Infiltrate the Local Pond’s Flock with This DIY RC Duck
Have you ever wanted to infiltrate a flock of ducks? Of course you have! And now you can, thanks to Jan’s DIY RC duck design.
Being a human person is tough. You probably have a job and bills and all kinds of responsibilities. To relax, you might take a stroll at the park and there you could see something amazing: ducks chilling without a worry in the world. Wouldn’t it be great if you could join them? But, of course, your human person body will stick out like a sore, featherless thumb. Not to worry! Jan designed this RC duck that you can build to infiltrate the flock.
We are not duckologists and so we can’t comment on the likelihood of the flock’s acceptance of this mallardy simulacrum, but they’re sure to be more trusting of this than they would be of a conventional RC boat. It is also worth pointing out that this RC duck doesn’t seem to handle particularly well, but maybe the topsy-turvy nature makes it more convincingly duck-like — again, we’re not duck scientists.
To begin construction, you will need to find and purchase a plastic duck. It seems that these are usually sold as hunting decoys, which lends credence to the idea that biological ducks might be fooled by your subterfuge. That should be watertight, which is a feature you will need to immediately destroy by cutting big holes in the statue’s back and belly. The top hole is for the electronics enclosure and the bottom hole is for a 3D-printed hull that supports the thrusters and is a bit more hydrodynamic.
Those thrusters are units that Jan found on AliExpress and that are intended for applications just like this—though probably not usually for such fowl facsimiles. A Wemos D1 Mini ESP8266 development board controls those motors through cheap ESCs (Electronic Speed Controllers). Power for the development board and ESCs comes from a pair of high-discharge 18650 lithium batteries. Jan didn’t include any hardware for onboard charging, so the batteries will need to be removed and placed in an external charger.
The thrusters can get wet, but everything else needs to stay dry and that’s why Jan had you cut a hole in the polymer plumage. That gives you a place to stick a sealable food storage container that can protect the electronic components.
Unlike traditional radio-controlled boats, this duck is pilotable via WiFi. A simple smartphone app lets you control power to each of the two thruster motors. Give them equal throttle and the duck will move straight forwards. Give one side more throttle than the other and it will turn. If you get the movements just right, you may be able to convince the flock to accept you and then the worry-free waterfowl life will be yours.
