The master board is based on a ESP32 module programmed in C++ using the expressif idf SDK https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf
To install the SDK (v4.0) simply follow the instruction form https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v4.0/get-started/index.html.
An error occuring during step 3
(virtualenv: error: unrecognized arguments: --no-site-packages)
has been fixed since. If this occurs to you, run the following commands between step 2 & 3 in your esp-idf installation folder:
git checkout release/v4.0
git submodule update --init
This should fix it.
Firmware of the ESP32 can be found here https://github.com/open-dynamic-robot-initiative/master-board.
You will also need to install the esptool from here https://github.com/espressif/esptool.
To flash the firmware without admin rights, make sure your local user is part of the dialout group. You can check the groups of your current user using the groups command and add the user to the dialout group using the command usermod -a -G dialout $USER
The Master Board need to be connected to a host computer via the PROG connector, and to be powered from a DC source from 5V to 60V. The programmer is a simple USB to SERIAL adapter with line RTS and DTR accessible.
To put the ESP32 in a flash mode, a special circuit is needed to lower the G0 pin from the RTS and DTR lines and generate a reset. To avoid using a dedicated hardware, we can use an ESP dev board containing this circuit and the USB to SERIAL adapter, where the orginal ESP module have been removed:
On a freshly assembled board, we first need to burn a configuration fuse because of a conflict with a boot pin. To do so, use the espefuse.py script: (the fuse burning process is irreversible, be sure to only execute the following command)
python espefuse.py set_flash_voltage 3.3V
To flash the board, from the master-board/firmware folder, you can run:
- Flash the board:
make flash - Change configurations:
make menuconfig - Debug the board:
make monitor