Trail Tracer:
The Trail Tracer system turns any R/C car into a self driving, wire-following robot. It works best on low speed crawler type vehicles, but can also be used on higher speed vehicles with some tuning. The Rx Board easily fits on any vehicle 1/16th scale or larger, but can also fit on 1/18th and even 1/24th scale vehicles with some creativity. When paired with a Charge Port board, the vehicle can charge on its own and drive indefinitely.
The Basic Set includes the components needed to get your R/C car following a wire. It does not include the Charge Port board or Beacon Tx boards.
Features:
Semi-manual mode - vehicle attempts to follow the wire but you still have full control override via your R/C transmitter
Automatic mode - Can drive on it’s own without the use of an R/C controller
Wireless Telemetry - monitor the vehicle wirelessly from up to 200’ away with the addition of an ESP32 + display
Stuck detector - cuts the throttle if the distance from the wire stops changing over time. Useful for fully automated driving when unattended
Open Source ESP32 code - The Receiver board uses an ESP32-S2 with open source software. This enables users to add their own features or use the Trail Tracer for custom robotics applications
Required for use:
R/C car with ESC and Servo that use a standard PWM servo signal
20 AWG PVC Wire (or similar)
USB-C cable to power Tx Board, and 5V USB power source
Micro USB cable to connect Rx Board to PC
Instructions / Tutorial Videos:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xJ2LJ5pYNEHwpYQQPe2vaVs65cMxHG_B790lyTUjJ9g/edit?usp=sharing
Component Description:
Transmitter Board: Generates the signal in the wire that the vehicle follows.
Receiver Board: The ‘brain’ of the vehicle. Reads the distance to the wire via the sensor coil and outputs the required steering servo signal to guide the vehicle along the wire. Controls throttle, and optionally reads R/C receiver outputs for manual control driving modes.
Sensor Coil: Contains two PCB wire coils that act as the ‘antennas’ that sense the wire signal.