Http://www.elegoo.

com

Lesson 1 Make the Car Move

Points of this section

After we assembled the car, we need to upload the Sketch to the car to control it, so in this
lesson we will learn how to install the Arduino IDE and upload the program to the car.

Learning part：
Learn how to use Arduino IDE

Make the car move by uploading program

Preparations:
Smart Car (with battery)

USB cable

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Ⅰ. Introduction of the car

This kit is an extremely flexible vehicular kit particularly designed for education,

competition and entertainment purposes. The upper panel of the kit is directly

compatible with 9-gram steering engine. It also carries supersonic sensor, battery

and other fixed holes to facilitate installation of various sensors. This is a very

funny and versatile robot that meets learning and production purposes. With it,

you can implement diverse interesting ideas, such as Bluetooth and infrared

remote control, automatic avoidance of obstacles, and line inspection.

Let’s describe the small vehicle that will accompany us for a long time in the

future.

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Each parts of the car is as below:

Function of each part：

1. Battery holder with a switch: provide power supply for the vehicle
2. Electric motor + wheel: drive the vehicle to move
3. acrylic plate: the frame of the car
4. L298N motor driving board: drive the motor to rotate
5. UNO controller board: the brain of the car, controls all the parts
6. V5 sensor expansion board: combined with the UNO, make the connection become more
easier
7. Servo and cloud platform: enable the GP2Y0A21 distance sensor to rotate 180 degrees
8. Ultrasonic sensor module: distance measurement and obstacle avoidance
9. Line tracking module: black and white sensor for recognition of the white and black lanes
10. Infrared receiver and remote control: provide the infrared remote control function
11. Bluetooth module: provide the Bluetooth control function

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Ⅱ. Upload program

Each movement of the vehicle is controlled by the program so it’s necessary to get the program
installed and set up correctly. We will use the Arduino Software IDE (Integrated Development
Environment) as a programming tool.

STEP 1: Go to https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software and find below page.

The version available at this website is usually the latest version, and the actual version may be newer than the
version in the picture.

STEP2：Download the development software that is suited for the operating system of your

computer.

Take Windows as an example here.

You can install it using the EXE installation package or the green package.

The following is the exe implementation of the installation procedures.

Press the char “Windows Installer”

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Press the button “JUST DOWNLOAD” to download the software.

The download file

These are available in the materials we provide, and the versions of our materials are the latest
versions when this course was made.

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Choose I Agree to see the following interface

Choose Next

Press Install to initiate installation

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Finally, the following interface appears, you should choose Install to ensure correctness of
development

Next, the following icon appears on the desktop

Double-click to enter the desired development environment

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STEP3：Connect the car to the computer.

STEP 4: Open the Arduino IDE. Select “Tool”  “Board:”  ”Arduino/Genuino Uno”. Select “Tool”

”Port:””COM (Arduino/Genuino Uno)”.

Each Arduino Uno board has a different COM number on the same computer and usually the COM
number with a suffix name “(Arduino/Genuino Uno)” in Arduino 1.8.2. You should choose the COM
number of the actual display.

If you see the port “COM (Arduino/Genuino Uno)”, it means that the vehicle has been connected
correctly to the computer. In this case, you can jump to STEP 5 directly. Otherwise, you need to
install the driver in the following way.

Open Device Manager by right clicking My Computer——Management——Device Manager

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Right click unknown device-----update device software

It shows that the driver has not been installed, and you need to click Browse my computer for driver
software to find the drivers. The drives is in the Arduino folder. Normally you will install the folder in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino.

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Arduino install folder

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Select the Arduino driver folder

Install Arduino USB device

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STEP5: After the driver is installed, please open the IDE and then click “Tools””Board”

“Arduino/Genuino Uno”.

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STEP6: Click “Tools””Port”COM.

STEP7：Open the code file in the directory “\Lesson 1 Make The Car Move

\AUTO_GO_\AUTO_GO_.ino” and upload to the UNO controller board.

