The JEEZ - RC Robo Car Project

Project Title: RC Robo Car for Nepathya Intra-College RC Robo Racing Competition
Team Name: The JEEZ
Award: Second Runner-up, Nepathya Intra-College RC Robo Racing Competition

Project Overview

This project is a remotely controlled (RC) robotic car designed for participation in the Nepathya Intra-College RC Robo Racing Competition.
The objective was to design and build a functional, efficient, and responsive robotic car that could compete on various racing tracks, involving obstacles and tight turns, in a race against time.

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Features

• Remote control via Web Interface: The car is controlled through a custom web interface hosted on the ESP8266 WiFi module.
  
  
• Directional control: Supports moving forward, backward, left, and right.
  
  
• Responsive Speed Control: Adjustable motor speed via a range slider.
  
  
• Stop Function: Instant stop button for immediate halting of movement.
  
  
• Custom ESP8266 Web Server: A custom-built web server runs on the ESP8266 microcontroller, allowing for real-time car control.
  
  
• Optimized Movement: Enhanced movement control where the car responds to button presses for turning (left/right) without holding the buttons. The same logic is applied for forward and backward movement.
  

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Project Components

Hardware Used:

• ESP8266 WiFi Module: Hosts the web server and handles the car's movement through WiFi.
  
• L298N Motor Driver: Controls the DC motors based on signals received from the ESP8266.
  
• DC Motors: four motors to drive the wheels of the robotic car.
  
• Car Chassis: A simple chassis supporting two DC motors, wheels, and caster.[chassi was made form recycled wodden boards ]
  
• 12V Battery: Powers the motor and electronic components.
  
• Wires and connectors: To connect components on the car.
  
• Breadboard (optional): Used for testing the circuits.
  

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Software Used:

• Arduino IDE: Used for writing and uploading the code to the ESP8266 microcontroller.
  
• KiCAD: (Optional) For PCB design and schematic representation.
  
• HTML/CSS/JavaScript: To build the user interface for car control.
  
• C++: Used in Arduino IDE for controlling motor functions and handling web requests.
  
• processing 4 : we also included a radar scanning area and provides the visual output of distance, But ew removed this radar thing from car {Because it was un-necessary feture for our project}

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Circuit Diagram

The car's circuit is based on the ESP8266 WiFi module, L298N motor driver, and the DC motors connected to a 12V battery.
Below is a high-level view of how components are connected:

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ESP8266 Pins:

• GPIO5 (D1) → Motor IN1
  
• GPIO4 (D2) → Motor IN2
  
• GPIO0 (D3) → Motor IN3
  
• GPIO2 (D4) → Motor IN4
  
• GPIO12 (D6) → Motor ENA (PWM control for motor speed)
  
• GPIO14 (D5) → Motor ENB (PWM control for motor speed)
  

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Code Structure

Main Functionalities

• WiFi Access Point:
  

The ESP8266 acts as an Access Point, creating a local network to connect the controller device (e.g., phone, laptop).

• Web Server:
  

The web server hosts a simple UI for car control, featuring directional buttons and a speed slider.

• Motor Control:
  

The motors are controlled using digitalWrite for direction and analogWrite for speed control through Pulse Width Modulation (PWM).

• Custom Movement Logic:
  

  Real-time response for left and right turns only while pressing the buttons.
  Similar hold-to-move logic for forward and backward movement.
  
  

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Key Code Snippets:
Movement Functions:

void moveForward() { /* Control logic for forward movement */ }
void moveBackward() { /* Control logic for backward movement */ }
void turnLeft() { /* Control logic for left turn */ }
void turnRight() { /* Control logic for right turn */ }
void stopCar() { /* Stops all motor activity */ }
Speed Control:


void setSpeed() {
  if (server.hasArg("value")) {
    speed = server.arg("value").toInt();
    // Update motor speed based on user input
  }
}

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HTML/CSS/JavaScript for UI:

The web interface has a simple design with directional buttons and a slider for speed control, as well as real-time feedback for button presses.

Improvements and Future Work

While the project was a success, a few improvements can be made:

Enhanced UI Design:

Make the web interface more interactive with better visual feedback.
Mobile Compatibility: Fully optimize the web interface for different screen sizes.
Autonomous Features: Implementing autonomous driving modes using sensors like ultrasonic sensors.
Further Speed Optimization: Fine-tuning the speed control for smoother acceleration.

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Conclusion

The JEEZ RC Robo Car Project was a great learning experience for our team. By leveraging the power of ESP8266 and basic robotics principles,
we successfully built a robust car that earned us Third place in the Nepathya Intra-College competition. We plan to continue enhancing this project by adding more sophisticated features and improving the control system
< We may not update code in this reppo before another race >.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Nepathya College for organizing the competition.

Fun fact :

we managed to get second runner-up position with very minimal cost and design

• no complexity, less money 😎
• Cost: Rs.2000 NRP or 14.90 $USD
• we used used wooden block from collage for Chassis and designing outer cover <Free of cost 😎 >
• winning prize 5000 + participation cost 3500
• Participation cost was given to every teems participating [ to cover up the cost of making, designing car ], but in our case cost was less than 2000, SO IT WAS WIN WIN SITURATION 😚
• we removed outer cover of car in last minutes of race for better speed and less weight since we had obstacle like: a dead jump ☠️ , two big plates of water 🤣, narrow wodden block, teen 🥲 and meny more
• Project engineered by @aakku106 / Adarasha Gaihre

I will be adding some pic of car and I also wanna share the design behind palcement of motor, material used to attatch motor to Chassis and many more, stay tuned 🦚💙