Welcome

Thank you for choosing Freenove products!

About Battery

First, read the document About_Battery.pdf in the unzipped folder.

If you did not download the zip file, please download it and unzip it via link below.
https://github.com/Freenove/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/archive/master.zip

Get Support & Custommer Service

You may find somethings missing or broken, or some difficulty to learn the kit.
Freenove provides free and quick support, including but not limited to:
 Quality problems of products
 Problems in using products
 Questions for learning and technology
 Opinions and suggestions
 Ideas and thoughts
If you have any concerns, please send email to us:

[email protected]
And suggestions and feedbacks are welcomed. Many customers offered great feedbacks. According to that,
we are keeping updating the kit and the tutorial to make it better. Thank you.

Safety

Pay attention to safety when using and storing this product:

 Do not expose children under 6 years of age to this product. Put it out of their reach.
 Children lack safety ability should use this product under the guardianship of adults.
 This product contains small and sharp parts. Do not swallow, prick and scratch to avoid injury.
 This product contains conductive parts. Do not hold them to touch power supply and other circuits.
 Some parts will rotate or move when it works. Do not touch them to avoid being bruised or scratched.
 The wrong operation may cause overheat. Do not touch and disconnect the power supply immediately.
 Operate in accordance with the requirements of the tutorial. Otherwise, the parts may be damaged.
 Store the product in a dry place and avoid direct sunlight.
 Turn off the power of the circuit before leaving.
About

Freenove provides open source electronic products and services.

Freenove is committed to helping customers learn programming and electronic knowledge, quickly realize
their creative ideas and product prototypes and launching innovative products. Our services include:

 Kits of robots, smart cars and drones

 Kits for learning Arduino, Raspberry Pi and micro:bit
 Electronic components and modules, tools
 Product customization service

You can learn more about us or get our latest information through our website:

http://www.freenove.com

Copyright

All the files we provided are released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
Unported License. You can find a copy of the license in the folder.

This means you can use them on your own derived works, in part or completely. But NOT for the purpose of
commercial use.

Freenove brand and logo are copyright of Freenove Creative Technology Co., Ltd. Cannot be used without
formal permission.

○
R

Free your innovation

 █ www.freenove.com Contents I

Contents

List ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................1
Acrylic Sheet...................................................................................................................................................................................1
Machinery Parts ............................................................................................................................................................................2
Transmission Parts .......................................................................................................................................................................3
Electronic Parts ..............................................................................................................................................................................4
Tools..................................................................................................................................................................................................5
Self-prepared Parts .....................................................................................................................................................................5
Preface .......................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Raspberry Pi ...................................................................................................................................................................................7
Preparation ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Install the System ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Remote desktop & VNC ......................................................................................................................................................... 23
Smart Car Shield for RPi................................................................................................................................................................... 34
Chapter 0 Software installation and Test (Necessary)........................................................................................................... 36
Step 0.1 Obtain the Code (Don't skip this section.） .................................................................................................. 36
Step 0.2 Configure I2C ............................................................................................................................................................ 38
Step 0.3 Install mjpg-streamer............................................................................................................................................. 42
Step 0.4 Install PyQt5............................................................................................................................................................... 46
Step 0.5 Test................................................................................................................................................................................ 47
Chapter 1 Smart video car .............................................................................................................................................................. 53
Assembly ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 53
Open the server ......................................................................................................................................................................... 72
Open the client .......................................................................................................................................................................... 74
Automatic Start .......................................................................................................................................................................... 85
Android and iOS app............................................................................................................................................................... 88
Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car..................................................................................................................................................... 90
Assembly ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 90
Open the server ......................................................................................................................................................................... 96
Open the client .......................................................................................................................................................................... 98
Chapter 3 Part of the Code........................................................................................................................................................... 101
Server and Client ..................................................................................................................................................................... 101
Chapter 4 Contributions of other developers ........................................................................................................................ 107
Extensions for Scratch 2 ........................................................................................................................................................ 107
Chapter 5 Free your innovation .................................................................................................................................................. 111
Program...................................................................................................................................................................................... 111
Code Example........................................................................................................................................................................... 114
Related Functions .................................................................................................................................................................... 116
What's next? ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 117
 █ www.freenove.com List 1

List
If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]

Acrylic Sheet

Surface of the acrylic sheet is covered with a layer of protective film. You need to remove it first before using.
Some holes of the acrylic sheets may have residues, so you may need to clean them before using.
2 List www.freenove.com █

Machinery Parts

In addition to bearing F624ZZ and F687ZZ, the number of each following part provided is more than required.
 █ www.freenove.com List 3

Transmission Parts

Servo x3 Driven wheel x1

DC speed reduction motor x2 Driving wheel x2

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Electronic Parts

Freenove Smart Car Shield for RPi x1 Freenove Passive Buzzer Freenove RGB LED
Module x1 Module x1

18650x2 Battery Holder x1 USB Camera x1 HC-SR04 Ultrasonic

Module x1

Micro USB Cable x1

Type-C USB Cable x1

Jumper Wire M/M x10

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Tools

Cross screwdriver x1 Slotted screwdriver x1 Multifunctional Spanner x1

Self-prepared Parts

Two 18650 lithium batteries without protection board, with continuous discharge current > 3A.
It would be easier to find proper battery on eBay by search “18650 high drain”.

Raspberry Pi (Recommended model: Raspberry 4B / 3B+ / 3B) x1

6 Preface www.freenove.com █

Preface
Welcome to use Freenove Three-wheeled Smart Car Kit for Raspberry Pi. Whether you are a senior maker, or
have little technical knowledge, by using this tutorial, you can make a very cool smart car with video
surveillance and ultrasonic radar.

This kit is based on the popular control panel Pi Raspberry, so you can share and exchange your experience
and design ideas with many enthusiasts all over the world. The parts in this kit include all electronic
components, modules, and mechanical components required for making the smart car. And all of them are
packaged individually. There are detailed assembly and commissioning instructions in this book. And if you
encounter any problem, you can always look for fast and free technical support through
[email protected] to ensure that your smart car is successfully assembled and run.

The contents in this book can ensure enthusiastic with little technical knowledge to make the smart car. If
you are very interested in Raspberry Pi, and want to learn how to program and build the circuit, please visit
our website www.freenove.com or contact us to buy the kits designed for beginners:
Freenove Basic\LCD1602\Super\Ultrasonic\RFID\Ultimate Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi
 █ www.freenove.com Preface 7

Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi (called RPi, RPI, RasPi, the text these words will be used alternately behind), a micro computer
with size of a card, quickly swept the world since its debut. It is widely used in desktop workstation, media
center, smart home, robots, and even the servers, etc. It can do almost anything, which continues to attract
fans to explore it. Raspberry Pi used to be running in Linux system and along with the release of windows 10
IoT, we can also run it in Windows. Raspberry Pi (with interfaces for USB, network, HDMI, camera, audio,
display and GPIO), as a microcomputer, can be running in command line mode and desktop system mode.
Additionally, it is easy to operate just like Arduino, and you can even directly operate the GPIO of CPU.

So far, Raspberry Pi has developed to the fourth generation. Changes in versions are accompanied by increase
and upgrades in hardware. A type and B type, the first generation of products, have been stopped due to
various reasons. Other versions are popular and active and the most important is that they are consistent in
the order and number of pins, which makes the compatibility of peripheral devices greatly enhanced between
different versions.

