IoT RC Car - Making Internet/Wifi Controlled Car

January 20, 2023

IoT RC Car - Making Internet/Wifi Controlled Car

In this project tutorial, we will learn how to control a robot car using an android device via WiFi over the Internet. We will use the NodeMCU ESP32-Dev kit and L298 motor Driver Board for this project. It provides a Graphical user interface for controlling the RC car. For that purpose, a simple HTML and Js used webpage hosted on esp32 and an Asynchronous webserver running on it. You can access the interface by simply typing the IP of esp32 on your browser on any device. But make sure the devices are on the same local network!

Components

1 x ESP32 Development Board - https://amzn.to/3GOH81q
2 x L298 Motor Driver Module - https://amzn.to/3J40LoV
4 x 12V 200 RPM Geared DC Motor - https://amzn.to/3kAUyXy
1 x Metal Chassis smart robotics car chassis - https://amzn.to/3kuTmEU
2 x Infinite 9V 800 maH Li-ion Rechargeable Battery - https://amzn.to/3wjJBvZ

Connections

Connections are effortless and straightforward. You may need to change the motor wire connection to the L298 driver module for the direction fix.

L298 - 1 connection
Motor 1 - connect the front right motor
Motor 2 - connect the front left motor

+ve of L298 to 9 +ve of cell 2
-ve of L298 to 9 -ve of cell 2

M11 of L298 to Pin 5 of ESP32
M12 of L298 to Pin 18 of ESP32
M21 of L298 to Pin 19 of ESP32
M22 of L298 to Pin 21 of ESP32
GND of L298 to GND of ESP32
EN-A of L298 to 3.3 V of ESP32
EN-B of L298 to 3.3 V of ESP32

L298 - 2 connection
Motor 1 - connect back right motor
Motor 2 - connect back left motor

+ve of L298 to 9 +ve of cell 1
-ve of L298 to 9 -ve of cell 1

How to use it?

After successfully assembling the hardware, flash the code and make sure you replaced the username and password. After the flash, you will get the local IP address of the esp32 on the serial monitor of Arduino IDE. Now, connect your mobile device to the same network and type the IP on the browser. You will get an interface to control your RC car.