Make Fast and Simple Smartphone Controlled Iot Car at Home Using Nodemcu

Hi robotic project builders! In this project i made this simple yet fast robotic car which is controlled by smartphone and has more to offer compared to the normal radio controlled devices.

This car uses the most affordable microcontroller with Wifi that few call as Nodemcu or ESP8266

Controlled by any smartphone device installed with an app curated for this car, Since it uses Wi-Fi for communication you can expect no lag in the control.

You can make 4WD or four wheel drive for more torque but i recommend to use only 2 wheel drive since the power is enough and also this setup saves you lots of power.

To begin with, let me explain why you should build this robotic car.

This car you can call it as a base for most of the robotic car projects, Let's say you want to build a fire fighting robot, or a surveillance robot this robot car that we are building now is the base for all those.

I agree that the controller will be different for larger scale projects but the foundation remains the same for all.

Here in this car the front wheels move smoothly since it is driven by the rear geared wheels that is packed with enough torque for a car of this size.

This project is also an example to show that with less resources you can build the advanced vehicles(prototypes).

To make it accessible for all i will be using basic materials to build this, So with these being said let us gather supplies to make this

Gather these materials to build your Iot Car

Nodemcu board

BO motor (60 rpm) with wheels

Mini Breadboard

L298N motor driver

Jumper cables

2 x 18650 battery with holder and switch

DC Motor

Wheels

Double sided adhesive

Hot glue

Piece of cardboard

Arduino IDE

Programming cable

Piece of cardboard

Don't be bothered by looking at the circuit diagram, Few years back even i struggled to understand the circuit connections but i solved this by reading and understanding them.

I will split the circuit and explain it so you can understand easily

L298N Motor Driver to NodeMCU

IN1, IN2, IN3, IN4 of the motor driver are connected to the D1, D2, D3, and D4 pins of the NodeMCU. These pins control the direction of each motor.

The ENB and ENA pins on the motor driver control the speed of the motors. These are connected to PWM-enabled pins on the NodeMCU for speed control(Connected by default)

Connections for motors

The Left Motor is connected to the OUT1 and OUT2 terminals of the L298N motor driver.

The Right Motor is connected to the OUT3 and OUT4 terminals of the motor driver.

Power Connections

The 18650 batteries are connected to the motor driver’s power input (labeled 12V and GND) to provide the necessary power for the motors whereas the 5V output from the L298N motor driver is used to power the NodeMCU via the Vin pin on the NodeMCU board.

The GND pin of the NodeMCU, motor driver, and battery are all connected to create a common ground and for this, i used a small breadboard.

Instead of the breadboard, you can connect all the wires together, anyways it is your choice to do so.

After you make the connections connect your nodemcu to computer and open arduino IDE.

Copy and paste the below code, Select the proper port and type of board from the menu and click on the upload button.

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There is no specific rule on using the type of wheels, In my case i will be using these slim wheels with rubber grips.

Wheels of this type will make the car look great and also are light in weight and good to go on almost all basic surfaces, If you are willing to use them in rugged or extreme conditions choose another type of wheels.

As I mentioned earlier I will be using rear wheel drive in this project and the front wheels are simply connected to a toy dc motor

The purpose of connecting front wheels to these motors is to ensure smooth movement which on the other hand is possible via bearings, So all thanks to those DC motors which save my resources.

Apply hot glue on the edges of the cardboard and place the DC motor over it, Hold it for some time and allow it to dry completely.

After you have followed the circuit explanation within minutes you can build the connection between components.

Start by connecting the nodemcu board directly to the breadboard first, Use jumper cables to establish connection between the electronics.

Double sided adhesives are recommended to keep the breadboard and motor driver secure in the cardboard base.

Connect the DC motor to the driver in the end because some cases the direction of rotation will be different so be aware of that.

There are many ways to modify this base look, i simply used a piece of red stick and glued it to the front, You can also use LED strips here, The choice is yours.

After these are ready add the battery pack, i used lithium-ion battery which comes with great power backup

Are you also seeing that? This car is trying to fly from the workstation!

Well using this is fun, all you have to do is power on the battery via the switch and turn on wifi on your smartphone.

The board will automatically be connected to the network and all you have to do is open the app and allow a few seconds to connect, Get the free app here

You will see a message that says the connection is successful, After this you will have all the control of this car.

There are more than 9 directions in which you can run this car, Explore all the button and there is a speed control button and break button too that works pretty well for this car.

I used 2wd also called as 2 wheel drive for this car to save power so that the user can have fun for a longer time.

That is all for this project, Give a try building this project and let me know how it went for you in the i made it section.

Check the working video below for more details on the coding and connection part if you still need any clarifications.

Don't miss any action from this car, This video has it all!

I have also made a detailed video tutorial on building this project, There are some changes that needs to be made on the code part, Make sure to check that in the video.

There are many ways you can put up this robotic car, Feel free to customise and don't forget to share your experiences.

If you still have something running on your mind regarding this project you can leave a comment below, Thank you and have a great build.