Computer Controlled RC Car
August 2003
Introduction
I started getting interested in parallel port interfacing Dec. of 2001. I was taking a high school "Computer Engineering" course and as a bonus the teacher Mr. Damian said we should research how to control an 8 segment display through the computer. I researched and started out in QBasic. It was very neat when I was able to switch an LED on and off via the computer. I then built a circuit using 8 NOT gates and and a number display. I wrote a VB program, which is avaliable for interests sake in the Downloads Section. From then on I've been quite interested in parallel port interfacing. Later that year I bought an LCD Screen and interfaced it to the parallel port.
I thought up the idea that it would be really
cool to control a remote control car controlled
by the parallel port. I did some research and Mike
Beauchamp did just that and to top it off
it's controllable over the internet (atleast
it used to be). For Christmas I requested one
of those Mini RC cars and off I went.
Want to build your own? How-To
Guide now avaliable in the Articles
Section.
Hardware
The first thing I did open up the remote. 3 screws - no problem. The PCB (middle pic) is exposed and you can clearly see the 2 LEDs and the 4 buttons. There is a screw on the PCB that you can take out and expose the solder side (right pic). I then soldered 1wire to each of the 4 buttons and 1 wire to the common ground. The wires are connected to a connector (see pic below) that I cut off of an old serial port connector.
 Up-close solder connections. Gotta love the shrink tube. |
 Finished Remote. Aint it pretty? |
The remote closes up nicely with the connector exposed (above, right of the remote). I wanted to do this project without wrecking the remote so that it can be driven without the PC if wanted. The next step involves the contruction of the cable to interface the remote to the PC.
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This is the cable I built to interface the remote to the PC's parallel port. I used a standard parallel port connector ($1.00 @ KWSurplus), 4 2N3904 transistors, solder board and floppy drive cable. I'm not very proud of my solder job (right pic). It's extremely messy, but functional. The middle pin of each transistor is connected to 1 pin of the parallel port. One pin on each transistor is connected to both the ground of the computer and the ground of the remote, making a common ground. The last transistor pin is conncted to a pin that connects to the remote (left pic). The pins in the left pic connect to the remote adapter connection. When a PC parallel port pin is turn high (+5V) it completes a circuit between a remote button and the common ground, simulating a button press. In this way, the car's movement can be precisely controlled via PC software (see below).
Software
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As I was building it, I was testing functionality
with QBasic because of it's easy to use parallel
port control. After I knew everything was working,
I wrote a fairly simple program (just the main
screen) and then modified it considerably for
my Gr 11 computer science final project.
Main Screen:
The car can be manually driven via arrow
keys or A-W-S-D. The arrow directions turn blue
when the corresponding key is pressed.
Config / Extras Screen:
This is the bulk of the program. You can temporarily
change the port that the program outputs to, have
the car be controlled via random motion, write
a sequence of movements (in a txt file) and have
the car follow them or have the car runs one of
the 4 predifined sequences. Options are setup
in config.txt included in the zip file. Extensive
documentation on the software can be found here and you can download (and hopefully use) this
software in the Download
Section.
Pics
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 Fits Nicely Together |
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Project Cost
| Item: | Cost: |
| Mini RC Car | 23.00 |
| Solder Board | 0.50 |
| Transistors | 1.50 |
| Wires, cables, connectors | 3.00 |
| Total: | $28 |
Comments
I am a student and i m doing a project for my final year.
My project is about Wifi Controlled robotic car. In this project i want to control a robotic car placed in one wifi zone with the help of the mobile phone. The robotic car should have a camera which will capture images and send it back to the Mobile phone. I want to develop an application on the mobile phone using J2ME. Plz help me how should i start with the project. Plz guide me for the various components required for the hardware of the robotic car.
Waiting for your reply.
Posted by Rohan Botre on 2010-08-26 @ 22:01
i think there is another way to control Rc car with computer
now im working in new way to control the car with computer directly with out using remotcontrol but i will control it with internet from any place all over the world
Posted by max on 2010-08-20 @ 16:14
i mean..the circuit diagram and the source code and also the components needed like resistor value from port to base..i dnt know how mch voltage does my joystck of the car is..haha!..im going to check it up later..
heres my e.add..
fatbaztardz@yahoo.ca
Posted by jstDoinPureElectrnix on 2010-08-11 @ 00:32
WOW...great job Sir!..
m kinda interesting on this one...
can you help me about it?? :)
I wanna make this up and display it on our exhibit..
can you give me cnd me jst a simple program or maybe your program and your circuit and the components needed.. if its ok to you..
i really love this so mch!!..
i wanna try it soon..
I also tried a miniature elevator using relay..
our circuit is great but not with the source code... haha!! I really sucked up with creating programs..what language you use anyway??
Posted by jstDoinPureElectrnix on 2010-08-11 @ 00:29
All of the information to build your own is here:
http://www.jbprojects.net/articles/rc/
and that is clearly stated at the top of this page.
Posted by Jon on 2010-07-26 @ 09:08
can email me schematic diagram and vb code in this project luibj2t47@yahoo.com
Posted by shadow fiend on 2010-07-26 @ 08:47
can u mail me the schematic diagram and the vb code to mu mail id shamik_sukhoi31@yahoo.com
Posted by shamik on 2010-07-20 @ 23:53
hey i wanted to know how to set up the remote connectors to the parallel port connector and what wire goes where
Posted by anderson on 2010-07-8 @ 12:21
please send me a schematis daigarm and code in VB?
Posted by harison on 2010-07-1 @ 18:00
i like this project because it very nice..Can u send me the source code in Visual Basic and a schematic diagram of the circuit?tnx
Posted by harison on 2010-07-1 @ 17:51
thanks mr. jon bennett you are so kind...yeah!!!! i will try this...thanks again...
