Freenove smart car robot

A quick description and demonstration of the Freenove Smart Car robot. Note that this demonstration includes some modifications and enhancements that I made to the stock item. The stock version requires that you log in to the Raspberry Pi using VNC, and then start a QT-based graphical interface to start a server which will then allow you to control the robot using Python-based clients (open-source) or the Freenove Android app (not open-source).

Here is the link to the robot as purchased from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3axmTUn

I modified the stock version to run a non-UI python application on startup, that can be controlled by any USB wireless keyboard (and possibly Bluetooth ones as well but will likely require modification of the code). See one of the comments for a link to my forked version of the source code which has all my enhancements (note that some may be broken as I swap out parts on a regular basis). I will post a follow-up video with some of the enhancements I have made since the making of this one.

Please note the Amazon product does not include a Raspberry Pi and Lithium batteries which are required and you will need to purchase them separately (unless you have some already).

Raspberry Pi: https://amzn.to/2IGbx4u
Batteries and charger: https://amzn.to/2vOqD5a
I got spare batteries from eBay as well, but obviously, your mileage may vary there. You can also buy decent flashlights and headlamps that include these batteries. I got one of these headlamps at a decent deal:
https://amzn.to/3cJDg0C

In addition, I have added a small PCB with some LEDs - bi-color Red/Green LEDs for taillights, and super bright white LEDs for leadlights (directly connected to the Pi GPIO ports via 100 ohm resistors), and also I am using a couple of standard servos for the robot arm, a mini-keyboard to control the robot like a game controller, and an accelerometer board from Phidgets to try to implement some advanced self-driving features. Here are the items that I am using:

Mini-keyboard: similar to this one (I had one lying around): https://amzn.to/2Qmds2r
Accelerometer (older version of this one that I already had): https://amzn.to/2Q7fsLF
Servos (similar to this one - I had plenty of those as well): https://amzn.to/39QZCwv

I have turned it into a lab assignment for a class I teach, and implemented several state models for self-driving, one of which is demonstrated in this video. Enjoy!