Here are some practicality pictures and model diagrams of Raspberry Pi:
Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 4 Model B： Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 4 Model B：
8 Preface www.freenove.com █

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+： Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+：

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B: Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B:

█ www.freenove.com Preface 9

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 2 Model B: Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 2 Model B:

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+: Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+:
10 Preface www.freenove.com █

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+: Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+:

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+: Model diagram of Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+:
█ www.freenove.com Preface 11

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi Zero W: Model diagram of Raspberry Pi Zero W:

Practicality picture of Raspberry Pi Zero： Model diagram of Raspberry Pi Zero：

12 Preface www.freenove.com █

Hardware interface diagram of RPi 4B is shown below:

GPIO
Connector Ethernet
Connector

Display
Connector

USB
Power Connector x4
Connector

MICRO HDMI Camera Audio

Connector x2 Connector Connector

Hardware interface diagram of RPi 3B+/3B/2B/1B+ is shown below:

GPIO
Connector
USB
Connector
Display
Connector

Ethernet
Power Connector
Connector

HDMI Camera Audio

Connector Connector Connector
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Hardware interface diagram of RPi A+ is shown below:

GPIO
Connector

USB
Display Connector
Connector

Power
Connector

HDMI Camera Audio

Connector Connector Connector

Hardware interface diagram of RPi Zero/Zero W is shown below:

GPIO
Connector

Camera
Connector

HDMI USB Power

Connector Connector Connector
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GPIO

General purpose input/output; in this specific case, the pins on the Raspberry Pi and what you can do with
them. So called because you can use them for all sorts of purposes; most can be used as either inputs or
outputs, depending on your program.
When programming the GPIO pins there are two different ways to refer to them: GPIO numbering and physical
numbering.

BCM GPIO Numbering

Raspberry Pi CPU use BCM2835/BCM2836/BCM2837of Broadcom. GPIO pin number is set by chip
manufacturer. These are the GPIO pins as the computer sees them. The numbers don't make any sense to
humans, they jump about all over the place, so there is no easy way to remember them. You will need a
printed reference or a reference board that fits over the pins.

Each pin is defined as below:

For more details about pin definition of GPIO, please refer to http://pinout.xyz/
 █ www.freenove.com Preface 15

PHYSICAL Numbering
The other way to refer to the pins is by simply counting across and down from pin 1 at the top left (nearest
to the SD card). This is 'physical numbering' and it looks like this:
16 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Preparation

Install the System

Firstly, install a system for your RPi.

Component List

Required Components
Raspberry Pi 4B / 3B+/ 3B /3A+ (Recommended) 5V/3A Power Adapter. Different versions of
Raspberry Pi have different power requirements.

Micro USB Cable x1 Micro SD Card (TF Card) x1, Card Reader x1

This robot also supports the following versions of the Raspberry Pi, but additional accessories need to be
prepared by yourself.
In this kit, we highly recommend Raspberry Pi 4B / 3B+ / 3A+ / 3B.

Raspberry Pi 2B / B+ is also usable, but an additional USB Wi-Fi module is required.

Raspberry Pi A+ / Zero / Zero W are not recommended.

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Power requirement of different versions of Raspberry Pi is shown in following table:

Product Recommended Maximum total USB Typical bare-board
PSU current peripheral current draw active current
capacity consumption
Raspberry Pi Model A 700mA 500mA 200mA
Raspberry Pi Model B 1.2A 500mA 500mA
Raspberry Pi Model A+ 700mA 500mA 180mA
Raspberry Pi Model B+ 1.8A 600mA/1.2A (switchable) 330mA
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B 1.8A 600mA/1.2A (switchable) 350mA
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B 2.5A 1.2A 400mA
Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ 2.5A Limited by PSU, board, and 350mA
connector ratings only.
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ 2.5A 1.2A 500mA
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 3.0A 1.2A 600mA
Raspberry Pi Zero W 1.2A Limited by PSU, board, and 150mA
connector ratings only.
Raspberry Pi Zero 1.2A Limited by PSU, board, and 100mA
connector ratings only
For more details, please refer to https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#powerReqs

In addition, RPi also needs a network cable used to connect it to wide area network.

All of these components are necessary. Among them, the power supply is required at least 5V/2.5A, because
lack of power supply will lead to many abnormal problems, even damage to your RPi. So power supply with
5V/2.5A is highly recommend. SD Card Micro (recommended capacity 16GB or more) is a hard drive for RPi,
which is used to store the system and personal files. In later projects, the components list with a RPi will
contains these required components, using only RPi as a representative rather than presenting details.
18 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Optional Components

Under normal circumstances, there are two ways to login to Raspberry Pi: using independent monitor, or
remote desktop to share a monitor with your PC.
Required Accessories for Monitor
If you want to use independent monitor, mouse and keyboard, you also need the following accessories.
1.Display with HDMI interface
2.Mouse and Keyboard with USB interface

As to Pi Zero and Pi Zero W, you also need the following accessories.

1. Micro-HDMI to HDMI converter wire.
2. Micro-USB to USB-A Receptacles converter wire (Micro USB OTG wire).
3. USB HUB.
4. USB transferring to Ethernet interface or USB Wi-Fi receiver.

For different Raspberry Pi, the optional items are slightly different. But all of their aims are to convert the
special interface to standard interface of standard Raspberry Pi.
Item Pi Zero Pi Zero W Pi A+ Pi 3A+ Pi B+/2B Pi 3B/3B+/4B
Monitor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mouse Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Keyboard Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Micro-HDMI to
Yes Yes No No No No
HDMI cable
Micro-USB to USB-A
Yes Yes No No No No
OTG cable
USB HUB Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
USB transferring to select optional Internal
optional select
Ethernet interface one from Integration
one from
USB Wi-Fi receiver two or Internal Internal
two or
select Internal Integration Integration
select two optional
two from Integration
from two
two

Required Accessories for Remote Desktop

If you don't have an independent monitor, or you want to use a remote desktop, first you need to login to
Raspberry Pi through SSH, then open the VNC or RDP service. So you need the following accessories.

Item Pi Zero Pi Zero W Pi A+ Pi 3A+ Pi B+/2B Pi 3B/3B+/4B

Micro-USB to USB-A Yes Yes No
OTG cable
USB transferring to Yes Yes Yes
Ethernet interface NO
 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 19

Raspberry Pi OS

Official Method
It is recommended to use this method.
You can follow the official method to install the system for raspberry pi
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/2
In this way, the system will be download automatically via the application.

Download system manually (optional)

After installing the Imager Tool in link above. You can also download the system manually first.

Visit RPi official website (https://www.RaspberryPi.org/), click “Downloads” and choose to download
“Raspberry Pi OS”. Raspberry Pi OS supported by RPI is an operating system based on Linux, which contains
a number of contents required for RPi. We recommended Raspberry Pi OS to beginners. All projects in this
tutorial are operated under the Raspberry Pi OS.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads
20 Preparation www.freenove.com █

After the zip file is download.

Write System to Micro SD Card

First, put your Micro SD card into card reader and connect it to USB port of PC. Then open imager toll, choose
Choose system that you just download in Use custom.
 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 21

Choose the SD card. Then click “WRITE”.

22 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Start Raspberry Pi
If you don’t have a spare monitor, please jumper to next section. If you have a spare monitor, please follow
steps in this section.
After the system is written successfully, take out Micro SD Card and put it into the card slot of RPi. Then
connect RPi to screen through the HDMI, to mouse and keyboard through the USB port, to network cable
through the network card interface and to the power supply. Then your RPi starts initially. Later, you need to
enter the user name and password to login. The default user name: pi; password: raspberry. Enter and login.
After login, you can enter the following interface.

Now, you have successfully installed the Raspberry Pi OS for your RPi.
Then you can connect WiFi on the right corner.

Now you can jumper to VNC Viewer.

 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 23

Remote desktop & VNC

If you don't have a spare display, mouse and keyboard for your RPi, you can use a remote desktop to share
a display, keyboard, and mouse with your PC. Below is how to use remote desktop under the Windows
operating system to control RPi.

Under windows, Raspberry Pi can be generally accessed remotely through two applications. The first one is
the windows built-in application remote desktop, which corresponds to the Raspberry Pi xrdp service. The
second one is the free application VNC Viewer, which corresponds to the VNC interface of Raspberry Pi. Each
way has its own advantages. You can choose either one or two.

Windows Raspberry Pi
Remote Desktop Connection Xrdp
VNC Viewer VNC

VNC Viewer can not only run under Windows, but also under system MAC, Linux, IOS, Android and so on.
Some remote connection tools like Xrdp, it does not support opencv and pyqt window display. So it is
recommended to use VNC Viewer to connect Raspberry Pi for this robot.

