Version: FILS English

Remote-controlled car with LiDAR

Embedded Rust and Embassy that features keyboard-based WiFi control and real-time 2D environment mapping using LiDAR.

info

Author: Rascanu Dragos
GitHub Project Link: https://github.com/UPB-PMRust-Students/project-dm-2025-Trolom

Description

A remote-controlled car with real-time 2D LiDAR mapping capabilities, built with Rust for embedded systems. Control the car via WiFi(hotspot for demo at uni) using your keyboard and visualize its surroundings through live mapping on the display of the pc.

Motivation

LiDAR Logic: I wanted to gain hands-on experience with 360° LiDAR sensors, specifically learning how to decode raw laser distance data into a 2D coordinate system.
Wireless Data Streaming: I was motivated to implement a high-bandwidth wireless pipeline. I wanted to stream live sensor data directly over WiFi to a PC, simulating how professional autonomous robots and vacuum cleaners operate in the real world.
Rust in Motion: I wanted to use Embedded Rust to ensure memory safety and high performance when handling the concurrent tasks of driving motors and streaming telemetry data.

Architecture

Architecture diagram

Log

Week 5

Started buying the components, first were the driver module, two wheel motors and a LCD. Starting looking for an ESP32 as well as a LiDAR sensor

Week 7

LiDAR module arrived, checked if the motors and module worked and controlled them through uart.

Week 9

ESP32-S3 finally arrived and i could start working on the project.

Week 11

Tested the ESP32 board and started writing the code for sending the LiDAR readings through WiFi to my pc.

Week 12 & Holiday

Assembled the lidar car, wrote the python script and made the final touches. Ended up not using the LCD.

Images

Hardware

Component	Purpose	Cost
STM32 Nucleo-U545RE-Q	Main microcontroller	128 lei
ESP32-S3	WiFi communication module	43 lei

Motion Control

Component	Purpose	Cost
2× DC Gearmotors with wheels	Drive motors	30 lei
DRV8833 Dual Motor Driver	Motor control	25 lei
MG90S Servo Motor	Front-wheel steering	19 lei

Sensing & Display

Component	Purpose	Cost
M1C1 360° LiDAR Module	Environment scanning	137 lei

Schematics

Place your KiCAD schematics here.

Bill of Materials

Component	Purpose	Cost
STM32 Nucleo-U545RE-Q	Main microcontroller	borrowed
ESP32-S3	WiFi communication module	43 lei
2× DC Gearmotors with wheels	Drive motors	30 lei
DRV8833 Dual Motor Driver	Motor control	25 lei
M1C1 360° LiDAR Module	Environment scanning	137 lei
	Total:	~235 lei

Software

Library	Category	Description
embassy-executor	Runtime	Used in both. The async task scheduler that drives the application loop.
embassy-stm32	HAL for STM32	STM32 only. Hardware Abstraction Layer for GPIO, PWM, and UART.
embassy-time	Time	Used in both. Handles durations and timers for async delays.
defmt / defmt-rtt	STM32 only. Highly efficient logging via RTT.
embedded-io-async	I/O Traits	Used in both. Provides the async Read/Write traits for UART/Network streams.
panic-probe	Debugging	STM32 only. Defines crash behavior; ESP32 uses esp-println for panics.
esp-hal	HAL	ESP32 only. The hardware abstraction layer for ESP32/Xtensa/RISC-V chips.
embassy-net	Networking	ESP32 only. Provides the TCP/IP and UDP stack used for WiFi.
esp-radio	Wireless	ESP32 only. Specifically handles the WiFi radio and controller logic.
static_cell	Memory	ESP32 only. Used here to safely create static references for the Network Stack.
alloc	Memory	ESP32 only. Enables dynamic memory allocation (heap) on the ESP32.

Remote-controlled car with LiDAR

Description

Motivation

Architecture