I haven’t been paying much attention to the DIY community lately, but today I checked out Xianyu and found many new and interesting gadgets. Previously, I wrote about five AI robots based on ESP32 boards, which were generally quite large. This one is much smaller and requires a higher level of integration.
Compared to the previous AI robot solutions, its size is about half, and the green shell gives it a fresh look. The front features a 1.8-inch color LCD screen with a resolution of 280×240, primarily used for information display and interaction. The small holes on the right side of the screen are speaker holes, supporting smart voice reading and voice control interaction.
Of course, this shell is mass-produced using 3D printing, so theoretically, it can be made in any color. The surface will have the texture of 3D printing, and the edges may show some burrs, which ideally should be smoothed with fine sandpaper.
Its mainboard looks like this,also using the Espressif ESP32-S3N16R8 chip,based on the Bobo V2.2 circuit scheme, adding features like sound wave networking, MCP networking plugin, personal music cloud storage, hyper-realistic voice cloning, and a memory knowledge base.
Despite its small size, it has a built-in 600mAh lithium polymer battery, allowing it to operate for several hours without being plugged in.The finished product is priced at 140 yuan, with a production cycle of 2 days, which is normal for similar small AI desktop robots.
Since the beginning of this year, small AI desktop robots have evolved from being mere “toys” modified by enthusiasts to a production model, forming a cottage industry with various new appearances emerging.However, its limitations have also become apparent, as there is basically innovation at the hardware level, but the software and system aspects are largely similar, all embedded with publicly available modified firmware of the small AI.
Actually, I think it would be interesting to embed an electronic pet game into it. This device is increasingly resembling the electronic pets that were popular worldwide in the 1990s, and I believe it would be more interesting than the previous attempt by a certain enthusiast to create an “electronic girlfriend” (click to review). As an open IoT chip, the ESP32 should make this feasible, right?