SSH

Under previous Raspberry Pi OS, SSH is opened by default. Under the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS, it is
closed by default. So you need to open it first.

Method: after the system is written. Create a folder named “ssh” under generated boot disk, then the
SSH connection will be opened.

And then, download the tool software Putty. Its official address: http://www.putty.org/
Or download it here: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
24 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Then use cable to connect your RPi to the routers of your PC LAN, to ensure your PC and your RPi in the same
LAN. Then put the system Micro SD Card prepared before into the slot of the RPi and turn on the power
supply waiting for starting RPi. Later, enter control terminal of the router to inquiry IP address named
“raspberry pi”. For example, I have inquired to my RPi IP address, and it is “192.168.1.108". Then open Putty,
enter the address, select SSH, and then click "OPEN", as shown below:

Step1: enter Step2:

the IP address Select SSH

Step3:
Click “OPEN”

There will appear a security warning at first login. Just click “YES”.
 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 25

Then there will be a login interface (RPi default user name: pi; the password: raspberry). When you enter the
password, there will be no display on the screen. This is normal. After the correct input, press “Enter” to
confirm.

Then enter the command line of RPi, which means that you have successfully login to RPi command line
mode.
26 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Remote Desktop Connection & xrdp

If you want to use built-in Remote Desktop Connection under Windows, you need install xrdp service on
Raspberry Pi.

Next, install a xrdp service, an open source remote desktop protocol(xrdp) server, for RPi. Type the following
command, then press enter to confirm:
sudo apt-get install xrdp

Later, the installation starts.

Enter "Y", press key “Enter” to confirm.

After the installation is completed, you can use Windows remote desktop applications to login to your RPi.
 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 27

Login to Windows remote desktop

Use "WIN+R" or search function, open the remote desktop application "mstsc.exe" under Windows, enter the
IP address of RPi and then click “Connect”.

Later, there will be xrdp login screen. Enter the user name and password of RPi (RPi default user name: pi;
password: raspberry) and click “OK”.
28 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Later, you can enter the RPi desktop system.

Here, you have successfully used the remote desktop login to RPi.

Wi-Fi

Raspberry Pi 4B/3B+/3B integrates a Wi-Fi adaptor. You can use it to connect to your Wi-Fi. Then you can
use the wireless remote desktop to control your RPi. This will be helpful for the following work. Raspberry Pi
of other models can use wireless remote desktop through accessing an external USB wireless card.
 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 29

VNC Viewer & VNC

Type the following command. And select 5 Interfacing OptionsP3 VNC YesOKFinish. Here Raspberry
Pi may need be restarted, and choose ok. Then open VNC interface.
sudo raspi-config
30 Preparation www.freenove.com █

Then download and install VNC Viewer by click following link:

https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/windows/
After installation is completed, open VNC Viewer. And click File  New Connection. Then the interface is
shown below.

Enter ip address of your Raspberry Pi and fill in a Name. And click OK.
Then on the VNC Viewer panel, double-click new connection you just created, and the following dialog box
pops up.

Enter username: pi and Password: raspberry. And click OK.

 █ www.freenove.com Preparation 31

Here, you have logged in to Raspberry Pi successfully by using VNC Viewer

If the resolution ratio is not great or there is just a black little window, you can set a proper resolution ratio
via steps below.
sudo raspi-config
Select 7 Advanced OptionsA5 Resolutionproper resolution ratio (set by yourself)OKFinish. And then
reboot Raspberry Pi.
32 Preparation www.freenove.com █

In addition, your VNC Viewer window may zoom your Raspberry Pi desktop. You can change it. On your
VNC View control panel, click right key. And select Properties->Options label->Scaling. Then set proper
scaling.

Here, you have logged in to Raspberry Pi successfully by using VNC Viewer and operated proper setting.
█ www.freenove.com Preparation 33
34 Smart Car Shield for RPi www.freenove.com █

Smart Car Shield for RPi

Smart Car Shield for RPi (hereinafter called Shield) is designed to extend smart car control board, which is
suitable for control board with host computer communication ability of I2C. The size and position of the
location holes on the shield is suitable for RPi. Below is the schematic diagram and function description of the
Smart Car Shield for RPi:

Switch S2

DC motor DC power
port jack

USB port
Firmware
update port
Switch S1
I2C port

Buzzer Logic level Ultrasonic Power

Servo port
port output port indicator

 DC power jack: this shield uses 5.6~11V DC power supply. If the power supply is beyond this voltage
range, it may cause damage to Shield.
 There are two Voltage Regulation System for 5V/3A, which are controlled by switch S1 and S2 respectively.
a) First 5V/3A power supply is output by the USB port on the right side of Shield, which is used to
provide power for RPi. In addition, the motor driver, controller, battery voltage detector and other
systems logic power on the Shield are powered by this one. It is controlled by the switch S1:CTRL
for on or off. This means that if you want the Shield to work, you have to turn on the switch S1:CTRL.
b) Second 5V/3A power is output by the red pins on Shield (marked as 5V). Motor, servo, buzzer, LED,
ultrasonic and other load are powered by this one. It is controlled by the switch S2:LOAD for on or
off. This means that if you want the load connected to the Shield to work, you have to turn on the
switch S2:LOAD.
 Power indicator. Four LEDs are used to indicate the power. With the power consumption, LEDs will be
turned off one by one.
 I2C communication port. Shield using I2C communication protocol. The default device address for I2C is
0x18, which can be changed to any address through specific command. And the data can be preserved
with power off.
 Firmware update port. If there is a new released firmware, the firmware can be updated through this port.
 DC motor interface. This shield can control speed and steering of two motors. Maximum current of each
 █ www.freenove.com Smart Car Shield for RPi 35

motor is 1.8A, and voltage is the input voltage of Shield.

 Servo port. This shield provides four servo ports. The servo control accuracy is 1us, which is 0.09 degrees.
 Buzzer port: This shield provides 1 buzzer port. This port can produce PWM with frequency 0-65535Hz,
and duty cycle 50%.
 The logic level output: This shield provides 3 common ports which can output logic level (0V/3.3V).
 Ultrasonic port: This shield provides a SR04 ultrasonic port.
 USB power port: This shield provides a USB power port to supply power for RPi.
The communication and command about this shield will be introduced later.
36 Chapter 0 Software installation and Test (Necessary) www.freenove.com █

Chapter 0 Software installation and Test (Necessary)

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]
In this chapter, we will do some necessary preparation work: start your Pi Raspberry and install some necessary
libraries.
If you are using remote desktop mode to login Raspberry Pi, you need use VNC viewer.

Step 0.1 Obtain the Code (Don't skip this section.）

Type the following commands in the terminal to obtain the code for the smart car. And place the code in the
user directory "Pi". (Note: Here are two commands. Please execute commands in order.) Don’t transmit
code from VNC, it may cause errors.
cd ~

git clone http://github.com/Freenove/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi.git

You can also find and download the code in Raspberry Pi by visiting our official website
(http://www.freenove.com) or our GitHub repository (https://github.com/freenove).
Please notice that our code for this smart car is written with Python3.

Set Python3 as default python (Don't skip this section.）

First, execute python to check default python on your raspberry Pi. Press Ctrl-Z to exit.

If it is python3, you can skip this section.

If it is python2, you need execute following commands to set default python to python3.
1. Enter directory /usr/bin
cd /usr/bin
2. Delete the old python link.
sudo rm python
3. Create new python links to python.
sudo ln -s python3 python
4. Check python. Press Ctrl-Z to exit.
python
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 0 Software installation and Test (Necessary) 37

If you want to set python2 as default python in other projects.

Just repeat command above and change python3 to python2.

