Frank The Transforming Rover (MKI & MKII)

[katateochi]

I've been meaning to re-post this after the forum wipe, just kept forgetting to. So here is FRANK MKI (again) and now also joining him is FRANK MKII.

F.R.A.N.K

Formidable Rover and Nasty Kontraption

MKI

FRANK MKI is a rover that can transform into an upright assault bot.

Originally intended to be something to film launches with but he grew into something else and now also is a great help for clearing up debris round the launch centre.

Controls - might be a bit crazy

Arms:

1 & 3 raises/lowers left arm at the shoulder

2 & 4 raises/lowers right arm at the shoulder

(so hold down 1+2 to raise both together and 3+4 to lower both together)

5 & 7 raises/lowers left arm at elbow

6 & 8 raises/lowers right arm at elbow

(again, use 5+6 to move both up together and 7+8 to lower them together)

; & #(or ' depending on keyboard layout) pivots the waist

\ & z tip the wheels - this is what makes him lie-down/stand up. When lying down, hit g to lower the wheel on his head.

(these two set of keys might differ with different keyboard layouts, I've got a mac keyboard on a windows machines so thing are a bit odd)

9 toggles lights on the end of his arms

0 cycles throu his 3 cameras

numpad 4,5,6,8 control lazer direction, 7 auto tracks target, 9 shows targeting beams.

0 fires!

p (sometimes needs repeated mashing of p) will turn the lights that are his eyes on, but tbh that looks silly , best left off.

Download FRANK MKI

Mods needed;

DamnedRobotics - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/damnedrobotics/

Sunbeam lazer - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/sunbeam/

aviation lights (for his eyes!) - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/aviation-lights-v1-2/

Girder pack - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/rogercorp-engineering-station-girder-pack-v1-0/

I may have used other mods, I'm never too sure, so I have script that reads the craft file and makes a zip off all the parts needed. It includes all my plugins so you need to pick out the ones needed.

download mod bundle

MKII

A heavier version capable of flight on Mun (not so good on Kerbin).

This version of FRANK has engines on the wheel section which enable him to hover. Adjusting the wheel angles changes how the thrust is directed. He also has an engine to propel him at high speeds while in rover mode.

Controls are a bit different to MKI;

Arms:

` & 2 raises/lowers left arm at the shoulder

1 & 3 raises/lowers right arm at the shoulder

; & o raises/lowers left arm at elbow

' & p raises/lowers right arm at elbow

\ & z turn the waist

- + = adjust the wheels

Frank can now land standing up and has small landing legs which give him balance

4 toggles landing legs at rear of wheel base, 5 the ones at the front.

6 cycles throu camera

Flight

7 toggles rear lift/thrust engines

8 toggles front lift/thrust engines

9 toggles central lift engines (also act as power brakes when moving fast as a rover)

0 has two functions; toggles his rover booster engine and also toggles a decouple from his arm mounted docking ports.

to fly;

Use mechjeb surf function to keep him upright (set surf h90,p90) and activate RCS, then activate 7 and 8 engines to get him off the ground. Use - & = to tip the wheels to adjust thrust. As you tip the wheel base he will start to tip, before that happens shut down the lower most set of engines (7 or 8, depending which way you're going) and activate the central ones (9). For full speed flight bring the wheel base completely vertical, using the central engines (9) to control alt by toggling on and off as needed and the upper most thrust engine (7 or 8) to thrust forward. To stop and land rotate wheel base right round and fire the other set of engines to kill horizontal speed. Keep toggling 9 on and off to control alt.

Frank MKII comes with the rocket needed to get him to Mun inside a landing pod. The landing pod also acts as a refuel depot for him which he can connect with via the docking ports on his arms.

Prob easiest to watch the vid to see how he works;

Download FRANK MKII

has a few additional mods to FRANK MKI;

TAC fuel balancer (used when refuelling as you can refuel all his many small tanks in one go and refuel the tank that's kinda inside his torso and hard to get at)

Pandora Rover mod - for the engines (which are a bit cheaty I think but I made an exception for Frank)

KW rocketry

or just download the full set of parts needed.

Note:

If you download both franks; If you load MKI in the VAB and then MKII, the controls for MKII will be wrong, they get set to the MKI controls.

Let me know if you have any issues getting FRANK to work. tbh I've not used him in a while so I might have got some of the controls wrong.

Have a look in the VAB to see the DamnedRobotics and action group settings.

Enjoy,

Katataochi

[Climberfx]

Amazing!

Great Robot Mission,

[AlexL]

Loving the new Mk 2, and would have to agree that those engines seem a bit OP, but I'm not going to try and take them from him.

You have some excellent robot design skills, keep it up!

[Pigbear]

Is there a way to get the older versions of Sunbeam and Aviation lights?

[Bigred2989]

Gat damn!

[kepicness]

Impressive!!! I love how the controls feel like qwop.

[Dodgers3000]

WOW! that has got to be the coolest thing I have ever seen in Kerbal.