9. Remote Control

This kit comes with an IR receiver, which allows you to use an IR remote control to control the movement of the car.

Required Components

In this project, we need the following components.

It’s definitely convenient to buy a whole kit, here’s the link:

Name

ITEMS IN THIS KIT

LINK

3 in 1 Starter Kit

380+

3 in 1 Starter Kit

You can also buy them separately from the links below.

COMPONENT INTRODUCTION

PURCHASE LINK

SunFounder R3 Board

BUY

L298N Module

BUY

TT Motor

-

LED

BUY

IR Receiver

-

Wiring

Now build the circuit according to the diagram below.

IR Receiver

R3 Board

OUT

12

GND

GND

VCC

5V

LED

R3 Board

Anode(The longer pin)

13

Cathode

GND

../_images/car_remote.png

Code

Note

  • Open the 9.remote_control.ino file under the path of 3in1-kit\car_project\9.remote_control.

  • Or copy this code into Arduino IDE.

  • The IRremote library is used here, you can install it from the Library Manager.

    ../_images/lib_irremote.png

After the code is uploaded successfully, press the button on the remote control, the LED will blink once to represent that the signal has been received, and the car will move according to the button you pressed. You can press the following keys to control the car.

  • +: Accelerate

  • -: Decelerate

  • 1: Forward to the left

  • 2: Forward

  • 3: Forward to the right

  • 4: Turn left

  • 6: Turn right

  • 7: Backward to the left

  • 8: Backward

  • 9: Backward to the right

How it works?

The effect of this project is to make the car move by reading the key value of the IR remote control. Additionally, the LED on pin 13 will blink to indicate the successful reception of the IR signal.

  1. Import the IRremote library, you can install it from the Library Manager.

    #include <IRremote.h>
    
    const int IR_RECEIVE_PIN = 12;  // Define the pin number for the IR Sensor
    
  2. Initializes serial communication at a baud rate of 9600. Initializes the IR receiver on the specified pin (IR_RECEIVE_PIN) and enables LED feedback (if applicable).

    ...
    
    void setup() {
    
        ...
        //IR remote
        IrReceiver.begin(IR_RECEIVE_PIN, ENABLE_LED_FEEDBACK);  // Start the receiver
        Serial.println("REMOTE CONTROL START");
    }
    
  3. When you press the keys on the remote control, the infrared receiver will know which key is pressed, and then the car will move according to the corresponding key value.

    void loop() {
    
        if (IrReceiver.decode()) {
                //    Serial.println(results.value,HEX);
                String key = decodeKeyValue(IrReceiver.decodedIRData.command);
                if (key != "ERROR") {
                    Serial.println(key);
    
                if (key == "+") {
                    speed += 50;
                } else if (key == "-") {
                    speed -= 50;
                } else if (key == "2") {
                    moveForward(speed);
                    delay(1000);
                ...
                }
                IrReceiver.resume();  // Enable receiving of the next value
    
        }
    }
    
    • Checks if an IR signal is received and successfully decoded.

    • Decodes the IR command and stores it in key using a custom decodeKeyValue() function.

    • Checks if the decoded value is not an error.

    • Prints the decoded IR value to the serial monitor.

    • Resumes IR signal reception for the next signal.