Shortcut Key
Now, we will introduce several shortcuts that are very useful and commonly used in terminal.
1. up and down arrow keys. History commands can be quickly brought back by using up and down arrow
keys, which are very useful when you need to reuse certain commands.
When you need to type command, pressing “↑” will bring back the previous command, and pressing “↓” will
bring back the latter command.
2. Tab key. The Tab key can automatically complete the command/path you want to type. When there are
multiple commands/paths conforming to the already typed letter, pressing Tab key once won’t have any result.
And pressing Tab key again will list all the eligible options. This command/path will be directly completed
when there is only one eligible option.

As shown below, under the ‘~’directory, enter the Documents directory with the “cd” command. After typing
“cd D”, press Tab key, then there is no response. Press Tab key again, then all the files/folders that begin with
“D” is listed. Continue to type the character "oc", then press the Tab key, and then “Documents” is completed
automatically.
38 Chapter 0 Software installation and Test (Necessary) www.freenove.com █

Step 0.2 Configure I2C

Enable I2C
The I2C interface raspberry pi is closed in default. You need to open it manually. You can enable the I2C
interface in the following way.
open the terminal:

Terminal Terminal

Type command in the terminal:

sudo raspi-config
Then open the following dialog box:

Choose “5 Interfacing Options”“P5 I2C”“Yes”“Finish” in order and restart your RPi later. Then the I2C
module is started.

Type a command to check whether the I2C module is started:

lsmod | grep i2c
If the I2C module has been started, the following content will be shown:
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Install I2C-Tools
Type the command to install I2C-Tools.
sudo apt-get install i2c-tools
I2C device address detection:
i2cdetect -y 1

If there are I2C devices connected to your RPi, here will display their I2C device address.
Install python-smbus
Python-smbus is a module of the program Python, which contains some classes and methods to operate I2C.
Type the following command to install python-smbus:
sudo apt-get install python-smbus
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Communication test
Follow the steps below to connect the Shield with the RPi.
1.Prepare the following boards and parts. 2. Assembly

M2.5
x8

M2.5
x14

M2.5
x6

3.Use Jumper Wire F-F to connect the Shield with I2C port of RPi. Use the battery box to supply power for
the Shield, and open the switch S1. RPi can be powered by USB power port, or external power supply
adapter.

If there is no LED ON after turn on the switches, please push batteries to positive ends of the battery
holder.
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Default I2C address of the Shield is 0x18. Execute command i2cdetect-y1 again to detect whether the shield
is connected to RPi successfully.

i2cdetect –y 1

If you cannot detect i2c. Please check to S1 and S2 is press, Or try following method to reset.

Keep the power on and connect GND and RST with one F/F jumper. Then disconnect GND and RST.
Then detect i2c again to try.

If it does not work, please contact us at [email protected]

Step 0.3 Install mjpg-streamer

Camera is driven by mjpg-streamer. So you need to install mjpg-streamer.

Install
Open the terminal and execute the following command to install.
1. Install the relay for mjpg-streamer:
sudo apt-get install libv4l-dev libjpeg8-dev imagemagick
2. You may also need to install SVN if it is not installed in your raspberry pi。
sudo apt-get install subversion
3. Generate executable file mjpg-streamer: (Note: Here are two commands. Please execute commands
in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/mjpg-streamer
make USE_LIBV4L2=true clean all
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Test mjpg-streamer
Connect the camera to any one of the USB ports on the RPi. And execute the following command to verify
that the camera is successfully connected to RPi.
ls /dev/video*
If the results list the video0, the camera is connected successfully.

Under the mjpg-streamer directory, execute the following command to open the mjpg-streamer service.
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/mjpg-streamer
sh Start_mjpg_Streamer.sh

Open Web browser of RPi, access to http://127.0.0.1:8090/ or http://localhost:8090/. Then the following
picture appears.
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Click the "Javascript" tab on the left of navigation bar, then you will be see the real-time picture of the camera.
If the picture is not clear enough, you can rotate the lens to adjust the focus.
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You can access this page through accessing http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8090/ with your Web browser of your PC or
mobile phone. This requires your PC or mobile phone to be in the same local area network with your RPi,
where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is IP address of RPi. For example, my RPi IP address is 192.168.1.108. In the Windows 10,
access to http://192.168.1.108:8090/ through the browser, as is shown below.
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Step 0.4 Install PyQt5

The project code is based on PyQt5. So operation of the program requires the support of PyQt5.
Open the terminal and execute the following command to install PyQt5. (Note: Here are four commands.
Please execute commands in order.)
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5

sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5.qtwebkit

sudo apt-get install python3-dev

After the installation completed, type the following command to test whether PyQt5 is installed successfully.
(Note: Here are two commands. Please execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python Main.py
If you can run it successfully, and the following picture appears, it means that PyQt5 has been successfully
installed. Then click on the top right corner to close the program.
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Step 0.5 Test

Next, test the servo, motor, buzzer, RGBLED module and so on.

Servo

The servo can be connected with rocker arm to drive other parts to move. There are 3 kinds of rocker arm,
and 3 screws for the servo. The smaller screw is used to fix the rocker arm onto servo.

You can install or remove the rocker arm as below.

Don’t install the screw first.

You can turn the rocker arm to rotate in the range from 0 to 180 degrees with hand:
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Servo has three lines for controlling. The orange one is for the signal line, the red line for the power VCC,
the black one for the power GND.

According to the following steps, connect any one of servos to the Servo1 port of the Shield. Open the switch
S2, then the servo will rotate to 90 degrees automatically.

Type the following command in the terminal to test the servo: (Note: Here are two commands. Please
execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python mDev.py servo

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Then, the servo will rotate back and forth in a certain range.

After the test is completed. The servo will stop at 90 degrees. Then remove the rocker arm, and then pull off
the servo line. After that, do not rotate the servo manually not to affect the following installation. Make all
other servos to rotate to 90 degrees according to this method.

Buzzer

Connect the buzzer module to the buzzer port in the Shield.

Type the following command. Then the buzzer will start to sound. The program will exit 3 seconds later, then
the buzzer stop sounding. (Note: Here are two commands. Please execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python mDev.py buzzer

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Motor

Connect the motor module to the motor port in the Shield.

Type the following command, then the motor will rotate back and forth. Then the program will be terminated
and the motor will stop running.. (Note: Here are two commands. Please execute commands in order.)
If the path is already ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server, you don’t need to
enter the first command.
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python mDev.py motor

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RGBLED Module

Connect pin R, G, B of RGBLEG Module to port IO1, IO2, IO3 of the Shield respectively. Connect “+” to 3.3V
of RPi.

3.3V

Type the following command, RGBLED will emit red, green, and blue light several times circularly. Then the
program exits, the RGBLED is turned off. (Note: Here are two commands. Please execute commands in
order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python mDev.py RGBLED

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Ultrasonic Module

Connect pin VCC, GND, TRIG, ECHO of Ultrasonic Module to port 5V, GND, TRIG, ECHO of the Shield
respectively:

Type the following command to print out the ultrasonic measurement data in the terminal. (Note: Here are
two commands. Please execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python mDev.py ultrasonic

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Chapter 1 Smart video car

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]

First, let’s make a smart video car.

Assembly

Pan-tilt

Assemble servo2
1.Assemble the following components After assembling

M2*10 screw

M2 Nut
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2.Assemble the following components After assembling

M3*8 screw

M3*12
Copper
Standoff
Servo2

M3*8 screw

Assemble RGBLED Module and Passive Buzzer Module

Assemble the following components

M3*4 Screw

M3*6 Copper
Standoff

M3*8 Screw
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After assembling

Assemble servo3 support

Assemble the following components After assembling

These screws are

the larger two
among 3 screws
packed with servo.
M3 Nut

M3*12 screw Rocker arm,

included in
servo package.

Assemble the following components After assembling

This screw is the smaller one

among 3 screws packed with servo.
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Keep the servo2 rotating to 90 degrees. If the drection is changed before installation, please make it rotate
to the 90 degrees with the previous method. Complete the installation according to the direction below.