TIPS: The bluetooth module should be pulled out when you upload the program

every time, or it will be failed to upload the program.

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The picture above shows that it is uploaded successfully.

STEP8：Let’s have a look at the results. Upload the program to the UNO controller board. After

disconnecting the car to the computer, you can turn on the power switch and put the car on the

ground. Then you will see the car moving.

Tips: Before turning on the power switch, check whether the battery is fully charged. If

the battery is low, charge it in time. In the charging process, the charger shows a red

LED indicates that the battery is not fully charged, the charger shows a blue LED

indicates that it is fully charged.

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Ⅲ. Description of Principles

How to use L298N motor driver board

Definition of the connection ports on L298N board have been marked above. The motors should be
connected to the L298N board as the picture above, and if you find the rotational direction of one of
the motors is opposite, please change the connecting position of its black and red wires.
L298N GND is connected to battery box GND;
L298N VCC is connected to battery box VCC;
UNO board is also connected to battery box.
L298N 5V here cannot be connected to UNO 5V;
ENA and ENB control the speed of right motor and speed of left motor separately by PWM.
IN1, IN2, IN3, IN4: IN1 and IN2 are used to control left motor, IN3 and IN4 are used to control right
motor. About the principle, please look at the sheet below: (We take left motor for example)
ENB IN1 IN2 DC MOTOR STATUS

0 X X STOP

1 0 0 BRAKING

1 1 0 FORWARD

1 0 1 BACKWARD

1 1 1 BARKING

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Ⅳ. Make the Car Move

The first step: Drive the motor

We will try to move the motor without speed controlling. Because it is easy to write program without
speed controlling.
First of all, let's see the connection of the motor the L298N board, we will use Arduino 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11
pins to control the car. 9 and 11 pins control the right wheel. 7 and 8 pins control the left wheel. 5 and
6 pins control ENA and ENB.
So the connection is as below:
L298N V5 expansion board
ENB 5
ENA 6
IN1 7
IN2 8
IN3 9
IN4 11
Based on the sheet given above, we first design a simple program to make the right wheel turn 0.5s in
positive direction, stop 0.5s, turn 0.5s in negative direction and stop 0.5s. And the wheel will repeat
the reaction.
Connect the UNO controller board to the computer, open the code file in the path “\Lesson 1 Make
The Car Move\right_wheel_rotation\ right_wheel_rotation.ino”. Upload the program to the UNO
board.

Code preview:

//www.elegoo.com

// Right motor truth table

//Here are some handy tables to show the various modes of operation.
// ENA IN3 IN4 Description
// LOW Not Applicable Not Applicable Motor is off
// HIGH LOW LOW Motor is stopped (brakes)
// HIGH LOW HIGH Motor is on and turning forwards

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// HIGH HIGH LOW Motor is on and turning backwards

// HIGH HIGH HIGH Motor is stopped (brakes)

// define IO pin
#define ENA 6
#define IN3 9
#define IN4 11

//init the car

void setup() {
pinMode(IN3, OUTPUT); //set IO pin mode OUTPUT
pinMode(IN4, OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENA, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH); //Enable right motor
}

//mian loop
void loop() {
digitalWrite(IN3, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH); //Right wheel turning forwards
delay(1000); //delay 500ms
digitalWrite(IN3, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4, LOW); //Right wheel stoped
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4, LOW); //Right wheel turning backwards
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH); //Right wheel stoped
delay(1000);
}

Disconnect it from the computer, and then switch on the car’s power supply. You will see that the right
wheel moves as you expected.
If the car is not moving, press the reset button on the UNO board.
If the moving direction of the motor is different from the direction you set, you can change the
connection of black and red lines from the motor to L298N board.

Then, we make the left wheel rotate in the same way.

Connect the UNO controller board to the computer, open the code file in the path “Lesson 1 Make
The Car Move\Left_wheel_rotation\ Left_wheel_rotation.ino”. Upload the program to the UNO
board.

