Hi - I have attempted to “do my homework” and search around for a solution to this, but have yet to find something that fits my needs. I appreciate any advice I can get here.
The problem: I would like to convert [this chassis into a basic RC car. This is for an afterschool activity for middle school students, so I need it to be as off-the-shelf and low-cost as possible. No Arduino, no Xbee etc. I don’t care if the motors can’t go in reverse, so I don’t need an H-bridge. I just want basic tank-style steering, with a wireless remote that can control the two DC motors on the chassis.
The most readily “off the shelf” solution I’ve found so far comes from Adafruit (I could be wrong but didn’t see an equivalent product at SparkFun): a [key fob paired with a matching [RF receiver. The video at the bottom of either one of those pages shows them being used to turn LEDs on and off. It should be pretty simple to do the exact same thing with transistors controlling the two motors.
The obvious downside to that is that the motor control is only on/off. Ideally, I’d like analog speed control (again, don’t care about going in reverse) - either through an analog voltage output (say 0-5V) or a PWM signal that goes fully from 0-100% duty cycle. I’m pretty new to RC - after looking around hobby sites, it seems like there are various boards that do this for servos, but their control signal duty cycles don’t actually swing between 0-100%.
Can anyone suggest an off-the-shelf, no-microcontroller-required, breadboard-compatible solution for this? Ideally I’m thinking of a remote with two analog joysticks, paired with a receiver module that has two analog (or PWM outputs). Alternatively, I could build my own remote using two [joysticks along with an appropriate transmitter/receiver.](Thumb Joystick - COM-09032 - SparkFun Electronics)](Simple RF M4 Receiver - 315MHz Momentary Type : ID 1096 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)](Keyfob 4-Button RF Remote Control - 315MHz : ID 1095 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)](Magician Chassis - ROB-10825 - SparkFun Electronics)