Custom RC Electronics

Create the electrical system and wireless controls from the component level.

Instead of relying on a packaged RC receiver, I set out to program ESP32 microcontrollers to communicate wirelessly and control the motor ESC and steering servo.

Connect power, communication, and actuation in one testable system.

The vehicle used a custom battery built from 18650 lithium-ion cells and a buck converter for the ESP32 supply. The transmitter and receiver used ESP-NOW with nRF24L01 modules, while GPIO outputs controlled the motor ESC and steering servo.

I modeled the packaging in FreeCAD and documented the circuitry in KiCad as the design matured.

Customizable controls and an early foundation in embedded design.

The system produced a fast, responsive RC platform with controls I could modify in software. The project taught me battery spot-welding, library adaptation, latency reduction, and schematic capture and layout.