BGT RC Car

Dear Reader,

I would like to present to you my idea about a customized modular remote control (RC) car but first I would like to introduce to you some problems that I had as a hobbyist.

Problem 1: Modular does not mean custom

Every RC car out there that is sold is modular but it is not customized. A lot of people buy some parts according to part numbers and then they put this part into their RC cars. This is a brilliant hobby but it is not extendable to a great degree. You can proceed further if you have knowledge in engineering, designing, ICs, programming. This is so difficult to find it into one person. So you stick to the guidelines of the mother company.

Problem 2: High price

Automotive sport is not for everyone, it is for the people who can afford it. But, ideas come from all over the world no matter the financial status of the individual. It is also very difficult to buy an RC car in order to “destroy & experiment” on it.

Problem 3: Education

RC cars are almost like our daily cars. I believe that students should work on these freely. Nothing should stop their ideas from implementing them. The RC cars cannot be used for educational purposes in the way they exist now.

Features

This RC car I am designing I believe solves every single problem that I had during my years of youth! Without further ado, from the problems let’s dive into the features of this car:

• Customization: The end user will be able to use any of the parts that this RC car is built with or create new parts according to their needs.
• Affordable: There will be big variation of parts according to the use of the RC car (racing, experimenting, etc)
• Education: The RC car could be used by mechanical engineers about the mechanic parts, by electric engineers about the ICs, by developers about the software.

Uses cases

• A hobbyist buys one of these just to play with, make it more beautiful, print a new chassis, change colors and make it unique according to his/her standards.
• A mechanical engineer buys the RC car apart from the ICs because he has an idea about a new suspension system.
• A software developer downloads only the source code and modifies this code to add autonomous driving to the car. Then he/she will buy the car to see his idea implemented!
• An electrical engineer is buying it to test an IC which has less resistance and delivers the power more efficiently at the wheels.

As you understand we cannot depend on the others for making features so this car has some features by me. Some of them are ideas, some has dummy functionality, some are implemented in an early stage. Following this separation, the car will have:

• Ideas: Traction control, Anti-blocking system, Oversteer detection, Understeer detection.
• Dummy functionality: Temperature sensors (for motor, ICs, batteries), collision detection, speedometer.
• Early stage implementation: Turn lights, emergency lights, all light beams (signaling too), cruise control, parking brake, handbrake, hill assist, back and front software differential (with 4 options from locked to open), speed limiter.

This project has also Github repositories (which will be available after my first exhibition in public):

• RC Controller repository: https://github.com/BILLyTheLiTTle/RCController
• RC Controller wiki: https://github.com/BILLyTheLiTTle/RCController/wiki
• RC Car repository: https://github.com/BILLyTheLiTTle/RCCar
• RC Car wiki: https://github.com/BILLyTheLiTTle/RCCar/wiki
• RC Car parts repository: https://github.com/BILLyTheLiTTle/RCCar_Hardware_Engineering

I hope one day, an individual somewhere will implement his/her idea on this RC car, the industry would make it perfect, implement it at our daily cars and one person could be saved!

Kind regards,

Vasilis Tsapalos

PS: I am going to finish the prototype no matter what! I cannot afford the cost of making it to move around instead of seeing its wheels turning and spinning while it stands still!