After correct assembly, the bracket can rotate 90 degrees to left or right.
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Assemble servo3
Assemble the following components After assembling

M2*10 screw

Servo3

M2 Nut

Assemble camera support

Assemble the following components After assembling

Rocker arm,
packed with
servo

M3 Nut

These screws
are the larger
two among 3
screws packed
M3*12 screw with servo.
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Assemble the following components After assembling

This screw is
the smaller one
among 3
screws packed
with servo.

Keep the servo3 rotating to 90 degrees. If the drection is changed before installation, please make it rotate
to the 90 degrees with the previous method. Complete the installation according to the direction below.
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After the correct assembly, the support can rotate up to 90 degrees, as shown below.
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Car body

Driving wheel and motor

1.Assemble the following components

M3*30 screw

M3 Nut

After assembling

2.Install the wheel(Left) After assembling

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3.Assemble the following components

M3 Nut

M3*30 screw

After assembling

4.Install the wheel(Right) After assembling

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After finishing the previous installing, you'll get two parts as follows:

Assemble servo1
Assemble the following components After assembling

M3*8 screw

Servo1

M3*12
Copper
Standoff

M3*8 screw
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Assemble Copper Standoff After assembling

Assemble the following components

M3*30
Copper
Standoff F687ZZ
Bearing

M3*8 screw
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Assemble Direction stick

Assemble the following components

The rocker arm and servo

are packed together.

The screws are packed with the servo, and they

are the bigger 2 ones among the 3 screws.

After assembling

Pay attention not to tighten the screw, otherwise the acrylic plate can't move freely.
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Assembly car head

Assemble the following components
The rocker arm should be installed in the middle position between its rotation range. A little deviation is
acceptable. If it is not installed in the middle position, you should remove the rocker arm and install it again
instead of turning the shaft.
This screw is packed with the
servo, and is the smaller one.

After assembling

Keep the servo1 rotating to 90 degrees. If the drection is changed before installation, please make it
rotate to the 90 degrees with the previous method. Complete the installation according to the direction
below.
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Assemble the following components

M3*8 screw

F687ZZ
Bearing

After assembling
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The two wheels can turn left and right

Assemble driven wheel

Assemble the following components

M4*40 F624ZZ
M4 F624ZZ
screw Bearing
Washer Bearing

M4 Nut

M4
M4
Spring
Washer
Washer
M4
Spring
Washer

After assembling
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Assemble the following components

M3*12 screw

M3 Nut

After assembling
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Electronic device

Assemble battery box

Assemble the following components

M3 Nut

M3*10 Countersunk
Head srew

After assembling
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RPi and camera

Assemble the following components

M2.5*8
screw
After assembly

Connection: please refer to Charpter 0, Step 0.5 test.

Servo1, Servo2, Servo3 are connected to Servo1, Servo2, Servo3 port of the Shield respectively.
RGBLED Module, Buzzer Module, and other loads are connected to the Shield in the same connection
mode with front "test" section.
The motor is connected as below, in which, if you find motor steering error, exchange connection of two
lines to Shield. The camera is connected to any USB port on the RPi. Using the matching Micro USB Cable
to connect Shield USB port with RPi power supply port. Assemble two 18650 batteries in the battery box,
and connect the interface of battery box to DC power jack of the Shiel
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Servo3

Servo2

Servo1

This motor is connected with the motor A port of Shield.

The upper line is connected to A-, the under line A+.

This motor is connected with the motor B port of Shield.

The upper line is connected to B-, the under line B+.
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Open the server

Server with GUI

Open the switch S1 and S2 on the Shield. After the RPi starts, use the remote desktop to connect RPi. Then
open the terminal, and execute the following command to open the server. (Note: Here are two commands.
Please execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python Main.py
Later, the following window interface appears. Click on the two buttons in the window to open the camera
service and TCP communication service, respectively.

Click on

Click on

If the terminal shows information below, it indicates that the camera service and TCP communication service
have been opened.

When you want to close them, first click on two TURN OFF button to close the services, and then click on the
close button on the top right corner of the window to terminate the program.
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Server without GUI

If you do not like the windowed server, you can open the camera and TCP communication services directly
through the commands. Open the switch S1 and S2 on the Shield. After the RPi starts, use the remote desktop
connect RPi. Then open the terminal and execute the following command. (Note: Here are two commands.
Please execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server
python Main.py –mnt
or
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server
python Main.py –m –t -n
Parameter “-m” is mjpg-streamer, which means to open the camera service. “-t” means to open the tcp
service. “-n” means not to use the visual window interface.
Later, if the following contents appears, it indicates that the camera and tcp services have been opened.

Press twice Ctrl-C or Ctrl-\ to terminate the program.

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Open the client

The client can run under any operating system in which Python3 and PyQt5 is installed. For example, Windows
OS，Linux OS.

Client under Raspberry Pi (and other GUI supported Linux OS)

Using python to execute code Client.py. Type following commands to open the client. (Note: Here are two
commands. Please execute them in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Client

python main.py
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You can refer to Control method section for details.

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Client under Windows OS

If you want to run the client on windows, you need install the program and service according to the following
steps.
Install python3.7
The windows client can only work under Python before Python 3.7.4 now, because some libraries don’t
support latest Python now. So it is recommended to install Python 3.7.4 to run the client.

Download the installation file via link below:

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-374/

On the page bottom, choose “Windows x86 executable installer”

Choose ”Windows x86 executable installer” to download and install.

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Select “Add Python 3.7 to PATH”. And choose Customize installation.

Select all options and click Next.

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Here python is installed into D disk as an example (You can choose your own installation path). Click Install.

Wait for installation.

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Now python installation is successful.

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Install PyQt5
Press “Win+R” to open Run and type cmd to open windows terminal. Type following commands one by on e,
four in total.

python -m pip install --upgrade pip

pip3 install PyQt5==5.13.0

pip3 install PyQtWebKit

pip3 install pyqt5-tools

After installation is successful, type command below to check.
pip3 list

Download the code under windows. Unzip it and place it in the D disk root directory. You can also place it
into other disks (like E), but the path in following command should be modified accordingly (replace D: by E:).
Click on the link below to download the file directly. You need to delete "-master" to rename the unzipped
file to "Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi".
https://github.com/Freenove/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/archive/master.zip
Press WIN+R, and type cmd to open the command line window. Then type the following command to open
the client. (Note: Here are three commands. Please execute commands in order.)
D:
cd \Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi\Client\
python main.py
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Or enter path “ D:\Freenove_Three_wheeled_Smart_Car_for_Raspberry_Pi\Client\” and run main.py with

Python3 IDLE. Then the following window interface appears.
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In the edit box Server IP Address, input IP address of video car RPi and click Connect. Make sure that server
of your RPi have been opened already, and the switch S1 and S2 on the Shield have been opened.

After the connection is successful, you can control the video car.
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Control method

Besides using the mouse to click on the button in the window to control the video car, you can also use the
highlight keys of keyboard to control the video car, as shown below.

The following is the corresponding action of Button/Key.

Button Key Action
FORWARD W Move
BACKWARD S Back off
TURN LEFT A Turn left
TURN RIGHT D Turn right
LEFT left arrow Turn camera left
RIGHT right arrow Turn camera right
UP up arrow Turn camera up
DOWN down arrow Turn camera down
HOME H Turn camera back Home
RGB_R R On/off red LED of RGBLED
RGB_G G On/off green LED of RGBLED
RGB_B B On/off blue LED of RGBLED
Buzzer V On/off Buzzer
The function of the SiliderBar with name in the window is shown below.
SliderBar Function
Speed Control the forward / backward speed of the car.
Turning angle Control turning angle.
Scale The minimum angle of each rotation of the camera.
Servo Fine Turning 1,2,3,4 Servo1,2,3,4 is for angle fine tuning settings. If the
servo is not completely centered in installation, you
can make a fine tuning by the SliderBar
Other control:
Control Function
Edit box Server IP Address IP address of Server
Button “Connect/DisConnect” Connect or DisConnect Server
Mode Button Switch to Video/Radar Mode
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Servo Reversed

Note:
When you run client to control servos, if some servo direction is reversed. You need modify mTCPServer.py
file. Under following path in your Raspberry Pi.
Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server/mTCPServer.py
When a servo is reversed, just modify corresponding False to True.
#####################################################
#If your servo rotation is inverted, please set the corresponding value to True
servo1_reversed = False # True or False
servo2_reversed = False # True or False
servo3_reversed = False # True or False
#####################################################
For example, servo1 rotation is reversed, modify the code.
#####################################################
#If your servo rotation is inverted, please set the corresponding value to True
servo1_reversed = T rue # True or False
servo2_reversed = False # True or False
servo3_reversed = False # True or False
#####################################################
Then save the modification.
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Automatic Start

After you understand how the video car works, the server can be set to start automatically once Raspberry Pi
is turned on. So when you start Raspberry Pi, you can directly connect the car to client, without opening and
configuring the server remotely. There are many ways to set automatic start. Here we introduce a simple and
easy way.