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Code preview:

//www.elegoo.com

// Left motor truth table

//Here are some handy tables to show the various modes of operation.
// ENB IN1 IN2 Description
// LOW Not Applicable Not Applicable Motor is off
// HIGH LOW LOW Motor is stopped (brakes)
// HIGH HIGH LOW Motor is on and turning forwards
// HIGH LOW HIGH Motor is on and turning backwards
// HIGH HIGH HIGH Motor is stopped (brakes)

// define IO pin
#define ENB 5
#define IN1 7
#define IN2 8

//init the car

void setup() {
pinMode(IN1, OUTPUT); //set IO pin mode OUTPUT
pinMode(IN2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENB, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(ENB, HIGH); //Enable left motor
}

//mian loop
void loop() {
digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW); //Right wheel turning forwards
delay(1000); //delay 500ms
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW); //Right wheel stoped
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH); //Right wheel turning backwards
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH); //Right wheel stoped

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delay(1000);
}

Disconnect it from the computer, and then switch on the car’s power supply. You will see that the right
wheel moves as you expected.

The second step: Move forward and backward

After finishing debugging the car, you can write programs to make the car move.
Below is the way how car moves:
CAR forward back stop
Left wheel Forward back stop
Right wheel Forward back stop

CAR Turn left Turn right stop

Left wheel back Forward Stop
Right wheel forward back stop

Next, we will write a simple program to make the car go forward 0.5s , then stop 0.5s, then back up
0.5s and then stop 0.5s.
Connect the UNO controller board to the computer, open the code file in the path “Lesson 1 Make
The Car Move\forward_back\forward_back.ino”. Upload the program to the UNO board.

Code preview:

//www.elegoo.com

// Left motor truth table

// ENA IN1 IN2 Description
// LOW Not Applicable Not Applicable Motor is off
// HIGH LOW LOW Motor is stopped (brakes)
// HIGH HIGH LOW Motor is on and turning forwards
// HIGH LOW HIGH Motor is on and turning backwards
// HIGH HIGH HIGH Motor is stopped (brakes)

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// Right motor truth table

// ENB IN3 IN4 Description
// LOW Not Applicable Not Applicable Motor is off
// HIGH LOW LOW Motor is stopped (brakes)
// HIGH LOW HIGH Motor is on and turning forwards
// HIGH HIGH LOW Motor is on and turning backwards
// HIGH HIGH HIGH Motor is stopped (brakes)

// The direction of the car's movement

// Left motor Right motor Description
// stop(off) stop(off) Car is stopped
// forward forward Car is running forwards
// forward backward Car is turning right
// backward forward Car is turning left
// backward backward Car is running backwards

//define the L298n IO pin

#define ENB 5
#define IN1 7
#define IN2 8
#define IN3 9
#define IN4 11
#define ENA 6

void setup() {
pinMode(ENB, OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN4, OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENA, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB, HIGH);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN3, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH); //go forward
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN3, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4, LOW); //stop

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delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4, LOW); //go back
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH); //stop
delay(1000);
}

Upload the program to the UNO board, disconnect it from the computer, and then switch on the car’s
power supply. You will see that the right wheel moves as you expected.

The third step: Write the program

It may be a difficult for you to write the whole program to make the car move automatically. So we
separate the movements into different function, for example moving forward and turning left. And
when we write the program in the final step, we can call the function.
Next, we begin to write programs for each movement:

Code preview:

void forward(){
digitalWrite(ENA,HIGH); //enable L298n A channel
digitalWrite(ENB,HIGH); //enable L298n B channel
digitalWrite(IN1,HIGH); //set IN1 hight level
digitalWrite(IN2,LOW); //set IN2 low level
digitalWrite(IN3,LOW); //set IN3 low level
digitalWrite(IN4,HIGH); //set IN4 hight level
Serial.println("Forward");//send message to serial monitor
}

void back(){
digitalWrite(ENA,HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN1,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN3,HIGH);

