Timekeeper is a standalone lap-timing device designed for line-following robots. It uses an ESP32 microcontroller and an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor to detect when a robot passes a timing point and to trigger a new lap. The system measures lap times in real time and displays key performance data on a 128×64 OLED screen.
The displayed information includes the current lap time, average lap time, and best lap time. The prototype is reliable and provides consistent detection, making it suitable for basic performance tracking during testing and competitions.
- ESP32-based timing unit
- HC-SR04 ultrasonic distance sensing
- Automatic lap detection
- Real-time lap timing
- OLED display output (128×64)
- Display of current, average, and best lap times
The next step is to evolve Timekeeper into a distributed timing and telemetry system. The plan is to use MQTT for communication, with a Raspberry Pi 5 acting as a central broker and data aggregation node. One to four ESP32-based timing stations will publish lap events and telemetry data to a central application for logging, visualization, and statistical analysis.
This architecture will enable centralized data collection, real-time dashboards, historical performance tracking, and future expansion with additional sensors and telemetry sources. Supporting up to four timing stations also makes it possible to organize races between multiple robots.