Configuration for automatic start

The file "Raspberry PiCar.desktop" under "Server" directory is the start configuration file of Server program.
The name of it shown in file manager is "RaspberryPiCar". First, use following command to see if the file is
executable.
ls -l | grep ”RaspberryPi”

As shown above, if the file is not executable, use following command to add executable permissions.
chmod +x RaspberryPiCar.desktop

If you haven't changed the file "Raspberry PiCar.desktop" name or path, you don’t need to modify. Otherwise
you must modify it to your own path. Open the file with file editor. Exec = XXX indicates that the command
xxx which will be executed. Make sure that the command and path are correct.
geany RaspberryPiCar.desktop

Finally, we will guide you to copy the file "Raspberry PiCar.desktop" to directory "/home/pi/.config/autostart/".
If the directory does not exist, the directory need to be created first.
Check if directory exists.
ls ~/.config/
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If the directory does not exist, create it by using following command. If the directory exists, skip the command.
mkdir ~/.config/autostart/

Use following command to copy the file "RaspberryPiCar.desktop" to folder "autostart".

cp RaspberryPiCar.desktop ~/.config/autostart

Execute the "RaspberryPiCar.desktop" in folder "autostart" to test whether it is workable.

sudo ~/.config/autostart/RaspberryPiCar.desktop

The above results show that the Server program has been successfully started. Then restart your raspberry pi
to test whether automatic start is successfully.
sudo reboot
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After restarting, you can connect raspberry pi with client. You can check whether the Server terminal works
normal with the following commands.
ps aux | grep -E "./mjpg_streamer|Main.py"

Exit Server program

Executing the program CloseServer.sh under Server can terminate the Server program.
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server
sh CloseServer.sh

Cancel automatic start

If you don't need automatic start for the Server program, just use following command to delete the file
"~/.config/autostart/RaspberryPiCar.desktop".
rm -f ~/.config/autostart/RaspberryPiCar.desktop
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Android and iOS app

We provide an android app for this kit. You can use Android phone or tablet to control the car.
First, please install Freenove APP for your Android device. You can install the app in any of the following ways:
 View or download on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freenove.suhayl.Freenove
 Download APK file directly:
https://github.com/Freenove/Freenove_App_for_Android/raw/master/freenove.apk
For more app details, please visit link below:
https://github.com/Freenove/Freenove_App_for_Android/

You can download and install the Freenove iPhone ios app by searching freenove in app store.

After the installation is completed, open the Freenove APP and select “Smart Car for Raspberry Pi”. As
shown below:
First, make sure your raspberry pi has been connected to WIFI.

Then execute command ifconfg to get wireless IP under wlan0.

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Server IP Address

Control
Buzzer
Display area of
contents captured
by camera Control
RGB LED

Virtual joystick,
used to control
Control direction
movement of car
of camera

Make sure camera and TCP services of the RPi have been opened. Then enter your RPi IP address in the
column Server IP Address, click the button CONNECT. Then the connection succeeds later. RPi IP address is
192.168.1.108. after a successful connection, the interface is shown below.

The IP address will be stored after correct connection, so that it can be used multiple times without having to
output the IP address every time. Then you can control the car.
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Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]

Assembly

On the basis of the front video car, remove the camera, camera support, servo3, and servo3 support. Then
assemble the support for Ultrasonic Module.

Replace pan-tilt

Remove camera part

Remove camera Remove camera support
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Remove servo3 Remove servo3 support

Separate Servo3 support

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Assembly ultrasonic module support

Assemble the following components After assembling

The end with

triangle symbol
M3 Nut is on the left.

M3*12 screw

Assemble the following components

This screw is the smaller one

among 3 screws packed with servo.
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After assembling

Keep the servo2 rotating to 90 degrees. If the drection is changed before installation, please make it
rotate to the 90 degrees with the previous method. Complete the installation according to the direction
below.
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Ultrasonic Module
Use M-M Jumper to connect the Ultrasonic Module with the Shield. And then use TWO M1.4 * 6 tapping
screws to assemble the Ultrasonic Module. As follows:

M1.4*6
self-tapping
screw

After assembling
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Connection: please refer to Charpter 0, Step 0.5 test.

Connection mode between Shield and Ultrasonic Module, is the same as front "Test" section. Connection
mode between other devices and Shield is the same with front “Smart video car”.
96 Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car www.freenove.com █

Open the server

The method of opening the server is the same as the video car. Since there is no Camera device now, please
do not open the Camera Server in the server window or use the “-m” command option.

GUI server
Open the switch S1 and S2 on the Shield. After the RPi starts, use the remote desktop to connect RPi. Then
open the terminal, and execute the following command to open the server. (Note: Here are two commands.
Please execute commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python Main.py
Later, the following window interface appears. Click on the corresponding button of TCP Server to open TCP
communication Server.

Click on

If the terminal shows information below, it indicates that the camera service and TCP communication service
have been opened.

When you want to close them, first click on two TURN OFF button to close the services, and then click on the
close button on the top right corner of the window to terminate the program.
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car 97

Server in command line mode

Type the following command to open the TCP service. (Note: Here are two commands. Please execute
commands in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python Main.py –nt

or
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server

python Main.py –t -n
Parameter “-t” is means to open the tcp service. “-n” means not to use the visual window interface.
Later, if the following contents appears, it indicates that the tcp service has been opened.

Press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-\ to terminate the program.

98 Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car www.freenove.com █

Open the client

The way to open the client is the same as “Smart video car”

Client under Raspberry Pi (including other GUI supported Linux OS)

Using python to execute code Client.py. Type following commands to open the client. (Note: Here are two
commands. Please execute them in order.)
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi /Client

python main.py
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car 99

Client under Windows OS

Press WIN+R, and type cmd to open the command line window. Then type the following command to open
the client. (Note: Here are three commands. Please execute commands in order.)
D:

cd \Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi\Client\

python main.py
Or enter path “D:\Freenove_Three_wheeled_Smart_Car_for_Raspberry_Pi\Client\” and double-click main.py
with open way of Python3.exe. Then the following window interface appears.
100 Chapter 2 Ultrasonic Radar Car www.freenove.com █

In the edit box Server IP Address, input IP address of your RPi and click Connect. Make sure that server of
your RPi have been opened already, and the switch S1 and Shield S2 have also been opened.
Then click on the MODE Button, the model will be switched to RADAR. Then the car enters ultrasonic radar
mode, and constantly scan the distance, and the results will be displayed in the window. In this process, you
can still control the car to move, and control the RGBLED module or Passive Buzzer module on the car.
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 3 Part of the Code 101

Chapter 3 Part of the Code

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]

In this chapter, we will explain the working principle and the key code of the whole project.

