While there are plenty of ESP32-based wireless-controlled robot cars with a built-in camera, like the PiCar-X 2.0 or Zeus Car, it might be more fun and rewarding to build something yourself. That’s exactly what Matt Sroufe did by building his own RC car using off-the-shelf parts and an ESP32-CAM board and writing firmware for it.
To get started with the build, you’ll need six main components:
- A 4-wheel car chassis – $47.49 on AliExpress
- Electronic speed controller – $5.27 on AliExpress. Matt selected the 30A version with green PCB.
- Dual-battery holder for about $2 on AliExpress
- 2x 18650 3.6V cells or 7.4V batteries purchased locally
- ESP32-CAM board with an external antenna and the 160° FoV camera – About $14 with board, camera, and external antenna.
- Bluetooth gamepad such as a PS4 controller
The total should be around $80 with the batteries assuming you already own a Bluetooth gamepad. You’ll need to cut a few wires for the assembly as explained on the project’s GitHub repository where you’ll also find the firmware with the following features:
- Live video streaming from an ESP32-CAM to a web server.
- Remote control of a motor and a servo via WebSocket commands.
- Automatic timeout to reset motor and servo to default states.
- Dynamic multi-client video feed canvas on the server.
The Arduino sketch needs to be modified with your WiFi router credentials and server IP address. You’ll also need to install run server.py on the said server, and then you can access it from http://localhost:8000 or http://<IP_address>:8000 to get a live view from the ESP32-CAM board.
You don’t need to play alone and your family or friends can join the fun as the Python server supports multiple ESP32-CAM boards/cars as you can see from the screenshot above or the video below. Alternatively, you may be able to mount four ESP32-CAM boards on one chassis to have a 360-degree surround view around it.
Via Hackster.io
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Nice work. I tried to build something at some point using LEGO, and using a GoPro Session (more compact GoPro), but the latency from the video feed was too high ~1sec, for it to be usable for remote control based on video.
I have some esp cam boards, but never got to the point to use those. To see what their latency is.