4x4 Rover Project

About

The 4x4 Rover Project is a skid-steer rover platform built primarily from 3D-printed brackets, 12V motors, and a custom printed circuit board (PCB) featuring an ESP32. Most components are either off-the-shelf or open source. This project serves as an introduction to creating your own robotics platform through a hands-on engagement with DIY hardware. Since robotics is firmly rooted in mechatronics, a project you can physically build and modify using the provided source files is arguably the best way to grasp the fundamentals. This project is an intermediate-skill build, designed as an intimate and purposeful introduction to hardware for building foundational knowledge.
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Resources

The 4x4 rover platform reference CAD files are located here.

Learning activity worksheet for principles of H-bridges and skid steer planning.

📐CAD Files for the complete project are located here. You can export or make a copy and edit with a free onshape account.
🔋PCB design files are located here.

To expand the rover platform object beyond a 4x4 rover, a forklift mechanism was designed.