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I am continuing to explore the fascinating world of the pipe transportation with a new prototype. You may already have seen it on youtube, I’m a bit late to post here (busy week-end). If you have a good memory, I did a first prototype on track (here) that had some limitation; in particular it couldn’t transport more than one pipe at once. The complete album is available on FlickR Prototype 2. For this second iteration, I started again form a white sheet to try something new : The transporter is now on tire with multiple axle steering for a good maneuverability and good translation speed (more adapted to road). I choose to keep two cranes for the consistency with the first proto. First advantage this allows making them smaller, as each crane support almost half of the weight of the pipe they don’t need to be reinforced and a mini actuator is enough to make them move. Second advantage is that the pipe remains horizontal even if not loaded exactly on its center of gravity. What’s inside ? There is 6 functions in this truck (5RC + 1 manual). Propulsion on axle 3 and 4. Steering on axle 1-2 and 5-6. The cranes : 1- 360 degrees Rotation. 2- 90 degrees Lift. 3- Cable. The truck was built from the center to the extremity, both crane are a copy-paste and are actuated by the same motors placed in the middle of the truck. Advantage: the crane move simultaneously and are always in the same position, drawback: you can’t use only one crane if you want to (I don’t know why you would have to use only one crane but well.) This was a choice at the conception because the goal of this prototype was to test the concept. With an alternative built it would have been possible to upgrade the truck so each crane have its set of motor , and the simultaneous movement is manage through the software (because yes, SBrick allows you to control several port with one command) Last functions are the additional lateral support that are deployed manually. They were added lattely in the building process (when I tried to install a larger pipe that clashed with the cranes), so I did not had enough room left in the truck to install the pneumatic line. Not a big issue in my opinion, I will do better next time. Good and not compare to the first prototype: Good Can transport more than one pipe Can load/unload up to two pipe in total autonomy No real length limitation Better road capabilities Not good Still requires a manual intervention to catch the pipe Range of operation : Cranes are not long enough to load the additional support. The dual crane are still not independent. Some improvements are still possible. So, project to be continued. Thank you for reading Edit: One additional word: in the video you can see a support vehicle. It is a not-so-good mini forklift only used to load the truck, It has been possible by the use of a 3rd Sbrick (both vehicle controlled through the same interface) and 4 M motors. Dedicated video here (yes I was terribly boring when I did the miniature ):