AWF WISWASI
Earth Rover 3.0
Oct 28, 2022
Having no prior mechanical engineering experience, I decided to build a simple rover inspired by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers.
I used an Arduino UNO3 as the main microcontroller board.
The first prototype I built was made out of wooden board and a planter (yes, I picked those up from Daiso for around $3).
Some of the components I used in the first build
The complete Earth Rover 1.0 prototype
While the first build wasn’t too bad, it was purely for testing and getting myself familiar with how the board and various components operate. I managed to stream the camera feed to OBS running on my Linux laptop. The rover is controlled with a FlySky FS-i6x radio transmitter/FS-iA6B receiver combo.
My humble mission control center!
I recorded both the action camera video, as well as the FPV footage from the AKK X1P 5.8Ghz 600mW video transmitter that is hooked up to the camera. On the “mission control center” side, I received the video feed using an FPV OTG 5.8G video receiver (USB-C) and recorded it with OBS.
Earth Rover 1.0's first test drive
Another test drive on some gravel
It was clear the the build needed quite the enhancements. The video was wobbly, and so were the wheels. The top part of the rover had a hard time staying shut, and came apart after a while of driving. The motor speed and turning also needed to be fixed so I quickly got to work, and finally… it was time!
Earth Rover 2.0 - Much better now, isn’t it?!
Say cheese :D
With version 2.0, the rover has better control when moving forward, backward, and turning. The speed, however, still needs to be increased in my opinion. Here is video footage of the test drive:
Earth Rover 2.0
Here is the complete part list:
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Arduino UNO R3 ATmega328P - $17.99 (Amazon Link)
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L293D DC/Stepper Motor Driver Shield - $6.99 (Amazon Link)
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SG90 Micro Servo - $10.98, Pack of 4 (Amazon Link)
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Various Dupont Jumper Wires - $6.98, Pack of 120, Assorted (Amazon Link)
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2-Slot 18650 Battery Pack - $9.99, Pack of 7 (Amazon Link)
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FlySky FS-i6X Radio Transmitter w/ FS-iA6b Receiver - $53.48 (Amazon Link)
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AKK X1P 5.8Ghz Switchable AV Transmitter - $16.99 (Amazon Link)
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iFlight SMA Male RHCP Antenna - $16.99, Pack of 2 (Amazon Link)
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RunCam2 4K Action Camera w/ 128GB SD Card - $119.99 (Amazon Link)*
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E-flite 800mAh 3S 11.1V 20C JST LiPo Batter - $25.59 (Amazon Link)**
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Do yourself a favor and buy a LiPo charger if you don’t have one.
(I am using this 15V 11.1V Wall Charger for $11.99)
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Snado LCD Universal 18650 Battery Charger - $12.69 (Amazon Link)
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2x 18650 3.7V Li-Ion Batteries***
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FPV OTG 150CH 5.8G Receiver - $33.99 (Amazon Link)
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Mecanum Wheels/Motors/Chassis kit - $36.99 (Amazon Link)
The next step was to added GPS functionality for to get the accurate location of the rover. This was done using UART, by sending the rover GPS data via bluetooth to my laptop, reading and interpreting it using my own libubx C++ library, then outputting the location information. I also implemented a QML Map program using Qt to show the rover’s location on the map as well. It was time for next gen, Earth Rover 3.0
Earth Rover 3.0
The rover's trip path
The NMEA GPS sentences collected from the rover
Using my libubx library to parse location data
As of right now, I consider this project to be complete. I doubt that I will be adding any more feature, maybe some improvements and tweaks.
Please feel free to send over any suggestions or comments!
*You don’t have to use this specific camera. I picked it because it was easy to work with and records in 4K.
**I found this battery to be good quality and for a reasonable price.
***I could not find any 18650 batteries online, so I went to my local Batteries Plus Bulbs and got me a pair.
Awf Wiswasi, 2022
