C4T3-LU (remote controlled land drone)

Designed by Ciocea Bogdan-Andrei, 333CA, May 2025
Contact: bogdan.ciocea@stud.acs.upb.ro
Github: BogdanCiocea

• C4T3-LU is a land-based drone remotely controlled by hand gestures or button input.

• Initially, the device was designed for bombing clearing dangerous areas where human access is not safe (e.g., military use).
• Later, after numerous high-risk field scenarios, it was reimagined as a companion robot — similar to a dog, hence the name.

The device moves in response to user commands. It supports two input modes:

• Button control
• Hand gesture control

It can move in all primary directions: FORWARD, BACKWARD, LEFT, RIGHT, and diagonally.

Update: I added the bomb. Now the hand controller can activate it.

I've always wanted a dog, but I'm allergic to animal fur — so I built one that doesn't shed and eats less.
Simple as that.

Thanks to its friendly and interactive nature, the robot can be used for entertainment and companionship.
It can also serve as a carrier, helping users carry small objects.
Additionally, with a camera module added, it can be repurposed for filming videos or remote surveillance.

The hand controller includes the following components:

• LCD 1602 shield – displays the current action sent to the robot and provides GPIO input via buttons.
• ATmega328P and ESP8266 Board – reads GPIO input and transmits commands wirelessly to the robot.
• A custom case made with a 3D printer.
• Grove 3-Axis Digital Accelerometer - communicates via I2C to detect angle rotation
• I/O Grove Base Shield – manages connections to all hardware components.

The robot includes the following components:

• ATmega328P and ESP8266 Board – receives the commands from the controller and rotate the motors accordingly
• Gear Motor Dual Shaft - controlled through a motor driver using PWM (for speed) and digital I/O (for direction).
• Micro Servomotor SG90 - controlled via a single PWM pin to adjust rotation angle.
• Support for ESP32 camera module - can be used independently for WiFi video streaming or interfaced via UART/SPI if needed.
• HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor - obstacle detection using digital I/O pins (trigger and echo).

The bomb includes the following components:

• Buzzer - a buzzer which connects to a digital port
• Led - a led which will light up to show it's active

List of components:

• LCD 1602 shield

• Grove 3-Axis Digital Accelerometer

• I/O Grove Base Shield

• ATmega328P and ESP8266 Board

• Gear Motor Dual Shaft

• Micro Servomotor SG90

• Support for ESP32 camera module

• HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor

• Buzzer

• Led

Total 497.56 lei

The code was written in ArduinoIDE. I used these libraries:

• Arduino_SensorKit - for communicating with the controller accelerometer
• LiquidCrystal - for showing on a 16×02 display the commands
• ESP8266WiFi - to know the MAC address of the boards
• espnow - for communicating with the boards
• neotimer - a non blocking timer for not using standard delays

The software consists of 6 source files — two for each board (ESP8266 and ATmega328P on controller, robot and bomb).

The hand controller acts as a master. It reads user input from buttons or an accelerometer and sends commands to the robot over ESPNOW.

The board used combines two microcontrollers:

• ATmega328P – responsible for reading button presses, sensor input or just displaying commands.
• ESP8266 – communication by sending commands using ESPNOW to the robot.

The `LCD shield` is used as a display to show the user which command is transmitted.

The ATmega328P sends user input as a command string to the ESP8266, which then formats and transmits the command to the slaves (robot and bomb).

The hand controller also can activate the bomb when the arm is controlling and the SELECT button is pressed.

The robot acts as a slave, waiting for incoming requests from the hand controller.

On receiving a command:

• The ESP8266 extracts the command string.
• It forwards this string via USART to the ATmega328P.
• The ATmega328P interprets the command and activates the motors accordingly (via PWM and digital I/O signals).

The bomb acts also as a slave.

On receiving a command:

• The ESP8266 extracts the command string.
• It forwards this string via USART to the ATmega328P.
• The ATmega328P interprets the command and activates the bomb.
• The bomb cannot be deactivated for obvious reasons.

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