CYOBot v2 Is an Espressif ESP32-S3-Powered Transforming Bot Platform for Education and More

Educational robotics startup CYOBot is back with a second-generation version of its eponymous programmable CYOBot — now featuring a modular design that can change into a range of robot styles simply by swapping parts connected to its "CYOBrain."

"This new version builds on everything we learned from the first campaign, with some amazing new features we think you'll love," CYOBot's Anh Ho says of the second-generation design. "CYOBot v2 is modular, so you can transform it into different forms, and it now connects with smart devices and integrates with platforms like [OpenAI] ChatGPT to make it even more versatile and fun."

Built around an Espressif ESP32-S3 "brain," the CYOBot includes a 33-LED matrix display, a 12-LED ring, two button, speaker, dual microphones, integrated inertial measurement unit (IMU), and 16 control channels for servo motors. An "Extension Block" provides connectivity to the microcontroller's I2C, SPI, and UART buses, as well as four general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins of which two support pulse-width modulation.

There's an integrated 4.4Ah battery with USB Type-C charging, along with Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE) connectivity — and Wi-Fi, which acts as a hotspot for installation-free programming using a browser-based development environment.

This "CYOBrain" can then play host to a range of modular add-ons to configure it for various use-cases, starting with the CYOBot Crawler — a quadrupedal walker bot driven by eight 180-degree servo motors. The CYOBot Wheeler, meanwhile, switches four of the servo motors for 360-degree versions connected to wheels at the end of its four legs — while the CYOBot Game Console configuration has no motors at all, but four buttons and two joysticks as inputs for on-device games.

The robot's modularity isn't the only improvement over the original CYOBot: the company claims the move to the ESP32-S3 will address memory exhaustion issues with the original, while the new design includes expanded expansion capabilities, an independent battery level monitor, twice as many microphones and new noise-cancelling functionality, and four more motor channels.

The company also claims the device is open-source, making the hardware design available under the strongly reciprocal version of the CERN Open Hardware License Version 2 and the software under the GNU General Public License 3 — though, at the time of writing, the project's GitHub repository only had files for the CYOBot Crawler variant.

The CYOBot v2 is currently funding on Kickstarter, with physical rewards starting at $99 for a bare CYOBrain board, $129 for a pre-assembled CYOBot Console, $169 for the Crawler or Wheeler, or $209 for a kit which includes the CYOBrain and the necessary parts for all three forms. All hardware is expected to start shipping in January next year.