This is my first Arduino based project. Using Arduino board is similar to Raspberry Pi using for IOT. Despite Arduino exists for several years, only now I have discovered it for myself.

I have ordered several Arduino boards for few dollars each from Aliexpress and Banggood:

Copy of Arduino Uno
Copy of Arduino Nano

Arduino Uno and Arduino Nano are not original boards - they are Chinese copies, but they are almost identical and the price is much lower than originals. But they are good option how to start learning Arduino platform.

Also I have ordered obstacle avoiding robot car set from Aliexpress.

This set has all almost all for construction car that can ride without controlling it. This set includes:

  • 4 x Geared motor
  • 4 x Tyre
  • 4 x Motor fixing
  • 2 x Car chassis (acrylic material)
  • 1 x L298N motor driver
  • 1 x for UNO328 controller board
  • 1 x for sensor board
  • 1 x Holder kit
  • 1 x Steering gear
  • 1 x Ultrasonic module
  • 1 x Tracking module
  • 1 x USB cable
  • 1 x 3D assembly drawings
  • Several pillars screw nut
Pin extension hat, motor drivers, leds module and ultrasonic module

For construction robot car I have used this instruction on Youtube. It is not the same car I have ordered, but it is the best video instruction that I could find. There is car with two wheels and I have ordered car with four wheels, but they are pretty similar, so using this instruction I could make a robot. There is also link to code for running car in video description.

This set does not contain all screws I needed, so I have used additional items. Geared motor did not had wires, so I soldered  them to motors.

For motor I have used 4xAA batteries, but for powering Arduino board - power bank that contains one 18650 battery. So this robot has two independent power sources.

So after couple of hours I have ready to use car that rides without controlling. Main problem is that car does not have enough power. 4xAA batteries give maximum 6V. Two of them takes L298N motor driver, so for motors only 4V are left. So sometimes car stays still instead of going forward. Solution is to use two or even four 18650 batteries, the will give ~8 - ~12 volts on full charge. It is possible because motors supports 3-12 V and L298N supports 5v-35v (if input is more than 12 than should remove jumper and provide 5V for component internal use).

So this is next step to improve robot - to add more powerful battery. Also can add switch or some sensor to switch robot on/off, because now it can be switched off removing battery.