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This project was designed and built in cooperation with a computer science teacher at local intermediate school. The primary goal was to provide an automatic timing system with visible external clock and LED stage lighting for student-built robot car races.
While portions of this project are unique to the robot car races, it can easily be adapted to many other types of projects.
The project uses an ESP32, two VL53L0x ToF sensors and a MAX7219 Dot-Matrix display for the primary components. LED lighting (optional) uses low cost WS2812b RGBIC LED strips. Colors can be changed for various race stages (ready, active, completed, timed-out).
The firmware also includes a custom WIFI onboarding process, the ability to perform over-the-air updates and more. A full web-accessible settings page allows for many different options.
This wiki focuses primarily on the firmware... installation, initialization, settings and options and general use of the system.
It does not include parts lists or any of the build details of the system. You can find that information in the following locations:
YouTube Video (overview): ESP32 Build: An Automated Timing System for Robot Racers
Related Blog (full details): A Robot Car Timing System
This Wiki, which along with any version release notes, will always contain the latest information.