It has been quite a sometime from my last post. Mainly due to busy schedules and settling down in Malaysia I would say. But I came to back to Sri Lanka on vacation and got time on a lazy Saturday morning and put together a small Arduino + RC Car setup.
In one of my previous posts I teared down a RC Car and explained the internals of that. Working further on that I managed to write a small Arduino sketch to work with a Ping Sensor to give a simple brain to the RC Car. What makes this distinguishable from other RC Car + Arduino hacks is that, Almost all other hacks use the Arduino to control the Remote Control not the Car itself. But I wanted to control the car directly using the Arduino so that I can eventually achieve the goal of using an Android phone connected to Arduino using a USB Host Shield to act as the Smart Brain of the RC Car.
The following items were used in setting up this prototype.
The video below shows the prototype in action. The USB cable is only used to supply electricity for the Arduino. Adding a battery will eliminate the need for the USB cable.
This prototype is by no means complete. I did this so that I can achieve the goal of using an Android phone with Camera + GPS as the brain. But this step was a necessary and crucial learning stage for me. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
References
In one of my previous posts I teared down a RC Car and explained the internals of that. Working further on that I managed to write a small Arduino sketch to work with a Ping Sensor to give a simple brain to the RC Car. What makes this distinguishable from other RC Car + Arduino hacks is that, Almost all other hacks use the Arduino to control the Remote Control not the Car itself. But I wanted to control the car directly using the Arduino so that I can eventually achieve the goal of using an Android phone connected to Arduino using a USB Host Shield to act as the Smart Brain of the RC Car.
The following items were used in setting up this prototype.
- 1 Arduino UNO Rev 3
- 1 Breadboard
- 1 DFRobot URM37 V3.2 Ultrasonic Sensor
- Some Jumper Cables
- And of course a RC Car
Following is the Arduino Sketch. The DFRobot Ultrasonic Sensor was used in TTL Mode and Arduino Pin 3 was connected to PWM and 5 was connected to COMP/TRIG of the Sensor. The Arduino Digital Out pin 11 was used for forward actuating and pin 10 was used for backward actuating of the RC Car . I have soldered jumper cables to the RC Car so that they can be easily used and distinguished.
int URPWM = 3;
int URTRIG=5;
int forwardPin = 11;
int backwardPin = 10;
unsigned int Distance=0;
uint8_t EnPwmCmd[4]={0x44,0x02,0xbb,0x01};
boolean forward = false;
boolean backward = false;
int minDistanceCm = 5;
void setup(){
pinMode(URTRIG,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(URTRIG,HIGH);
pinMode(URPWM, INPUT);
pinMode(forwardPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(backwardPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
digitalWrite(URTRIG, LOW);
digitalWrite(URTRIG, HIGH);
unsigned long DistanceMeasured=pulseIn(URPWM,LOW);
if(DistanceMeasured==50000){
} else {
Distance=DistanceMeasured/50;
}
if(Distance > minDistanceCm) {
forward = true;
backward = false;
} else {
forward = false;
backward = true;
}
if(forward) {
digitalWrite(forwardPin, HIGH);
delay(100);
digitalWrite(forwardPin, LOW);
} else {
digitalWrite(backwardPin, HIGH);
delay(200);
digitalWrite(backwardPin, LOW);
}
delay(400);
}
The video below shows the prototype in action. The USB cable is only used to supply electricity for the Arduino. Adding a battery will eliminate the need for the USB cable.
This prototype is by no means complete. I did this so that I can achieve the goal of using an Android phone with Camera + GPS as the brain. But this step was a necessary and crucial learning stage for me. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
References
- DFRobot Ultrasonic Sensor Manual - http://www.dfrobot.com/wiki/index.php/URM37_V3.2_Ultrasonic_Sensor_(SKU:SEN0001)
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