Driving around little RC-controlled cars is a pastime that both young people and not-so-young people enjoy. If you want to take things to the next awesomely geeky level, you can drive a real car with an iPhone, with some help from the folks at Waterloo Labs.
They used a car they bought for $300, stripped off the doors and the steering wheel. They used a couple of motors and some wrenches to control the gas and the brake, and a motorcycle chain on the steering column to control the car’s direction. They used a CompactRio controller to tie everything together. (It’s a good thing that car was so cheap. Those things run for about two grand.)
It’s controlled by LabVIEW software, as well as an iPhone app. They also modified a Power Wheels car to drive the real car as well. If you’re interested in all the geeky details of how to build one yourself, you can check out the videos below.
Here’s Part 2:
And here’s Part 3, showing John Boiles, demonstrating his iPhone app.
So if you’re an iPhone owner, and people mock you for not having a phone that can drive you home, you can say that yes, there’s an app for that too. Special thanks to Hacked Gadgets for picking up on this story.
If you want your iPhone to help you take care of your plants, there’s an app for that as well. If you’re a music fan, why not use an old-school Victrola-style speaker for it?
