Creating a Cute Useless Robot with ESP32

Introduction

After completing his master’s thesis defense, the author used his free time to create a robot he always wanted to make – a cute useless robot.

The useless robot works by having a motor connected to a switch, controlled by logic gates. When the switch is pushed to “on,” the robot activates the motor and cleverly designed levers push the switch back to the “off” position. This kind of toy is very common, and many people have made and uploaded it to YouTube.

The author challenges himself every year to create a technical product, and this year he decided to make this complex project – a cute useless robot. This robot references the design of Japanese maker Kairoshi, featuring an expression display based on an LED matrix module and an internal stepper motor that can react cutely to user input.

Materials and Steps

• The main components needed include a 3D printed shell, laser-cut black acrylic board, stepper motor, servo motor, PCB board, LED matrix module, ESP32E, etc.

• The manufacturing process includes printing the PCB.

• Soldering and assembling the display module.

• Install the switch and solder the driver board.

• Assemble the MCU board and perform functional tests.

• 3D print the robot body, laser cut the shell, burn the firmware, etc.

Notes

The material cost of making this robot is relatively high, close to the price of a new laptop. Additionally, if you have no soldering experience, the overall cost may be higher due to the need for PCB assembly.

Completion

Once completed, the robot can be controlled via WiFi or run in automatic mode, displaying different emotions and reactions. I hope you enjoy this project.

For more details, you can check the author’s GitHub repository:https://github.com/tobychui/Kawaii-Useless-Robot

You can also reply “Cute Useless Robot” in the public account backend to download all 3D printing files.