DIY: WiFi Robot

Jon Bennett has created a WiFi controller robot that can be controller via the internet or from a computer up to 500m away. The robot is built from an RC car that he picked up at a thrift store, a Linksys WRT54GL router running the Open-WRT firmware, a network camera. The bot can be powered by two different type of micro-controllers: the PIC microprocessor or an Arduino. You can use whichever one your are more comfortable with. If you follow Joe’s guide, it shouldn’t cost you that much to put together. Check out the video after the break of the bot in action.

The goal of this article is to give a high-level overview of the project and provide some implementation details of the software and electronics. It is not meant to be a step-by-step how-to guide, but there should be enough information for someone with motivation and some background knowledge in electronics and software to be able to make their own Wifi Robot. All of the source code is being released under the terms of the GNU GPL v2, so by all means, use the code, and improve it!

You sure could have a lot of fun with this project. Maybe at some image processing code so that it can figure out where the sidewalk ends and can make it’s own decision to turn right or left.

[Link to WiFi Robot]

Frank's the editor in chief of tech.nocr.at. He can be found surfing the internet and playing with gadgets. Follow him on twitter @franklinhares