I bought a bunch of Dynamixel robotics servos a while back, and I have been itching to put them to good use in a couple of robotics projects that I have wanted to do for quite some time now.

I decided to roll my own robot controller with wi-fi and bluetooth capabilities. The current firmware allows for PID calibration via an embedded web server. This allows for tuning the PID parameters via a phone or a computer.

The robot uses bonjour/mDNS to make its presence known on the network. Scanning the QR code on the display will open a web page, where the user can tune PID parameters and select to save them to non volatile storage on the board.

If the robot falls over, it will right itself and then attempt to rebalance itself.

All structural parts were 3D printed on a Prusa i3 MK3. The rubber tires were sourced from AliExpress.

The main components in the design are the ESP32-WROOM-32D from Espressif, the nRF52840 from Nordic Semiconductor and the BNO055 IMU from Bosch

This project turned out to be a bit more challenging than anticipated, given the relatively low weight, small wheels and slow servos (I used the Dynamixel XL-320 for both wheels and arms), but I got it working in the end :)

GitHub repository : https://github.com/hansj66/automaton-...

-- Contents of this video --

00:00 - Intro
01:56 - PCB Assemvly
05:54 - Reflow
07:31 - Good news, everyone !
07:50 - Exploded view
08:10 - Mechanical assembly
10:14 - Flasing firmware
10:46 - First boot
11:08 - Testing
12:20 - Getting good!
12:46 - PID tuning via iPhone
13:25 - Blooper reel