows for more room and more reliable movement, the ATR kit is a lot of fun to play with and allows your robot to traverse slightly more hostile terrain.

	8.5
	Price: CAD$159.99 Liked: Impeccable build quality, extremely expandable chassis with many pre-drilled holes and mounting points. Disliked: Tank-tread performance volatile. Website: http://www.roguerobotics.com/