This tutorial shows a way to make a "Computer Controlled RC Car" !

Introduction :
Maybe you are interested in Physics and Mathematics.    Maybe you know a little bit about programming.      Maybe you like to have fun with those remote control stuff such as RC Car , RC Boat , and RC Helicopter like me.      Maybe you know something about electronics and microcontroller.     What will happen if we can put them together?     Does this sound like making a robot?

Computer Controlled Car is one of the projects that I like to give a try.    Here is the my notes and result for your reference if you're interested in this too.

Nowadays , Personal Computer is very powerful and be able to do complicate calculation then get the result in a second.     With programming , people can put their imagination into a software and show the result on the screen.        Such as a PC Game , you can control your character(Super Mario) to walk , run , jump , or do something , on the screen.
   
What if you can use your PC to control something that is real?    This tutorial will show you a way to use your PC to control a RC Car.     Then you can fully use the resources of a PC , such as powerful CPU and unlimited storage space , to achieve automatic and analog control.    Further more , use PC to record and edit some special driving tricks , using them to optimize the car racing !

Even you don't know or do not have time on the programming part , you still can download the programs in this tutorial , one for Arduino(Host) and the other for PC(Client) ,  and just use them in your project.     The program comes with a configurable initialize file , so you should be able to use your own gamepad and your own RC Car just by changing the default parameters in the initialize file.

Further more , this project can also apply to RC Boat , RC Airplane , and RC Helicopter.
Check here for the enhanced version which supports up to 4 analog axis control , and it is sufficient to operate a RC Helicopter.

Enjoy it , and have fun :)

bdragong@gmail.com

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Click here if you're interested in :
 
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Acknowledgement

Special thanks to

• Jon
  
• Craig
  
• Andrew

This project won't be finished so easily without your help.     This project has became interesting because of you.

Thank you !

The Topics of this Tutorial :

• Ch1 The Diagram of "Computer Controlled RC Car"
  
• Ch2 Remote Controller and RC Car
  
• Ch3 Client Program using Dev-C++ plus SDL
• Ch3-1 Operation Manual
• Ch3-2 Configure ArduinoRC_Car.ini
• Ch3-3 Enhanced Version For RC Helicopter
  
• Ch4 Communication Between Arduino and PC
• Ch5 The Host Program in Arduino
• Ch5-1 The Source Code of ArduinoRC_Car_Host Program
  
• Ch6 Making A Low Pass Filter
• Ch6-1 Low Pass Filter Simulator
  
• Ch7 Test Computer Controlled RC Car
• Ch7-1 Performance Test
• Ch7-2 Optimize Test
• Ch7-3 Replay Test