I've built something like this using the ESP32-CAM if you want lower power usage. Although the real power usage is in the motors anyway.

It's awesome when it finally works and you can drive it around at a distance though!

What a wonderful journey back to computing! The Raspberry Pi is such a perfect platform for rekindling that curiosity and hands-on exploration. There's something special about being able to physically tinker with hardware while learning programming. Your excitement really comes through in this post!

I have one of these:

https://www.awymachinery.com/lawn-mower/remote-control-lawn-...

Bad ideas are running through my brain right now.

..and for his next trick, adding a servo is easy. Pigpio provides services underneath the operating system including square wave generators. Power the servo at 7.2 volts and drive the signal directly off a gpio pin at 5 volts!