Maze solver 4wd

RoboMaze — Autonomous Maze-Solving Robot

ECNG 4504 — Embedded Systems for Wireless Communications
AUC Spring 2026 | Team 2

Team Members

Project Overview

RoboMaze is a fully autonomous maze-solving robot built on the ESP32 microcontroller. It uses a 5-sensor infrared array to follow black lines and navigate a maze autonomously across four sequential runs with no human intervention after the initial start command:

1. LHR (Run 1) — Explores the maze using the Left-Hand Rule, recording all junctions and decisions
2. Back (Run 2) — Returns to start along a simplified reverse path
3. Run 2 (Run 3) — Re-navigates the maze on the shortest discovered path using Manhattan distance heuristic
4. Back 2 (Run 4) — Returns to start along the optimized path

A live web application visualizes the maze map in real time and allows full wireless control via WiFi or Bluetooth BLE.

Repository Structure

RoboMaze/ ├── Firmware/ # ESP32 C++ source code (PlatformIO + Arduino) ├── Hardware(KiCad)/ # KiCad hardware schematic ├── Webapp/ # React + TypeScript web application └── Docs/ # Architecture diagrams, contribution docs, team details

Hardware

Firmware

Platform: PlatformIO + Arduino Framework
Language: C++

Key features:

• Left-Hand Rule maze exploration with junction recording
• Triplet path simplification algorithm
• Run 2 Manhattan distance navigation with axis-priority selection
• WebSocket server on port 81 with full JSON telemetry protocol
• BLE GATT server with TX notify and RX write characteristics
• Encoder-based corridor distance measurement with auto-calibration

lib_deps =
    links2004/WebSockets@^2.4.0
    bblanchon/ArduinoJson@^6.21.0
board_build.partitions = huge_app.csv

Web Application

Stack: React + TypeScript + Vite (frontend), Express (backend)
URL: robomaze.net

Features:

• Live maze map with proportional corridor rendering
• Real-time sensor display and robot state indicator
• Full robot control panel (start, back, run2, back2, pause, e-stop)
• WiFi mode: direct browser → ws://172.20.10.9:81
• BLE mode: Web Bluetooth API (Chrome desktop)

Wireless Communication