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April Update

A project log for Self-Driving Power Wheels Car

Retrofitting (and overhauling) a Power Wheels car to make it self-driving.

powerwheelsPowerWheels 04/12/2019 at 01:590 Comments

We've made quite a bit of progress on the car since January. First and foremost, all materials to construct our chassis, including 80/20 aluminum bars, three-way connectors, and screws have arrived, and we are in the process of completing the chassis. We have made some progress in other fronts as well:

Motors:

Although our initial plans called for using two drive motors, in calculating the torque necessary to move an average adult of 180 pounds, we have determined that our car will need to be equipped with four 12V DC motors. As such, our car will use skid steering to navigate, which we will need to code.

Battery:

We will be using a simple 12V battery available to us in the lab. This solves one of our obstacles of acquiring a 64V battery.

Ultrasonic Sensors:

We are using four Maxbotix Ultrasonic Rangefinder - LVEZ4 sensors

Seat: 

We are using a ZXTDR Seat for Drift Trike Racing

Wheels: 

We are using Marathon 00210 Universal Fit wheels

Steering Wheel:

We 3D printed a steering wheel for our car. An image of the printed wheel is posted in our gallery.

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