Can I make an Arduino control an arduino rc car?

Can i use an arduino to control another arduino that is attached to motors, etc. If so, then we can use the article above to help us control it using touch

I'm not sure about the touch pad, but I found this article from Spark Fun a few weeks ago titled "RC Hobby Controllers and Arduino". Hope it helps.

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/348

Off hand, I don't know of any tutorials or libraries for touch pads. However, there are touch pads that use USB to connect to a PC. So with one of those devices, the worst case would involve determining which signals being sent over USB correlated with what position on the touch pad. It would be tedious but not that difficult if you had a logic probe or oscilloscope. Hopefully some Googling would reveal someone already did this with a specific touchpad that's widely available.

Here is the article for the TouchPad: http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/touch-control-panel

better worded, Can i use an arduino to control another arduino that is attached to motors, etc. If so, then we can use the article above to help us control it using touch :slight_smile:

orionjd:
Here is the article for the TouchPad: http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/touch-control-panel

By "touch pad" I thought you ment like those little pads normally found on laptops that can be used instead of a mouse. What you linked to I would consider a "touch screen" and yes I am familiar with examples and tutorials for those... :slight_smile:

orionjd:
better worded, Can i use an arduino to control another arduino that is attached to motors, etc. If so, then we can use the article above to help us control it using touch :slight_smile:

Of course you can! There are many ways to do so, but regardless of how you do it the basic idea is to send predetermined signals correlating to specific commands to the car's movement from one Arduino to another. Here's an example using generic binary data, but the concept is the same. I'd image you'd prefer a wireless means of communication, and there's quite a few options but probably Xbee would be the easiest to find tutorials on. The way you input these commands into the first Arduino really won't make a difference to the rest of the software, as it can be an entirely self-contained set of code.

orionjd:
Can i use an arduino to control another arduino that is attached to motors, etc.

There are various ways for two Arduinos to communicate, and given communication it's possible for them to collaborate and allow one to control the other. How practical and how difficult would depend on the type of communication you provide between them. What sort of connection do you have in mind?

Awesome! which Arduino would be recommended if I'm going to be using 2 of them , and 1 for control and the other will be to on sub controlling 3-4 motors/servos/stepper.

I was debating if i should by a transmitter/ Reciever remote, but since i want to make my remote to be controlled under water, I figured Xbee would make it happen. That way i can make a custom underwater housing control containing Arduino, then it could control my underwater sub. Does this sound like it would work :slight_smile: I cant wait to try it.

You'll are amazing!

Now I have to research making the underwater controller :slight_smile:

If i can figure it out, i may do something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Waterproof-underwater-Case-Bag-dry-bag-pouch-Case-for-iPhone-4-4s-Galaxy-s3-9300-/150844709571?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231f0b9ac3

with touchscreen Nintendo DS project like above posting: http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/touch-control-panel.

Radio waves don't generally pass through water, so you need to sort out your communication mechanism before you go any further.

Great Point Peter. The good part is that I'll be close to it controlling it. Distance wise it wont go out of sight...We hope!

I've built an Arduino controlled RC car. I had a very old rc car with broken electronics. I removed all the old electronics and only used the old motor. I fitted a small micro 9G servo to turn the front wheels. The main motor is controlled by a L298n board. For the remote control I used an nRF24L01 2.4GHz module, these can be found on ebay for only a couple of bucks. Much cheaper then xbee modules. I connected everything to an Arduino Duemilanove. I made my own remote out of a Arduino Uno with a joystick shield and another nRF24L01 module.
Video of the car: Arduino rc car on Vimeo

orionjd:
Great Point Peter. The good part is that I'll be close to it controlling it. Distance wise it wont go out of sight...We hope!

If possible, I would have a floating RF antenna connected via cable to the ROV. Other than a cable directly to the control unit, that would be the simplest way to communicate the the ROV. There have been a few previous threads dealing with underwater communications and submersible ROVs (like this one ). The fact of the matter is that wireless communication underwater is significantly harder to do reliably than in air. Not only are most of the RF bands greatly attenuated, but most optical frequencies as well. Even ultrasound, which at first glance would be more effective underwater has potential problems, including varying propagation speed potentially causing a signal to interfere with itself and with thermoclines (sharp boundaries between two layers of water with significantly different temperatures.

I was looking for this.. Thanks for the 'Sparkfun' link. :slight_smile:
You guys are greaaat :wink: