soldered onto the motor leads. The
positive leads from each motor along
one side of the robot were soldered
together, as were the negative leads.
This was repeated for the other side.
They were then run through the
provided grommets near the motors,
through the channel, and out another
grommeted hole at the top of the
channel.
Attaching the needed electronics
proved to be a bit of a puzzle right out
of the box. The channel configuration
does not provide a lot of room for
electronics. Once you run the wires
through the channel, it is impractical to
try to get a battery and motor controller
within that space. My solution was easy enough: I simply
zip-tied the battery to the channel. However, this wasn’t
going to work for the electronics. I didn’t need a lot of
space since I was simply setting the Mantis up for RC
control (and the receiver doesn’t need a lot of space).
The RoboClaw 2x30 I ordered for the project, on the
other hand, was going to need some protection.
ServoCity has a mounting plate designed to attach the
RoboClaw to their system, but that would leave the
delicate electronics exposed. Since these off-road chassis
tend to want to roll when you get as aggressive as I do
with them, I’ve learned to keep the electronics safely
ensconced in some form of protective covering. I decided
to get a small project box from my neighborhood Fry’s.
With a little modification, I was able to fit both the
RoboClaw and the RC receiver into the box. This was
then zip-tied to the channel alongside the battery.
I had to cut holes in the electronics box to provide
space for the large capacitors on the RoboClaw and to
allow room for the servo cables. The chosen box was just
SERVO 11.2015 57
Parts Used in this Review
• Mantis six-wheeled chassis from ServoCity
• Six planetary geared 12V motors
(included in the Mantis kit)
• RoboClaw 2x30 motor controller
• Venom 4000 20C 11.1V LiPo battery
• Spektrum six-channel receiver
• Spektrum five-channel transmitter
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/magazine/article/november2015_Cicolani.
REVIEW
The RoboClaw 2x30
motor controller
mounted in its
protective box.
The center frame
is two of the
Actobotics 18"
channels mounted
together.
Leads from the six motors
were connected into left
and right channels, and
then fed through a
grommet on top of the
chassis.
