A day at the beach can involve hauling a surprising amount of gear, from coolers, towels, blankets, chairs, and umbrellas, and if children are involved the amount of beach stuff needed seems to go nonlinear very quickly. Some turn to beach carts with large, low-pressure pneumatic tires, but even that seemed like too much work for [John] who built this remote controlled cart for his summertime needs.
The cart is based around an old cargo rack from an e-bike. To mount all of the robotic components, a sheet of plywood was cut and attached to the underside. Two motors are used to drive the rear wheels independently, allowing for differential steering rather than adding the complexity of a steering system. Some safety features are built in to this design as well, including lights for night driving, a start button controlling a relay for the motors and electronics, and a time-of-flight sensor to stop the robot if it encounters an obstacle.
The ESP32 at the center of the build ties all of the electronics together, and a smartphone app lets the user remotely pilot the rover. It’s not autonomous (yet) but a fair alternative to dragging all of one’s beach gear through the sand without any assistance. You could also minimize your excursions through the sand by timing your visits at high tide, but [John] is out on the Great Lakes so this may be of marginal utility here.
Oh, gawd. Put it in a wagon and lug the stupid thing.
How the moving parts cope with the sand, that is the interesting part.
“it can be smartphone controlled” i freaking hate smartphone controlled sht, just grab an old knock off ps2 controller and build a remote, or some ps3 or something that uses bluetooth out of the box and link it
I like the idea of not having a separate thing to lug around, batteries dead, etc. But wouldn’t it be easier to have the ESP32 be an access point (pword protected) and serve a webpage.
How is a webpage better?
Why?
That’s another small device that probably only gets used on occasions which you have to keep track of. It probably falls behind a desk or otherwise ends up in a difficult to find or reach location. It’s just another thing to keep track of and have to hunt for. And it’s another set of batteries to keep charged. Or to leak and destroy itself if left unmaintained for too long.
Like it or not you are probably going to keep your smartphone charged, nearby and know where it is at all times anyway.
That’s way better than a separate remote!
Touchscren vs. physical controller.
That “card between battery terminals with hot glue” solution….Nothing beats distance my friend. Offset the batteries so the terminals are nowhere near each other at least.
Anything can be called a robot now-a-days.
only by the clueless
That’s exactly what Robhie, Robot B9 and Tobor said!
Exposed chain drive for sand usage?