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digitalWrite(IN4,LOW);
Serial.println("Back");
}

void left(){
digitalWrite(ENA,HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN1,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN3,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4,HIGH);
Serial.println("Left");
}

void right(){
digitalWrite(ENA,HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN1,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN2,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN3,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4,LOW);
Serial.println("Right");
}

The fourth step: Move automatically

We start to write program to make the car move automatically: go forward 0.4s - back up 0.4s - turn
left 0.4s - turn right 0.4s.
Connect the UNO controller board to the computer, open the code file in the directory “Lesson 1
Make The Car Move\ auto_go \auto_go.ino”. Upload the program to the UNO board.

Code preview:

//www.elegoo.com

// The direction of the car's movement

// ENA ENB IN1 IN2 IN3 IN4 Description
// HIGH HIGH HIGH LOW LOW HIGH Car is runing forward

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// HIGH HIGH LOW HIGH HIGH LOW Car is runing back

// HIGH HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH Car is turning left
// HIGH HIGH HIGH LOW HIGH LOW Car is turning right
// HIGH HIGH LOW LOW LOW LOW Car is stoped
// HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH Car is stoped
// LOW LOW N/A N/A N/A N/A Car is stoped

//define L298n module IO Pin

#define ENB 5
#define IN1 7
#define IN2 8
#define IN3 9
#define IN4 11
#define ENA 6

void forward(){
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH); //enable L298n A channel
digitalWrite(ENB, HIGH); //enable L298n B channel
digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH); //set IN1 hight level
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW); //set IN2 low level
digitalWrite(IN3, LOW); //set IN3 low level
digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH); //set IN4 hight level
Serial.println("Forward"); //send message to serial monitor
}

void back(){
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4, LOW);
Serial.println("Back");
}

void left(){
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN3, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH);
Serial.println("Left");

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void right(){
digitalWrite(ENA, HIGH);
digitalWrite(ENB, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4, LOW);
Serial.println("Right");
}

//before execute loop() function,

//setup() function will execute first and only execute once
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600); //open serial and set the baudrate
pinMode(IN1, OUTPUT); //before useing io pin, pin mode must be set first
pinMode(IN2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN4, OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENA, OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENB, OUTPUT);
}

//Repeat execution
void loop() {
forward(); //go forward
delay(1000); //delay 1000 ms
back(); //go back
delay(1000);
left(); //turning left
delay(1000);
right(); //turning right
delay(1000);
}

Disconnect it from the computer, and then switch on the car’s power supply. You will see that the
wheel moves as you expected.

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The fifth step: speed_control

The code to achieve the function is to control the speed of the car: go forward and reduce the speed
 stop 1s  running back and accelerate  stop 2s.

Connect the UNO controller board to the computer, open the code file in the directory “Lesson 1
Make The Car Move\speed_control\ speed_control.ino”. Upload the program to the UNO board.

Code preview:

//www.elegoo.com
#define ENB 5
#define ENA 6
#define IN1 7
#define IN2 8
#define IN3 9
#define IN4 11
void setup() {
pinMode(IN1,OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN2,OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN3,OUTPUT);
pinMode(IN4,OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENA,OUTPUT);
pinMode(ENB,OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
//go forward
digitalWrite(IN1,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN2,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN3,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN4,HIGH);
//reduce the speed
for(int i = 255; i >= 0; i--){
analogWrite(ENB,i);
analogWrite(ENA,i);
delay(20);
}

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//stop
analogWrite(ENB,0); //speed = 0
analogWrite(ENA,0);
delay(1000);

//runing back
digitalWrite(IN1,LOW);
digitalWrite(IN2,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN3,HIGH);
digitalWrite(IN4,LOW);
//accelerate
for(int i = 0; i <= 255; i++){
analogWrite(ENB,i);
analogWrite(ENA,i);
delay(20);
}

//stop
digitalWrite(ENB,LOW); //Motor is off
digitalWrite(ENA,LOW);
delay(2000);
}

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