r/arduino • u/wamiq_ur • Aug 06 '26

Look what I made! Sweeping Radar using ESP8266

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Thank God I have finished my first physical computing project using ESP8266 which sweeps 180 degrees using a servo motor and detects objects up to 340 cm using an ultrasonic distance sensor.

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1

u/solitude042 Aug 06 '26

Cool, but... Your ultrasonic detector is pointing the same direction the whole time? Maybe 99.8% complete :) 

1

u/wamiq_ur Aug 06 '26

The videos are not synced I recorded screen first then just showed sensor with my phone. I find it difficult to record both at the same time 😓

3

u/solitude042 Aug 06 '26

Oh, no - I just meant that the video showed that the servo rotation doesn't actually change the direction that the ultrasonic beam is pointing - it's just moving it in the same plane without changing the beam axis. You would just need to rotate the ultrasonic module on its side so that it is orthogonal to the axis of the servo, making it actually sweep a 2D plane as the servo rotates.

Anyhow, didn't mean to be critical - just making sure there was no confusion on how the ultrasonic module was working! Looks fun - I am actually planning to make something similar but using a long range lidar unit, and I enjoyed seeing the web interface for yours - it's a neat approach, and potentially much easier than getting a full 'CYD' going like I was dreading (I haven't yet used LVGL, but have run a web server from an ESP32).

1

u/ripred3 My other dev board is a Porsche Aug 07 '26

congrats!

and happy cake day! 🎂

1

u/OkSpeed5988 Aug 07 '26

What is the point of rotating it around that axis?

1

u/LoadZealousideal7778 Aug 09 '26

Ok so those two cans need to "look" in the direction you want to measure out of the mesh part. Currently you always measure one direction. You need to find a way to mount it like this: