The goal here is to make an 'autonomous' toy-monster-truck, using my own electronic design and software for the control system. To get a head-start I used a cheap radio-controlled toy-truck as a start and replaced the radio-control-pcb with my own designed control-system-pcb.
The 'brain' of the truck is an ESP32 and the sensors used are ultrasonic distance-sensors and acc/gyro/compass. This design was made to be simple and easy to both understand and replicate. I hope it will be a source of inspiration and give ideas for improvements.
This repo is now updated and will be used as a start for the 'Nöörd-Team' at ScaniaHack May 16th and 17th 2024. This repo will contain everything needed in this project and also try to explain the progress and eventually the results.
However, it is possible to use my PCB-design or the schematics and build a sort of control-board for the motors and then have the actual control-system on an other device, such as a raspberry-pi.
Each distance sensor uses 2 ios from the ESP32 and these can of course be used by other sensors as well but pay attention to the power-supply for these since they use power directly from the batteries.
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doc: documentation and images,
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A workdescription for the conversion
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A proposal for how to setup the work at ScaniaHack
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hw: hardware including:
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PCB layout and all the schematics.
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References to used components etc.
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CAD models and 3d printables for some add-ons to the chassi.
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sw: all software, not that much yet but soame starterss (each folder is it’s own VsCode project):
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a testproject (atm-test-control) to run all sensors and controls etc (basically to test that the hardware works as intended)
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a place-holder for the real software to be developed (atm-real-control)
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www: software for the backend web-server, like
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post log script
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view log script
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To keep the ESP safe on the io-side I am using rechargable batteries summing up to 3.6 volts which works just fine, but with alkalines you will probably get like 4.6 or 4.7 volts with fresh batteries which might damage the ESP32 io. Don’t use those…
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In the schematics I used a 1N4148 diode for reversed polarity protection but this was NOT a good choice. This can be left out completely or replaced by a schottky type of diode with a low voltage-drop.
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Connecting and downloading to the ESP might be a nightmare some times. Usually it goes well but when it starts to bug it can go on forever. However, you are not alone, google will help out when you search for your error message. Sometimes it works better if you power the pcb from the usb-port using a 3.3V type of FTD like FTDI1232 set to 3.3V. In this case the power from the batteries needs to be off or you might destroy the circuit. Allways leave battery-power off when using power from the programming interface.
