This is the second part in a howto series about building a relatively cheap robot out of a radio controlled car and an embedded microcontroller such as the Basic Stamp.

In part 1, I glossed over how to interface a microcontroller with the drive and steering systems on a typical, cheap RC car. Today, we'll be looking at the circuit in a little more detail.  I've also added the simple BS2 program that I used in the demo video from the previous article.

I wish I could say I had a half-million dollar budget to put towards a Stanford style Grand Challenge vehicle, but I'm afraid I've already earmarked that money for thermoptic camouflage and bionic calf implants.

Still, it seems like you just can't be a self respecting hacker these days unless you have an autonomous Humvee or two.

So, I decided it would be a worthwhile project to create a smaller scale robotic car. After a quick treasure-hunt under the sofa cusions and a trip to Radio Shack, I had everything I needed. This project looked to be as easy as taking toys from a baby.

Here's a video of the robot car in action (right click and save).  Keep reading and I'll show you how you can start making your own.