Server and Client

Server

The server is working on the RPi, and provides mjpg-streamer service and TCP service. And mjpg-streamer
is for the transmission of camera data, TCP service for the transfer of the command.
mjpg-streamer
In the Camera_Server.py under "Server" folder, define a class Camera_Server, which inherits from the class
threading.Thread. So when method .start () is called, Shell script file "Start_mjpg_Streamer.sh" is called, then
the mjpg-streamer service is opened in a new thread. After mjpg-streamer starts, when the end signal (Ctrl-
C, Ctrl-\, etc.) is received, it will exit, the thread will end.
Class Stop_Camera_Server is used to close the mjpg-streamer service. The class calls the Shell script file
"Stop_mjpg_Streamer.sh" in a new thread, obtains the pid of the mjpg-streamer process, and then sends the
end signal to end the service. And then the two threads will end.
Camera_Server.py
i m port threading
i m port os

c l ass C amera_Server(threading.Thread):
d e f camera_Http_Server(self):
os. system("sudo /home/pi/Program/mjpg-streamer/Start_CMD_Suhayl.sh")

d e f run( self):
p r int ".............Camera server starting ......"
self. camera_Http_Server()
p r int ".............Camera server stop..........."
d e f stop( self):
os. system("sudo ./Stop_mjpg_Streamer.sh")

c l ass S top_Camera_Server(threading.Thread):
d e f run( self):
os. system("sudo ./Stop_mjpg_Streamer.sh")
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About the command for opening “mjpg-streamer”，you can open the file “Start_mjpg_Streamer.sh” to view.
#!/bin/sh
curr_file=$0
c d "$(dirname "$curr_file")"
. / mjpg_streamer - i "./input_uvc.so -y -d /dev/video0 -n -r 320*240 -f 30" -o
"./output_http.so -p 8090 -w ./www"
The meaning of the option parameters is as follows:
"-i", means the video input method, where the "input_uvc.so" is the input mode of USB Video Class (uvc).
The parameters can be specified as below:
[-d | --device ].......: video device to open (your camera)
[-r | --resolution ]...: the resolution of the video device,
can be one of the following strings:
QSIF QCIF CGA QVGA CIF VGA
SVGA XGA SXGA
or a custom value like the following
example: 640x480
[-f | --fps ]..........: frames per second
[-y | --yuv ]..........: enable YUYV format and disable MJPEG mode
[-q | --quality ]......: JPEG compression quality in percent
(activates YUYV format, disables MJPEG)
[-m | --minimum_size ].: drop frames smaller then this limit, useful
if the webcam produces small-sized garbage frames
may happen under low light conditions
[-n | --no_dynctrl ]...: do not initalize dynctrls of Linux-UVC driver
[-l | --led ]..........: switch the LED "on", "off", let it "blink" or leave
it up to the driver using the value "auto"
"-o" means the video output method, where the "output_http.so" is used. The parameters can be specified
as below:
[-w | --www ]...........: folder that contains webpages in
flat hierarchy (no subfolders)
[-p | --port ]..........: TCP port for this HTTP server
[-c | --credentials ]...: ask for "username:password" on connect
[-n | --nocommands ]....: disable execution of commands
The following is the file "Stop_mjpg_Streamer.sh", in which the pid of "mjpg_streamer" process is obtained,
and then the kill command is used to end the process.
#!/bin/sh
pid= "$(pgrep mjpg_streamer)"
e c ho "mjpg_streamer pid: "$ p id
k i ll - 9 $ p id
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 3 Part of the Code 103

TCP
In the mTCPServer.py under folder "Server", define a class mTCPServer, which is used to create a TCP monitor
port, and, to forward the commands to Shield after receiving request from the client. Because the monitor
port function is also blocked, it will be created in a new thread. You can open file mTCPServer.py to view the
details.

mDEV
In the mDev.py under folder "Server", define class mDEV, which contains the control commands and methods
for Shield. The following is the content of class mDEV.
i m port smbus
i m port time

d e f numMap( value,fromLow,fromHigh,toLow,toHigh):
r e turn ( toHigh-toLow)*(value-fromLow) / ( fromHigh-fromLow) + toLow

c l ass m DEV:
CMD_SERVO1 = 0
CMD_SERVO2 = 1
CMD_SERVO3 = 2
CMD_SERVO4 = 3
CMD_PWM1 = 4
CMD_PWM2 = 5
CMD_DIR1 = 6
CMD_DIR2 = 7
CMD_BUZZER = 8
CMD_IO1 = 9
CMD_IO2 = 10
CMD_IO3 = 11
CMD_SONIC = 12
SERVO_MAX_PULSE_WIDTH = 2500
SERVO_MIN_PULSE_WIDTH = 500
Is_IO1_State_True = F a lse
Is_IO2_State_True = F a lse
Is_IO3_State_True = F a lse
Is_Buzzer_State_True = F a lse
d e f __init__(self,addr=0x18):
self. address = addr #default address of mDEV
self. bus=smbus.SMBus(1)
self. bus.open(1)
d e f i2cRead(self,reg):
self. bus.read_byte_data(self.address,reg)

d e f i2cWrite1(self,cmd,value):
self. bus.write_byte_data(self.address,cmd,value)
104 Chapter 3 Part of the Code www.freenove.com █

d e f i2cWrite2(self,value):
self. bus.write_byte(self.address,value)

d e f writeReg(self,cmd,value):
t r y:
self. bus.write_i2c_block_data(self.address,cmd,[value>>8,value&0xff])
e x cept Exception,e:
p r int Exception,"I2C Error :", e

d e f readReg(self,cmd):
[ a, b]=self.bus.read_i2c_block_data(self.address,cmd,2)
r e turn a< <8 | b

d e f getSonicEchoTime():
SonicEchoTime = mdev. readReg(mdev.CMD_SONIC)
r e turn SonicEchoTime

d e f getSonic(self):
SonicEchoTime = mdev. readReg(mdev.CMD_SONIC)
distance = SonicEchoTime * 17.0 / 1000.0
r e turn distance
d e f setShieldI2cAddress(self,addr): #addr: 7bit I2C Device Address
i f ( addr< 0x03) o r ( addr > 0x77) :
r e turn
e l se :
mdev. writeReg(0xaa,(0xbb<<8)|(addr<<1))

The following table is corresponding Shield interface of the command. You can operate them through the
member function writeReg and readReg.
Command Interface Read/Write Valid value
CMD_SERVO1 Servo1 W 0-20000
CMD_SERVO2 Servo2 W 0-20000
CMD_SERVO3 Servo3 W 0-20000
CMD_SERVO4 Servo4 W 0-20000
CMD_PWM1 Motor1 Speed W 0-1000
CMD_PWM2 Motor2 Speed W 0-1000
CMD_DIR1 Motor1 Steering W 0 or non-0
CMD_DIR2 Motor2 Steering W 0 or non-0
CMD_BUZZER Buzzer W 0-65535
CMD_IO1 IO1 W 0 or non-0
CMD_IO2 IO2 W 0 or non-0
CMD_IO3 IO3 W 0 or non-0
CMD_SONIC TRIG/ECHO R
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 3 Part of the Code 105

Default I2C address of the Shield is 0x18 (7bit). Member function setShieldI2cAddress (self, addr) is used to
modify the I2C address of Shield. Don't change its address unless it conflicts with the I2C address of your
other device. Because detection range of the I2CTool is 0x03-0x77, so the range of parameter “addr” is limited
to 0x03-0x77. It is invalid when beyond this range. When the I2C address is modified, the Shield need to be
restarted. when there is a need, change the parameter addr of the class constructor to the new I2C address
to facilitate use later. Please use this function with caution.
d e f __init__(self,addr=0x18):
……
d e f setShieldI2cAddress(self,addr): #addr: 7bit I2C Device Address
i f ( addr< 0x03) o r ( addr > 0x77) :
r e turn
e l se :
mdev. writeReg(0xaa,(0xbb<<8)|(addr<<1))

