CircuitMess Wheelson 2.0 is a DIY self-driving robot car. You build it yourself and learn about robotics, electronics and computer vision along the way. Wheelson finds its way around using a camera rather than a distance sensor, so everything it does is real computer vision running on the car itself. Once assembled, it can be programmed, and it can also be driven from a CircuitMess ByteBoi console.

Building Wheelson teaches you about robotics, electronics and computer vision. Putting it together and then using it shows you what each part does. You will see how a single camera can be enough for a car to work out what is in front of it: that one camera feeds object recognition, marker following, line and road following, and colour-ball tracking, and switchable white headlights let it keep seeing in a dark room. Once it is built, you can program its behaviour in CircuitBlocks, our visual coding tool, which writes MicroPython. Which C++ routes are available for which generation of kit is covered in What programming languages can I use with CircuitMess kits?

Wheelson is best for ages 9 and up, and it also suits teenagers and adults who are into DIY electronics, coding and robotics. The instructions are detailed and the build is a real project, which is what makes finishing it worthwhile. Younger children can build it with an adult alongside them.

No. The build is an advanced one, but the instructions take it a step at a time, so beginners finish it as well. Coding the camera behaviour afterwards is where most of the learning happens, and that also starts from scratch.

Around two hours. It is assembled with the included screwdriver and needs no soldering.

Both. Wheelson drives itself, and you can also take manual control from a CircuitMess ByteBoi console.