This Smartphone Case Is Actually an RC Car That You Can Take Everywhere

There was a time when an RC car was one of the coolest toys you could get, but those days are long gone and most kids now just want to play games on phones and tablets. Even if you are still tinkering with RC cars, they’re probably much too large to stuff into a jeans pocket. But there is one thing everyone always has with them: their smartphone. Why not combine the two? That’s exactly what Redditor UnderTheNozzle has done with their 3D-printed, drivable phone case.

The idea is here is simple enough to conceptualize. The bottom half of the case comes off to expose four tiny wheels. Place that portion of the case wheels-down on a flat surface, launch a special controller app, and you can drive the little RC car around. It’s not actually radio-controlled, and uses Bluetooth instead. That makes it much easier to control from modern smartphones. In this case, control is done through a custom Android app that was built using App Inventor and that runs on a Samsung Galaxy S4. UnderTheNozzle said they might design an improved version that works with an iPhone and would be a few millimeters thinner.

All of the hardware needed to drive around is crammed into the thin, 3D-printed case. That portion of the case is 7mm thick. After subtracting the thickness of the walls, you’re left with a mere 5mm of space for all of the components. Those components include an Arduino Pro Micro, a Bluetooth module, a dual H-bridge motor driver, a LiPo battery, and the drive motors. Those are coreless motors that run at 3V and can reach speeds as high as 6,000 RPM. UnderTheNozzle doesn’t specify how long the battery will last, but we imagine that the battery life has got to be pretty good with such small motors. It may not be practical, but this project is still fun to see.