Motors
ESP32 is an upgraded version of the famous ESP8266 module developed by Espressif Systems. The newly added features like an additional core, faster Wi-Fi, and, dual-mode Bluetooth (4.2 and BLE) made it preferable for IoT applications.
Today, many enthusiasts prefer this tiny yet powerful SoC (System on Chip) over other development boards. This article presents some new ESP32 projects for enthusiasts that they can try this year.
ESP32 features
Before we start discussing ESP32 projects, let us see some technical details of the board.
Table Of Contents
- ESP32-OLED scrolling message display
- IoT weather station
- ESP32-CAM SmartCam
- 4WD car
- Simple AI robot
To know more about ESP32, read this article:
ESP32-OLED scrolling message display
For displaying a message, how many displays will you choose? One, or a maximum of two, right? But, in this project, Maker has selected eight OLEDs to display a single message. Isn’t it amazing?
The OLEDs are arranged in a circle to give the text a scrolling effect. These displays are placed around a PCB and controlled by a single ESP32. The Blynk app lets you display a message as well as alter the speed of the moving text. Moreover, it can show data like battery state, temperature, and more.
IoT weather station
What is the easiest way to get an update on the weather stats? A smartphone or a smartwatch, right? But is the data accurate enough? Does it accurately give the weather conditions around your house? Because this project can do that.
This wireless outdoor weather station takes temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, light, and wind speed readings and regularly updates them to a cloud.
Now, all you need is an active internet connection, and you can access these readings through a Thingspeak dashboard. Whether it be your computer, mobile, or tablet, you can access the exact weather stats around your house, anytime.
ESP32-CAM SmartCam
The ESP32-based video surveillance robot is one of the handy projects in the ESP32 projects list. You can either mount this camera on a wall or attach it to an RC car for a portable version. The i-Robbie app lets you control all the movements of the camera.
With its pan and tilt advantage, its range gets increased beyond the line of sight. The servo motors can move the camera in any direction as per the instructions. The portable version of the robot comes with a more exciting feature like night-mode vision.
4WD car
Our next project is a tiny, fast, and versatile robot car. It uses two photodiodes on either side and a line-tracking module in the middle. With this, it can follow a line, track any object, avoid obstacles, and much more. It has multi-colored LEDs around it, which gives it a sparkling look in the dark.
Moreover, you can also control this car like any other RC car using an IR remote. It captures real-time video and transmits it to the Bluetooth-controlled app on your smartphone.
Simple AI robot
If you are looking for some basic ESP32 projects for image processing, you must start with this one. This project will guide you in building a simple robot that can detect and track objects.
You can control the robot using a smartphone or run it in an autonomous mode. Moreover, the requirements for this project are not much. All you need is:
- 1:120 DC geared motors x2
- ESP32-CAM module
- L298N motor driver
- Wheels x2
- Ball castor wheel x1
- Some ice cream sticks
- Cardboard
- Power bank
And that’s it. You now have your first AI robot in front of you.
