Control an RC car over the internet. Possible?

[cbsbg]

Hi everyone, I want to purchase a WiFi RC car and control it over the internet.

The car will be used as a carriage platform to move around a PTZ IP camera so that I can monitor a construction site remotely over the internet.

The remote site will have a WiFi router and my PTZ IP Cam will connect to it. I will then be able to access and control the camera via a web browser or a mobile app. I know that this part can be accomplished easily.

However, I could not find any easy solutions on how to connect the WiFi RC car to the remote site's WiFi access point so that I can control it over the internet.

I know some DIY solutions are available but they require a skill level that is beyond what I am capable of as I am completely new to the RC world.

I would appreciate your help if you know of an easier way to accomplish what I am trying to do. Thanks in advance.
Cheers!

 

[Doom!]

Way beyond my skill set, hope you can find a reasonable solution.

 

[Maximum_Quake_Pro.com]

maybe an Arduino and/or a Raspberry Pi would be of some use

 

[Penguin Fart Racing]

Hi everyone, I want to purchase a WiFi RC car and control it over the internet.

The car will be used as a carriage platform to move around a PTZ IP camera so that I can monitor a construction site remotely over the internet.

The remote site will have a WiFi router and my PTZ IP Cam will connect to it. I will then be able to access and control the camera via a web browser or a mobile app. I know that this part can be accomplished easily.

However, I could not find any easy solutions on how to connect the WiFi RC car to the remote site's WiFi access point so that I can control it over the internet.

I know some DIY solutions are available but they require a skill level that is beyond what I am capable of as I am completely new to the RC world.

I would appreciate your help if you know of an easier way to accomplish what I am trying to do. Thanks in advance.
Cheers!

Hello,

Please bear with me; if my post has squidgy words in it, my fat arthritic fingers do not do well on a touch screen keyboard. Decades ago, there was a company that sold small vehicles that did just what you want. These crawlers would explore a environment and you could view in real time what they did. Then there are robotic deep space telescopes that would allow astronomers to study the sky. ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY'S Dr. Zaluzec set up an electron microscopy lab to allow people to view his research https://www.anl.gov/profile/nestor-j-zaluzec. In the late 1970's I presented a paper at an AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY meeting in Chicago where I demonstrated running an INFRARED SPECTROMETER live real-time over the INTERNET. So yes what you want to do is indeed possible. Retired now my recollections of my presentation are faded and fuzzy. If I find some of the documentation for my worl I will contact you. Start with the robotic telescopes anc segway to prople tinkering with WEB control of Robots. Colleges with strong Robotics programs could be a source for you. If you do not want to spend the time, there might be a grad school student willing to turn your idea into a thesis option.

 

[tntpoof]

why a rc car why not use a quad copter already done

 

[Tunedfrog]

That crossed my mind as well.

 

[Penguin Fart Racing]

why a rc car why not use a quad copter already done

SPOT-ON ! I had forgotten about this ! Much of the tech and the tools for WEB flying a QUAD could easily be ported to UGVS .

 

[tntpoof]

it was a short journey wasn't it tuned.just messin man..lol

 

[Penguin Fart Racing]

Short, Yes. FAA Drone Rules; Line of sight. Wish there was a LEGAL way to fly Quads via the INTERNET. Maybe if there was a Master Pilot with a fail-safe controller monitoring a remote WEB BASED Quad . Will bring this up at our next AMA Club meeting.

 

[cbsbg]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I apologize for the late response.

By reading your posts I realized that the information I provided was either inadequate or misleading for what I wanted to do. The interior re-modelling site of a condo unit in a high-rise building is what I was referring to as the construction site in my previous post. Therefore, using a drone for my purposes might not be feasible.

My typical usage scenario of the RC car would be something like this;
1) Visit the work site in the morning and prepare the devices for unattended remote access.
2) When a need arises, I will connect to the RC car and its payload remotely from the office when needed. The payload is a WIFI PTZ camera connected to a high-capacity power bank which will be attached to the RC car.
3) I will then remotely drive the car to the desired room and park it at a safe spot. I will then access the PTZ camera to monitor the progress of the work and interact with people on-site using its mic and speakers. Total driving time will not exceed a minute or two for this purpose.
4) After the day is over, I will visit the site again and connect the devices to their respective chargers to make them ready for the next morning.

In a nutshell, I am trying to have a poor man's one-way telepresence robot using a cheap RC car that comes with a camera and WiFi control hardware already built in.

I know these WiFi RC cars require a smartphone for control. This will not be a problem, because I can keep a phone at the work site and connect to it using remote desktop software like Anydesk or Teamviewer.

I spent a considerable time searching the internet for a solution but came up empty-handed. Do you believe there is a Wifi RC car on the market that can do what I am trying to achieve?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Michalxo]

I think somebody already created it for you
Search for IoT (Internet of Things) RC car:
This is first result I got
https://www.hackster.io/anthony-miller/iot-rc-car-810484
https://www.instructables.com/IoT-RC-Car-With-Intel-Edison/
https://hackmd.io/@adamcarlleo/EarthRover

 

[RonP90]

Someone is going to drop something on it...
Accidents happen all the time, and grunts watching their boss play with a RC at work would probably cause one. Lol!