Wondering how to control an RC plane or RC car via your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone?

There is no doubt how the smartphone innovation has entirely revolutionized the online world by bringing personal assistance closer to our fingertips. With a smartphone we can check weather, music, take and record pictures, but also move and manipulate electronics wirelessly. To control an RC car via Bluetooth , you would typically need among other things a motor driver, a MCU Arduino controller board and a Bluetooth module, which would allow you to link your smartphone to the MCU controller. Then, you would need to write a new sketch using Arduino software and then, obtain the MAC address to establish a connection with the RC Car’s Bluetooth module.

There is always a great satisfaction doing things the long way, especially when you are keen to learn about electronics. With that said, there is a Bluetooth receiver solution (about the size of a penny and farthing coins together) which does not require a motor driver and the Bluetooth module is already integrated.

This Bluetooth  receiver solution is called Blue-Rx, which is a 16 channel Bluetooth 4.0 enabled remote control receiver that allows you to replace any existing remote control receiver (RC robot, RC car or RC plane) and then control it from your Arduino, iPhone or Android phone or Bluetooth 4.0 computer. What is great about this solution is that you can control servos, electronic speed controllers, relays, solenoids, LED's or anything else that uses PWM (pulse width modulation), so the applications are limitless .
Once installed in an RC vehicle, you control it via your smartphone's built-in accelerometer so when you tilt forward, the vehicle goes forward. When you tilt to the left, the vehicle turns to the left. When you tilt back, the vehicle goes back.

If you are interested in this type of technology, you also maybe interested in how to use your PS3 controller to control wireless a servo or how to create a cloud-based wireless network.

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