Building your own robot car doesn’t have to be expensive. In this guide, I deliberately rely on low-cost components to make the fascinating world of robotics affordable for everyone. With a budget of around 25 euros (excluding the PlayStation controller), you can get started right away. We’ll source the parts directly from China—this saves costs, but you’ll need a bit of patience for shipping.
The following image shows a selection of components needed to build a robot car based on an ESP*.
Robotics should be fun and easily accessible. That’s why I use inexpensive but proven components that have proven reliable in numerous projects of mine.
Particularly practical: The power supply is provided by three 18650 lithium-ion batteries. These batteries offer an excellent price-performance ratio and are extremely versatile.
Components from China or Germany?
If you need the parts quickly, you can order them from various electronics retailers or even Amazon in Germany. This is faster but more expensive. I often order my components via AliExpress directly from China to save money. Keep in mind that shipping can take several weeks.
No additional USB adapter needed
The ESP32 Dev Kit C V4 is particularly user-friendly because it already has an integrated USB-to-serial converter. You can simply connect the board to your PC with a USB cable and program the controller directly—no additional adapters needed. This not only saves money but also makes setup much easier.
In the next section, you’ll find a detailed list of all the components you need to start building your own robot car immediately. From the ESP32 module to motors and sensors—everything you need is included in the list.
The Components List
The ESP32 Dev Kit C V4 does not require an additional FT232RL adapter, meaning no USB-to-TTL-serial adapter is needed. The board already has an integrated USB-to-serial converter that allows you to connect and program the ESP32 Dev Kit C V4 directly via a USB cable to your PC. Without this integrated adapter, it wouldn’t be possible to upload the necessary programs, thus simplifying programming and handling significantly.
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I’ve had excellent experiences with the following L298N motor driver and have used it successfully in numerous robots, for example with Raspberry Pi or ESP8266 NodeMCU. It’s ideal because the integrated LEDs clearly indicate the switching state of the H-bridge, allowing you to quickly detect programming errors. You can also immediately see whether any control signal is reaching the motor driver at all.
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The small yellow motors shown below are needed to drive the robot. For the model described in this series, these geared motors are sufficient.
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To be able to control the motor driver in this construction example, a servo controller is needed. I recommend the servo controller with the PCA9685 chip, as there are excellent Adafruit libraries for it and the programming is very straightforward. The great thing is that this way, the robot car can also be expanded with additional servo motors, and not so many GPIO pins of the ESP32 are used up.
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Jumper cables are needed to connect the logic components. Such a set is always a good choice for beginners.
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Optionally, a small OLED display can be installed to show status information of the ESP32. For example, I display whether the PS5 controller is connected or not.
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To control the robot car, I use a Sony PlayStation 5 controller. It can be connected to the ESP32 via Bluetooth, allowing the robot to be easily remote-controlled. Children in particular have much more fun with the robot car this way.
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For the power supply, I use double-stranded cable. The cable shown here is neither too thick nor too thin, making it ideal for small projects with low voltage.
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To give the robot some colorful lighting, I installed an LED ring. It’s very bright and provides a lot of fun, for example when the robot blinks like a police car or indicates its driving direction with colors. This also allows you to delve deeper into programming. I make the LED light glow in different colors depending on speed and direction, and the faster the robot car moves, the more LEDs light up.
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Additional Components (without Powerbank)
If you’re not using a power bank, the following components are needed for the power supply:
For the robot car, a battery holder with space for three 18650 batteries is required. These three batteries provide the robot with a sufficiently high voltage of about 10V, which ensures the power supply via the step-down converter listed above.
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With three 18650 batteries, each about 3000 mAh, the robot runs for a long time and is a lot of fun. I couldn’t find a suitable offer on Amazon, but it’s certainly worth checking out a battery shop.
Link: Akku Shop
If no power bank is used, a step-down converter with two USB ports is also needed. This converts a voltage of about 10V down to the required 5V for the electronics like the ESP32 module in the robot car.
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To be able to switch the power supply on and off, I placed a push button between the battery and the step-down converter.
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Tools:
The many small screws that need to be opened and closed require good tools so they don’t wear out quickly. A small tool kit like the one below has proven very useful for me.
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Summary
With these components, the small robot based on an ESP32 can be well constructed. I have been using many of these components for various small robot projects for many years and am convinced that I’ve chosen the right selection here. Of course, there are many more components and combinations possible that I haven’t shown. From the chassis to the electronics in the robot car, there are countless variations. Thus, consider this guide as a sort of common thread that conveys the basics and the necessary knowledge, which can then be implemented individually depending on experience. Therefore, it’s also worth taking a look at my other article series.
My name is Ingmar and I build Raspberry Pi robots in my sparetime. I wrote a book about Raspberry Pi robots 2016 which is available in German. I am interested in all kinds of electronic projects like differential GPS, machine learning or robotics.
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