Mini-Kart is designed to get kids into electronics and "making" with an RC car. Made from laser cuts sheets and hobbiest electronic parts, Mini-Kart is shipped as a flat pack that the receiver can then put together. With multiple karts that each have their own functions, you can choose the kart that you like the most! The remote is made in the same way. Mini-Kart also comes with trees and cones allowing kids to build their own race tracks.
Mini-Kart was a team project that I worked on with Connor McIlveen, Joel Fleming, and Ben Hammer. My responsibilities for this project included writing all the code, making prototypes and final model, and optimizing the design for laser-cut construction.
This project was based on two feather boards located in the controller and the kart. Using radio, the two communicate with each other using a protocol that I came up with to communicate the relevant info to move, steer, and rotate the ice cream cone on the top of Mini-Kart! Because I designed the internals to use a simple, brushed DC motor, I could use an H-bridge to move the motor and use servos for both steering and movement of the ice cream cone.
The code was written by myself both for the receiver and the transmitter. You can view the code above and are free to download, edit, or do whatever use you want with it. Honestly, I had a blast writing it so if you do decide to do something with it you should reach out!
Besides the internal electronics, every part of Mini-Kart is laser cut hardboard. This means that we can actually ship sheets of pre-cut hardboard that a child can then pop off and build the car themselves, giving them the opportunity to learn a little about how their car works!
