Arduino RC boat controlled with temperature sensor controlled by Android smartphone

The Project

Kobe (8) and Daan (11), two nephews from Ranst and Duffel, have built a boat that can be controlled via a smartphone. The boat contains a sensor that transmits the water temperature to a smartphone. 11-year-old Daan is a series inventor who already made a big splash last year with a self-built cocktail bar at a young inventors' fair in Dublin. The reason for building the boat was that in open water swimming competitions, the temperature of the water should be measured over the entire course to determine whether the participants are allowed to wear a wetsuit. The temperature can easily be measured via this boat without the officials having to go into the water themselves. The boat can be steered over the course and the temperature of the water is continuously sent to the user's smartphone. Kobe and Daan made and programmed the boat all by themselves. For this they started from a plastic toy boat that they cut open. The boat is powered by two submersible motors that are attached to the rear left and right of the boat. The motors are driven via two motor controllers, which in turn are controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. The Arduino is, as it were, the brain of the boat. He receives control commands from the smartphone via Bluetooth. These commands are interpreted by the Arduino and converted into instructions to control the rudder's motors and servo motor. In addition, the Arduino is also connected to a temperature sensor that protrudes into the water. The measured temperature is sent back to the smartphone via Bluetooth. The inventors wrote an app in the Java programming language for a graphical interface for Android smartphones to control the boat. The temperature of the water can also be read on the smartphone. "The hardest part was making the boat waterproof," said Kobe. “The boat consists of many electrical components and a set of batteries that had to be installed in a small volume. We used a lockable plastic box to shield the main components such as the Arduino from the water, but for example the servo motor is not protected if the boat ever capsizes ”Daan adds:“ We would have liked to have driven our boat with solar energy, but the engines of our boat require too much power and there is no room on our boat for large solar panels. In the future we would like to work together on a project on renewable energy ”. Later, Kobe and Daan both want to become engineers.

View this project on YouTube