Control RC Race using a PS3 Remote Control and Arduino

Craze for RC Cars has certainly evaded the time-rust which the usual hobbies tend to get. Having been in trend since the 80’s, these cars are a memory of almost everyone’s childhood. Making it more memorable is this enticing RC car DIY by Barret James. An undergraduate student of the Arizona State University, Barret has assembled an Arduino based RC car which uses a PS3 remote as its controller.

For this project, he opened up a RC car, hacked its circuitry to attach an Arduino, plugged in Bluetooth module (for the controller) and voila!! But it is not just a three step DIY. Before hacking open the RC car, you have to program the Arduino and deal with its power requirements. Then there is installing and testing of the Bluetooth shield and Arduino communication too.

Compared to the usual RC cars, James has taken a bigger model, with the obvious concern to place Arduino circuitry easily inside the chassis. Interestingly, after the installation, he doesn’t put the chassis back on the car. It might be giving a proper demonstration to his curious followers but certainly isn’t recommended if you are planning to keep this DIY for a long time.

This DIY is undoubtedly a favorite for hardware junkies. We have usually controlled cars on television using PlayStation remotes, wonder how amazing it would be when you do it off the screen.