Arduino RC Car

[ChrisGreece52]

hey guys new arduino mega arriving and i would like to know if there is any easy and fun RC CAR project to create.

[Ferroto]

Well there's the arducopter.

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/

[Bored@Work]

I seem to remember that we were perfectly capable of building RC cars before the existance of the Arduino. I would therefore conclude an Arduino is not an essential part of an RC car.

[Flávio V]

Worst viral electronic product everCof,cof,cof...
Cof,cofDigital electronics are a sin and boringCof,cof

[ChrisGreece52]

Well there's the arducopter.

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/

Thank you but i need something that would be suitable for a beginner with a low budget.

[ChrisGreece52]

I seem to remember that we were perfectly capable of building RC cars before the existance of the Arduino. I would therefore conclude an Arduino is not an essential part of an RC car.

Right but since i ordered the arduino and i am trying to learn from it i thought it would be a nice basic project to do.

[ChrisGreece52]

Worst viral electronic product everCof,cof,cof...
Cof,cofDigital electronics are a sin and boringCof,cof

Yeah but since its a good way to get into electronics i would give it a try.
I like using Ics for the basic projects i make but i figured out that the arduino would be a chance to try something new.
Also i ordered the Msp430 from Texas Instruments and i would like to know the Raspberry pi in the future but i am always open to new IC's that i can work with and develop projects.

[IanJ]

Hi,

Building an RC car is a lot more than an Arduino. You'd be covering a lot of aspects including Arduino, software, mechanical, motor drive, RX/TX etc etc etc. And, to tell you the truth and Arduino Mega is overkill for an RC car.......not to mention a little big probably.

What might be fun if you don't mind a lot of work for no real reason except the experience/cost, then you could have tried adapting an existing RC car to use an Arduino.......but probably not the Mega.

There are a few Arduino projects in my sig below if you want inspiration but it really depends on what else you are into..........one thing I did was to build a remote guitar amp controller using an Arduino Mega http://www.ianjohnston.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61:zommamp ..............but I only did that because I'm also into guitars.

Ian.

[ChrisGreece52]

Thank you.

[johnboxall]

hey guys new arduino mega arriving and i would like to know if there is any easy and fun RC CAR project to create.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wireless-Lego-Race-Car/?ALLSTEPS

[ChrisGreece52]

hey guys new arduino mega arriving and i would like to know if there is any easy and fun RC CAR project to create.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wireless-Lego-Race-Car/?ALLSTEPS

Thank you that fall to the category of RC upgrade and this is the most likely project i will be building. But the problem is the ATMEGA Chip and not the arduino board.My Mega has an smd Atmel chip on it so i cant program or install a bootloader on any other chip so i am planning on having a uno board ordered of just get a Serial Programmer  but that is another issue.

[Mechatrommer]

i agree building RC car only requires few discrete components, not sure what it takes to tune the circuit. but recently i saw a RC car that can do controllable steering and acceleration rate, alignment adjustment and saved in eeprom or something etc. it requires a mcu. ymmv.

[Psi]

If you decide to buy a premade transmitter and RX module (~$35 hobbyking).
Then you could use your Arduino to read the receivers signals (reading pwm) and control the motors (high current output pwm).

You could make it more complicated by...
- Do a full H bridge output so you can make the car go backwards.
- Do the steering servo action yourself in software. The Arduino would control the steering motor directly and also read a potentiometer position. The pot provides the feedback and the Arduino moves the motor in the right direction to reach the required steering direction.

[ChrisGreece52]

Got it but these can be cotrolled with a microcontroller too.

[jaqie]

the only kind of rc car that I can think of that would need a microprocessor right now is a gimball car.

[Psi]

It all depends if he wants a project to "learn microcontrollers" or not.
There's nothing bad about using a microcontroller for any task if your goal is to learn.

[jaqie]

Quite correct!  Find what interests you now, use that to double your interest in electronics engineering, and go for it!

My interest is most definitely in power supplies (a given with electronics design always there) and also with computer interfacing, so I am going that route to learn.  Eventually I will wanna play around with RC vehicles too, great way to expand your knowledge!