By Andy Yeh
This is a maker project using 3D printing and Arduino Nano to build a remote control car. Let's take a look of it in action.
The car body is 3D printed using the Arduino Car project from Thingiverse. On that project page, you can find how many STL files you need to print. After printing, you will also need some m3 screws and nuts (8 x 30 mm for the motors, some 6 mm and 15 mm for the chassis) to put them together.
The coding is borrowed from the Bluetooth controlled car from the Arduino Project Hub. I used mostly the same components and the key components are listed below:
Arduino Nano (UNO R3 or Pro mini will do too).
HC-05 Bluetooth module
Dual H-Bridge motor driver L298N
4 x DC motors (3-6 v)
4 x wheels
2 x 14500 AA size rechargeable batteries (3.7 v).
There are a few Apps in the Google Play Store that can connect to HC-05 Bluetooth module. The App I used to control the car is called Arduino Car. It is able to customise commands and send to the HC-05 for actions.
My first attempt to make this Arduino car has been quite a good experience as everything worked as they should. There are certainly many could be improved, including the 3D printing design of the car, the electronic components and the coding. From some readings and online research, I found that the TB6612FNG H-Bridge Motor Controller can be used to replace the L298. The HC-05 Bluetooth module (Bluetooth version 2/2.1) does not work for iOS devices. In order to control the car using iOS or Android devices, the Bluetooth module HM-10 or HM-11 (Bluetooth version 4) could be used. On eBay, the HM-10/11 modules are in fact cheaper than HC-05.
If HM-10 Bluetooth module is used, than the coding and apps will need to change. This App called ArduinoBlue, a free App available on both Apple Appstore and Google Playstore could be a good app to control the Arduino car. It also has a website at https://sites.google.com/stonybrook.edu/arduinoble/, which provides quite detailed and sufficient information on how to connect and code.
At MakerClubQUT, we have these resources and we make these improvements as make-in-progress projects. If you are interested in making them, please contact us and/or leave any comments below.
By Andy (2020).