ESP32 RC Combat Vehicle with Laser Tag

PS4-controlled robotic battle platform

An ESP32-based remote-controlled combat vehicle combining motorized movement with laser tag functionality. The system is controlled via PS4 gamepad over Bluetooth and features infrared shooting capabilities, LED visual feedback, and motor chaos effects when hit.

Demo Video

TankBattleGithub_compressed.mp4

Features

Core Capabilities

• PS4 Gamepad Control: Wireless Bluetooth control with two joystick modes (one-stick and two-stick driving)
• Motor Control: Dual motor drive with expo curves, deadzone handling, and pivot turning
• Laser Tag Combat: Infrared transmitter/receiver for shooting and detecting hits
• Visual Laser: Physical laser pointer activated with triggers
• Activity Lighting: 67 RGB LEDs (WS2812/NeoPixel) for team colors, hit indicators, and game status
• Hit Reactions: Motor chaos mode activated when hit, disrupting vehicle control temporarily
• Team System: Multiple team color support with in-game color switching

Control Modes

• One-stick mode: Single joystick controls both movement and turning
• Two-stick mode: Left stick for forward/backward, right stick for turning with pivot-in-place and high-speed turn boost

Game Mechanics

• Hit detection with cooldown periods
• Fire rate limiting
• Team-based combat with color identification
• Game over state when hit too many times

Hardware Components

Use an image search to find the best deal for every component.

Component	Description	Image
ESP32 Development Board	Main microcontroller - handles all logic, Bluetooth communication, and I/O control
Tank Chassis / Motors	Tank/tracked vehicle chassis with dual DC motors for independent left/right control
Motor Driver (L298N)	H-bridge driver board module for controlling motor speed and direction
IR LED (TSUS 5202)	950nm infrared transmitter for shooting opponents
IR Receivers (TSOP31238)	Two sensors (front & back) to detect incoming IR hits
Laser Diode Module	Visible laser pointer for aiming (GPIO 15)
LED Strip (WS2812)	67 RGB addressable LEDs for team colors and status indicators (Search for: 5mm WS2812B 2020SMD RGBIC LED-strip Ultra-small WS2812 individual addressable DC5V)
FPV Camera + TX	Piggyback Micro AIO FPV-camera 5.8G 40CH OSD SmartAudio 25-400 mW 600TVL NTSC 120 F. Important: the FPV TX must support 25mW, everything higher won't work in a living room with multiple FPV TX's. So use 25mW only.
PS4 DualShock Controller	Wireless Bluetooth gamepad for vehicle and combat control
2S LiPo Battery	7.4V 1200mAh - 1800mAh battery (1600 mAh gives you ~30 min runtime)

Pin Configuration

Component	GPIO Pin
LED Strip Data	13
IR Transmit (Fire)	2
IR Receiver Front	27
IR Receiver Back	26
Laser	15
Right Motor
Right Motor Enable	22
Right Motor Pin 1	16
Right Motor Pin 2	17
Left Motor
Left Motor Enable	23
Left Motor Pin 1	18
Left Motor Pin 2	19

3D Model Files

The 3d/ directory contains Fusion 360 (.f3d) design files and STL exports for mounting the ESP32 and components onto the tank chassis. Click the STL links to view interactive 3D previews on GitHub.

Component	Description	Files
Barrel	Barrel mount for the IR LED transmitter and laser module	.f3d | .stl
Chassis Plate	Main mounting plate for ESP32, motor driver, and electronics	.f3d | .stl
Chassis Plate Rails	Rail system for attaching components to the chassis plate	.f3d | .stl
Turret	Turret assembly for mounting sensors and barrels with rotation capability	.f3d | .stl

The .f3d files can be opened and modified in Autodesk Fusion 360. The .stl files are ready for 3D printing.

Development

VS Code with PlatformIO (Recommended)

This project is set up for VS Code with the PlatformIO extension.

Setup:

1. Install VS Code
2. Install the PlatformIO IDE extension from the VS Code marketplace
3. Open this project folder in VS Code
4. PlatformIO will automatically detect platformio.ini and install dependencies

Building and uploading:

• Click the PlatformIO toolbar icon (checkmark) to build
• Click the upload icon (arrow) to flash to ESP32
• Or use the command palette: PlatformIO: Upload

PlatformIO CLI

If you prefer the command line:

Building and uploading:

platformio run --target upload

Monitoring serial output:

platformio device monitor

Dependencies

The project uses the following libraries (auto-installed by PlatformIO):

• NeoPixelBus - Advanced LED control
• PS4_Controller_Host - PS4 gamepad support

PS4 Controller Setup

1. Find your ESP32's MAC address (use included showMacAddress.cpp utility)
2. Pair your PS4 controller using a PC/smartphone app (search for (SixAxisPairTool)[https://docs.totemmaker.net/assets/files/sixaxis/SixaxisPairToolSetup-0.3.1.exe] must have sha256 hash: b274dfc581adbf50787b6498c2e6878447e2ebe0be78c296795295b91991c2f6)
3. Set the controller's master address to your ESP32's MAC address
4. Power on the controller - it should connect automatically

PS4 Gamepad Controls

Movement

• Right Stick (one-stick mode): Forward/backward/left/right - combined movement
• Left Stick (two-stick mode): Forward/backward movement
• Right Stick (two-stick mode): Turning and pivot-in-place

Combat

• R1 / RB: Fire infrared shot + activate laser
• L1 / LB: Activate laser without firing

Team Selection

• Square / X: Pink team
• Cross / A: Blue team
• Circle / B: Orange team
• Triangle / Y: Green team

Settings

• D-Pad Up: Toggle joystick mode (one-stick ↔ two-stick)
• Share: Reset preferences to defaults
• L2 + R2 (held together): In-game preferences reset

Architecture

Software Components

• main_control: Core game logic and FreeRTOS task management
• PS4_gamepad: PS4 controller interface abstraction
• motor_control: Dual motor mixing with expo curves and driving modes
• motors: Low-level motor driver interface
• ir_fire / ir_sensors: Infrared transmission and reception using ESP32 RMT peripheral
• laser: Laser pointer control
• activity_lights: LED patterns for game state feedback
• flasher: LED flashing effects
• colors: Team color definitions
• prefs: Persistent preferences storage (EEPROM)

The firmware uses FreeRTOS tasks for concurrent handling of:

• IR message reception
• LED animations
• Motor control
• Gamepad input processing

Technical Details

Infrared Protocol

Uses ESP32's RMT (Remote Control) peripheral for precise IR timing. Protocol details in src/IR32/ library. The system transmits team-specific codes to differentiate between friendly and enemy fire.

Motor Chaos Mode

When hit, the MotorChaosMonkey class temporarily interferes with motor control, creating erratic movement to simulate being "stunned" in combat.

Preferences Storage

Game settings and team colors are persisted to EEPROM and loaded on boot.

Debugging

Serial debugging at 115200 baud. Build flags in platformio.ini enable ESP_LOG output:

-DCORE_DEBUG_LEVEL=4
-D LOG_LOCAL_LEVEL=ESP_LOG_DEBUG

License

GPL-3.0 - See LICENSE