Posted by ploy_yuto on 2010-06-28 @ 17:51
i want to try this project for our subject its very cool..could help me send schematic diagram for the RC- Car remote controller..pls mail me..thanks !!!!
Posted by ploy_yuto on 2010-06-28 @ 04:05
It's a nice work.. I really want to try this.. can i ask for the source code in VB.. tnx.. Please mail me... tnx...
Posted by Niel O'Brien E. Arañas on 2010-06-26 @ 05:44
Its realy a cool idea. Could you send me the source code in c, c++builder or cpp and a schematic diagram of the circuit ?
Thank´s a lot!
Posted by Ricao on 2010-05-27 @ 14:59
Its quite a good work. Can u send me the source code in c or cpp and a schematic diagram of the circuit?
Posted by deepak on 2010-05-15 @ 08:06
this is very good project and i make these in my major project with camera it is possible
Posted by manish on 2010-04-7 @ 20:52
how can we do this project on Laptop, due to there's no more parallel port on newer laptop.
I used common USB to parallel / printer port but the motor was just move forward, and can't be control anymore from our program.
help me please Sir ...
thank so much
Posted by Imam Pujaya on 2010-04-5 @ 08:01
sir can u plz send me a circuit diagram
Posted by pranjul on 2010-03-25 @ 09:58
hi.
i'm a student in electrical engineering and for a project, i would like to find a way of transmitting a radio signal from a computer. also, i would like the computer to record a signal from a remote controle and reproduce it....
if somebody can help me, please eave me a post
Posted by an5 on 2010-01-22 @ 02:53
will this method work with 4channel RC Helicopter?
if so email me..thanks
Posted by Red on 2010-01-14 @ 21:00
My name is sourav.i am try to do this project,because this project i choose as my ca project.please help me and send the total project to my email.please dost help me.
Posted by Sourav Banerjee on 2009-12-27 @ 22:59
Dear Mr. Jon Bennett,
I have implemented successfully your RC control car project. My RC car works so fine. But I need to control one more device using the same parallel port. Just I want to know how to edit your code and use the other port pins from 6 - 9 (2 - 5 already used by your program) and also the same screen(i.e one more screen or same screen with 4 more buttons) needed to control the other device. Is that possible? or can you please advice and help me in this regard.
thanks.
Kannan Paramalai
Posted by KANNAN PARAMALAI on 2009-11-28 @ 09:20
pls help me i need complete document of this project
Posted by jhun on 2009-10-8 @ 19:58
hi, your design is excellent and i almost get the circuit.. but isnt it possible to display the circuitry of the transister circuit with symbolic diagram.. that would make it still easier..pls if you could help me!!!
Posted by Abhineet on 2009-08-20 @ 02:06
its very good but can i get additional ckt on the project to help my project which is almost similar to ur project...
with regards!!!
Posted by assefa korie on 2009-04-15 @ 01:03
how can i control a rc car via a thrustmaster ferrari 2 in 1 steering wheel
Posted by stephan malan on 2009-04-14 @ 03:55
I am doing this project with great enthusiasm as its my first project ever. Please send me the schematic of the circuitry used if u have.. Schematic representing the components. I'd be very thankful.
Posted by ibrahim on 2009-02-28 @ 04:53
hi, can u provide the VB 6.0 source code? i have done my interface but i did not know how to integrate with the coding..can u help me?
if yes, plz mail me at vulpax@hotmail.com..
thanx alot again
Posted by lynne on 2009-02-17 @ 18:39
hi there..can anyone help me about the computer controlled rc car..can you send me an schematic of it,i want to use microcontroller on both the receiver and transmitter side..pls help me
Posted by nezuhj on 2009-02-4 @ 18:49
thanks dude..........
its a nice project..........
my question is whether can we program it in
java or .net..............????????
Posted by vinoth kumar on 2009-01-17 @ 00:22
anthottu mangatholiya ith
Posted by krishnaprasad on 2009-01-6 @ 02:49
Hi Greate Project,
1. can U do this poroject with interface the jostic controller with pc ?
2. I need Source Code in VB6. can U provide ?
If ..plz mail to my ID
Thanx 4 once again.
Nice JOB.
Posted by Mahantesh on 2008-12-6 @ 07:52
hi,can i know the code for the software?make me easier to modd and explain it in my project
Posted by uzair on 2008-11-10 @ 07:51
This is a great project. ive just built it and it works great. I wonder if i could have the source code so i could modd it.
thanks
Posted by cordcole on 2008-11-9 @ 15:48
This is exactly what I was thinking of building. How accurately can your car follow a programed sequence of movements?
Posted by Tokr on 2008-10-27 @ 07:42
cant you build a web came ind the car plz.
Posted by theis on 2008-09-7 @ 10:47
nice tutorial buddy...
Well i have some questions regarding the car.Can i control or lower the speed of my car, the motor i m using or rather my car is stepper type.
Posted by Shyam on 2008-09-1 @ 10:42
Id like to do the same thing it would be much appreciated if you could send me a list of instructions on how to do it \THANKS
Posted by kyle on 2008-08-6 @ 08:08
It is good job!
I have some question:
1.is it possible to interface with serial port
2.Is it possible to interface the the jostic controller with pc ?
Posted by Afework on 2008-07-24 @ 06:24
Hi, can i use your article on my website ? regards
Posted by Bogdan on 2008-07-1 @ 14:34
i went thru the project. its awesome. well can i get the program behind the software?
i.e. can u send it on my id
Posted by somen das on 2008-05-10 @ 01:46