Building: Rover

Mechanic's difficulty: Medium

This is a guide on how to build a rover, as well as important things like Double Bogie Suspension, tank steering, & A/D converters.

Parts

 * 132 Blocks Of Any Kind (I Chose Wood Block 1)
 * 2 Sensors (Any Level Will Do, I Used Level 1)
 * 1 Driver's Seat (Level 5, So Steering Bearings Can Be Edited)
 * 3 Electric Engines (At Least Level 2, So They Have 4 Connections Each, I Used Level 3)
 * 15 Bearings
 * 1 Small Pipe Bend
 * 1 Small Pipe Tee
 * 6 Wheels
 * 6 Pipes, Short

Building
1. First, place down your lift.



2. Make a 6x15 rectangle on the lift out of your chosen building block. This will be your base.



3. Next, place your driver's seat quite literally front & center.



4. Place an electric engine directly behind the driver's seat, then place 2 more, 1 on either side of the first. These will be your driving engine & steering engines, respectively.



5. To the right of the middle, 1 block back from the driving engine, cut out a 1x1 hole. Make another 2 blocks behind it, then place A bearing between them.



6. Place a small pipe bend on the bearing facing left, then place a small pipe tee on the end, oriented so that its right branch points toward the front of the vehicle & its left points toward the back.



7. Place sensors in the holes you made in step 5, facing upward.



This will be your A/D Converter.

8. On one side, (I chose the right,) place 2 bearings, 2 away from the front & back respectively.



9. Repeat on the opposite side.



10. On any one of the bearings, (I chose back right,) make a 3x7 Rectangle, with the top middle block (pictured orange) attached to the bearing.



11. Place 2 bearings, 1 in either bottom corner, then delete a 2x5 cavity in between, in the bottom of the rectangle.



12. On each bearing, place a short pipe. Place bearings on the ends of the pipes.



13. Tap [ ↑ ] once to lift your creation by 1 block, then place wheels on the bearings.



14. Repeat steps 10-12 for all bearings.



This is your double bogie suspension.

Congrats, you've finished the building portion!

Connections
1. Pull out your Connect Tool & wire the driver's seat to the driving engine. (refer to step 4 for "driving engine")



2. Connect the sensors to their respective steering engines.



3. Connect the driving engine to the front inner bearings of the 4 bogies. make sure that the left ones rotate counter-clockwise.



4. Connect the right steering engine to the front outer bearings of the 2 right bogies.



5. Connect the left steering engine to the front outer bearings of the 2 left bogies. Make sure they're rotating counter-clockwise.



6. Connect the driver's seat to the steering bearing.



Ta-da! You've finished wiring everything up!

Settings
1. Set the sensors' range to 1, & make sure they're in button mode. (You can turn on sounds too, if you want, so it'll beep every time you turn.)



2. Set the driving engine's speed to the desired even number. (I chose 6.)



3. Set the steering engines' speeds to half the driving engine's speed. (3, in my case.)



4. Look at the steering bearing with the Connect Tool & press [E] to change its properties. Set its speed to max & its rotation to 90°.



Now you're pretty much done! hop in the seat & take it for a spin! If the steering is backward, left-click the steering bearing with the Connect Tool to flip it.

Finishing Touches
Now that you've finished your rover, you can dress it up however you want! personally, I went with a vaguely sciency-looking style.

You can also play around with the motor speeds & steering motors' bearing directions to get it to turn & drive at the speed you want!

Double Bogie Suspension
Double Bogie Suspension differs from traditional suspension methods by not having springs. Not only is this beneficial in Scrap Mechanic, as it reduces lag, but in real life too, as NASA's Mars Rovers use an alternate form called Rocker Bogie Suspension, as springs & shock absorbers would freeze & seize up on Mars.

Tank Steering
Tank Steering is the method of steering a vehicle by driving the wheels or tracks on one side faster than, slower than, or in the opposite direction of the wheels or tracks on the other side. This allows said vehicle (eg. the rover) to turn much more sharply, depending on the method/difference.