BOB by HomeVox

BOB is an animated Home Assistant companion for M5Stack CoreS3 / CoreS3 Lite.

What Works Right Now

• Firmware for M5Stack CoreS3 / CoreS3 Lite
• Web onboarding via Bob setup portal
• MQTT control + status updates
• Home Assistant HACS integration with native Bob entities (v0.2.9)
• Optional BLE provisioning service from Home Assistant

Requirements

• M5Stack CoreS3 or CoreS3 Lite
• Home Assistant + HACS
• MQTT broker (Mosquitto)

Installation

1. Install Bob Integration (HACS)

1. Open HACS in Home Assistant.
2. Add custom repository: https://github.com/HomeVox/Bob (category Integration).
3. Install Bob.
4. Restart Home Assistant.
5. Add integration via Settings -> Devices & Services -> Add Integration -> Bob.

2. Flash Firmware

Firmware path: firmware/bob

Arduino IDE setup:

1. Add board manager URL:
   • https://static-cdn.m5stack.com/resource/arduino/package_m5stack_index.json
2. Install board package:
   • M5Stack
3. Select board:
   • M5Stack-CoreS3
4. Install libraries:
   • M5Unified
   • M5GFX
   • PubSubClient
   • ArduinoJson
5. Open and upload:
   • firmware/bob/bob.ino

Important:

• This project targets CoreS3/CoreS3 Lite.
• Do not use M5AtomS3 board profile.

3. Configure Bob (Recommended: Web Setup)

If Bob has no valid WiFi credentials, it starts AP setup mode:

1. Connect phone/laptop to WiFi: Bob-Setup
2. Open: http://192.168.4.1/setup
3. Fill in WiFi + MQTT credentials
4. Click Save and Connect

After Bob joins your home network:

• http://bob.local/setup
• or http://<bob-ip>/setup

MQTT must be correct:

• Host (IP recommended, e.g. 192.168.x.x)
• Port 1883 (plain MQTT)
• Username/password accepted by your broker

4. Optional: Provision via BLE from Home Assistant

Service: bob.provision_ble_wifi

Default BLE name: Bob-Setup-BLE

Home Assistant Integration (v0.2.9)

The Bob integration now exposes native entities under the Bob device, including:

• Switches (Always Awake, Auto Brightness, Matrix, Clock, etc.)
• Numbers (Brightness, Sleep Timer, Proximity Threshold)
• Buttons (Wake, Sleep, Follow, Snapshot, Yes/No)
• Select (Emotion)
• Text (Notification)
• Sensors/Binary sensors (State, Behavior, Touch, Movement, Proximity, etc.)

Services are also available:

• bob.send_text
• bob.set_emotion
• bob.run_action
• bob.set_mode
• bob.provision_ble_wifi

Service definitions:

• custom_components/bob/services.yaml

Troubleshooting

• MQTT rc=5 means your broker rejected credentials.
• Setup page not opening:
  • ensure you are connected to Bob-Setup
  • open http://192.168.4.1/setup (not HTTPS)
• If entities do not appear immediately:
  • restart Mosquitto
  • restart Home Assistant
  • reload Bob integration

Repository Structure

• custom_components/bob - Home Assistant HACS integration
• firmware/bob - M5Stack firmware
• docs/images - README image assets
• hacs.json - HACS metadata

License

MIT - see LICENSE.