Current status

My ESP32 Robot Car Looks Around, Stops, and Finds Its Own Way

Nova can wander around on its own:

  1. Before it starts moving, it turns its head to look around.
  2. It drives forward.
  3. When the ultrasonic sensor detects an obstacle, it stops.
  4. It turns its head again to find a new direction, and sets off.

Tested on the wooden floors in my home. Carpets and steps are not tested yet.

This runs on the kit hardware only, with my own code (written with Claude Code), not the kit's sample code.

How it's built

  • Brain: ESP32-WROVER (on the Freenove kit board)
  • Head: a pan-tilt neck carrying both the LED matrix (eyes) and the ultrasonic sensor. Nova scans by turning its head, not its body.
  • Power: six NiMH rechargeable AA batteries instead of the two 18650 cells the kit calls for, connected with an XT30 connector so the battery pack snaps off
  • Development: Arduino IDE, with the code written by Claude Code

What's next

  • A gyro (LSM6DSV16X) on the existing I2C bus, to measure how far Nova actually turns. The kit drives its motors open-loop, so right now Nova can't tell its real turning angle.
  • The camera, later. Chasing a ball and taking pictures around the house.