Client

Connect the Client to the server through the TCP port. Then define class TCPClient in the TCPClient.py under
"Client" folder, which contains the method for connecting to server and sending data.
f r om socket i m port *

c l ass T CPClient:
#HOST = '127.0.0.1'
HOST = '192.168.1.108'
PORT = 12345
BUFSIZ = 1024
ADDR = ( HOST, PORT)

d e f __init__(self):
#self.client = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
p a ss

d e f connectToServer(self, address = ADDR) :

self. client = socket( AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
self. client.connect(address)

d e f disConnect(self):
t r y:
self. client.close()
e x cept Exception, e:
p r int Exception, "Disconnect error:", e

d e f sendData(self, data) :
106 Chapter 3 Part of the Code www.freenove.com █

t r y:
self. client.send(data)
e x cept Exception, e:
p r int Exception, "Send TCP Data error:", e

d e f recvData(self):
t r y:
r e turn self. client.recv(self.BUFSIZ)
e x cept Exception, e:
p r int Exception, "Recv TCP Data error:", e

In “main.py”, monitor the action of the control and keyboard, and send a command to the server.
View “main.py” for detailed information.
In “Config.txt”, preserve the IP address of successful connection to the server last time, and load it the next
time start the client. This enables you to connect to the server quickly without entering the IP address of the
server in the edit box each time.
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 4 Contributions of other developers 107

Chapter 4 Contributions of other developers

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]

We are very grateful to all developers for their contributions to this product. We are very welcome and highly
praised for such work. We will include the excellent contents from developers in main branch of this tutorial.

Extensions for Scratch 2

This is an extension for Scratch2, with which you can operate this car on Scratch2.
Author: Ruairi

How to use？

How to install the extension into Scratch 2:

1: cd into Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi
2: Run the following commands:
sudo cp ./Client/Scratch/piCar.js /usr/lib/scratch2/scratch_extensions
sudo cp ./Client/html/imgs/car_photo.jpg /usr/lib/scratch2/medialibrarythumbnails
3: NOTE: **only run the following command after you have successfully executed commands above**
sudo cp ./Client/Scratch/extensions.json /usr/lib/scratch2/scratch_extensions
4: cd into the Client folder and run the following command:
cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Client
python ScratchServer.py
5: Run Scratch 2 and select More Blocks->Add an Extension->Freenove PiCar (double click it to add)
108 Chapter 4 Contributions of other developers www.freenove.com █

6. To use the blocks, always remember to run the "connect to" block first and finish off with a disconnect
block.

If you don't disconnect, you may not be able to connect to your car from another app (e.g. the android
app)
Enjoy!
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 4 Contributions of other developers 109

Screenshot of running
110 Chapter 4 Contributions of other developers www.freenove.com █
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 5 Free your innovation 111

Chapter 5 Free your innovation

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]
If you want to write your own program to control this car, you can follow this chapter.
The car program is based on python3. If your default python is python2, please set python3 as default python.
If you have never learned python before, you can learn some basics through the following link:
https://python.swaroopch.com/basics.html

Program

First, open Thonny Python IDE. Thonny is a software easy to use for beginners.
112 Chapter 5 Free your innovation www.freenove.com █

Create a new file.

Name the file “myCode” as an example. And save it in Server folder of the car code in Raspberry Pi.
Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 5 Free your innovation 113

Open the Server folder of the car code. You will see the code you created.

Write your own code in myCode.py like below as an example. Then save as below:
114 Chapter 5 Free your innovation www.freenove.com █

Type following commands to enter folder of myCode.py.

cd ~/Freenove_Three-wheeled_Smart_Car_Kit_for_Raspberry_Pi/Server
Run myCode.py
python myCode.py

Result:
The car will turn right with 30° for 1s. Then move back for 1s. Then stop.

Code Example

Motor
1 #-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
2 #Import classes, functions, variables, from "mdev" files
3 from mDev import *
4 mdev = mDEV() #create object
5 mdev.move(1000,1000,30) #Car TurnRight
6 time.sleep(1) #Wait 1 S
7 mdev.move(-1000,-1000) #Car BackWard
8 time.sleep(1) #Wait 1 S
9 mdev.move(0,0)

Ultrasonic module
1 #-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
2 #Import classes, functions, variables, from "mdev" files
3 from mDev import *
4 mdev = mDEV() #create object
5 #Obtain the distance from the obstacle in front to the ultrasound
6 distance=mdev.getSonic()
7 print("Sonic: %.2f cm"%distance) #Print once
 █ www.freenove.com Chapter 5 Free your innovation 115

Buzzer
1 #-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
2 #Import classes, functions, variables, from "mdev" files
3 from mDev import *
4 mdev = mDEV() #create object
5 #Buzzer sounds for 2 seconds
6 mdev.setBuzzer(2000)
7 time.sleep(2) #Wait 2 S
8 mdev.setBuzzer(0)

Led
1 #-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
2 #Import classes, functions, variables, from "mdev" files
3 from mDev import *
4 mdev = mDEV() #create object
5 #The order of LED lighting is red-green-blue-white
6 mdev.setLed(1,0,0)
7 time.sleep(1) #Wait 1 S
8 mdev.setLed(0,1,0)
9 time.sleep(1)
10 mdev.setLed(0,0,1)
11 time.sleep(1)
12 mdev.setLed(1,1,1)
13 time.sleep(1)
14 mdev.setLed(0,0,0)

Servo
1 #-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
2 #Import classes, functions, variables, from "mdev" files
3 from mDev import *
4 mdev = mDEV() #create object
5 #The servo2 rotates back and forth between 40 and 140 degrees
6 while True:
7 for i in range(40,140,1):
8 mdev.setServo('2',i)
9 time.sleep(0.005)
10 for i in range(140,40,-1):
11 mdev.setServo('2',i)
12 time.sleep(0.005)
116 Chapter 5 Free your innovation www.freenove.com █

Related Functions

The functions listed below are included the "mDev.py" file. If you want to see more detailed code content,
please open the mDev.py file to check.
Function Description
move(left_pwm, This function is used to control the movement of the car and has three input
right_pwm, parameters.
steering_angle) The first parameter is "left_pwm". Control the PWM of the left wheel of the car. The
range is -1000~1000. The positive value makes the wheels rotates positively, and
the negative value make the wheels reverse. The larger the absolute value of the
number, the faster the speed.
The second parameter is "right_pwm". Control the PWM of the right wheel of the
tricycle, the range is -1000~1000. The positive value makes the wheels rotates
positively, and the negative value make the wheels reverse. The larger the absolute
value of the number, the faster the speed.
The third parameter is "steering_angle". Controls the turning angle of the car, the
range is 0~180. The default is 90 degrees and keep the car going straight.
getSonic() Returns the distance from the obstacle in front to the ultrasonic module, unit CM.
setBuzzer(pwm) This function is used to control the buzzer and has one input parameter.
The parameter "pwm" controls the PWM signal output by the buzzer, the range is
0-65535.
The larger the "pwm", the lager the tone.
setLed(R,G,B) This function is used to control the color of Led. It has three input parameters.
When the parameter "R" is 1, the red channel of the Led is on. When it is 0, the red
channel is off.
When the parameter "G" is 1, the green channel of the Led is on. When it is 0, the
green channel is off.
When the parameter "B" is 1, the blue channel of the Led is on. When it is 0, the
blue channel is off.
setServo(index,angle) This function is used to control the servo and has two input parameters.
The first parameter "index" selects the servo number to be controlled, which are "1",
"2", "3", "4".
The second parameter "angle" sets the angle of the servo, the range is 0~180°.
 █ www.freenove.com What's next? 117

What's next?
Thanks for your reading.

This book is all over here. If you find any mistakes, missions or you have other ideas and questions about
contents of this book or the kit and so on, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] and we
will check and correct it as soon as possible.

After completing the contents in this book, you can try to reform this smart car, such as purchasing and
installing other Freenove electronic modules, or improving the code to achieve different functions. We will
also try our best to add more new functions and update the code on our github (https://github.com/freenove).

If you want to learn more about Arduino, Raspberry Pi, smart cars, robots and other interesting products in
science and technology, please continue to focus on our website (www.freenove.com). We will continue to
launch cost-effective, innovative and exciting products.

Thank you again for choosing Freenove products.