Calico 🤖

Calico is a miniature relocatable wearable system with fast and precise locomotion for on-body interaction, actuation and sensing. Calico consists of a two-wheel robot and an on-cloth track mechanism or "railway," on which the robot travels. The robot is self-contained, small in size, and has additional sensor expansion options. The Calico robot can adapt for various applications and target for different audience such as older adults, dancers, and children. For example, we designed Dance^2 with Calico to explore new forms of dance and movement, and to create a new form of interaction. We also investigate how Calico for older adults can assist with daily activities and provide companionship.

Please see the Calico website and papers for more details on the design and applications of Calico, and if you use Calico in your work, please consider to cite the following papers:

@article{sathya2022calico,
  title={Calico: Relocatable On-cloth Wearables with Fast, Reliable, and Precise Locomotion},
  author={Sathya, Anup and Li, Jiasheng and Rahman, Tauhidur and Gao, Ge and Peng, Huaishu},
  journal={Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies},
  volume={6},
  number={3},
  pages={1--32},
  year={2022},
  publisher={ACM New York, NY, USA}
}

@inproceedings{sathya2025cybernetic,
  title={Cybernetic Marionette: Channeling Collective Agency Through a Wearable Robot in a Live Dancer-Robot Duet},
  author={Sathya, Anup and Li, Jiasheng and Yan, Zeyu and Fang, Adriane and Kules, Bill and Martin, Jonathan David and Peng, Huaishu},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference},
  pages={3326--3340},
  year={2025}
}

@inproceedings{antony2025design,
  title={The design of on-body robots for older adults},
  author={Antony, Victor Nikhil and Jeon, Clara and Li, Jiasheng and Gao, Ge and Peng, Huaishu and Ostrowski, Anastasia K and Huang, Chien-Ming},
  booktitle={2025 20th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)},
  pages={589--598},
  year={2025},
  organization={IEEE}
}

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📦 Table of Contents

• Features
• Hardware setup (BOM)
• Arduino configuration
• Connect & control the robot
• Tips

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✨ Features

• MCU: ESP32 S3-Zero (Powered by Waveshare)
• Graphical user interface (GUI) for real time control
• Wi-Fi connection and controlled
• LED strip for visual feedback
• DC Motor Driver: DRV 8835
• LiPo's battery powered and charge via USB-C

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🔧 Hardware

Robot body and tracks

• Main body

  • 3D print material: PLA or Carbon PLA
  • Recommended print settings:
    • Layer height: 0.2mm
    • Infill: 20% (or more for stronger body)
    • Print angle: 30 degrees
    • Supports: Yes
  • Bamboo project file is included for reference: 3MF file

• Body cap (Recommended setting same as above)

  • Require M2 screws and insert nuts to attach the body cap to the main body.

• Wheels (3D print material: PLA or Carbon PLA)

• Track

  • 3D print material: TPU Shore-95A

  • Recommended print settings:

    • Layer height: 0.2mm
    • Infill: 20%
    • Print angle: Flat (0 degrees)
    • Supports: Yes

  • Bamboo project file is included for reference: 3MF file

  • Tracks are designed in modular pieces, and you can print multiple pieces to create a longer track. To connect the track pieces, you need a 1.75mm filament (e.g., PLA) and insert them into designed holes at the both end of the track pieces.

  • See below figures for references.

Robot electronics

• MCU (ESP32 S3-Zero)
• Custom PCB (See PCB folder for details)
• N20 DC motors
• LED strip (4 LEDs)
• 3.7V LiPo battery

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Arduino Configuration

The robot is powered by an ESP32 S3-Zero, which is programmed using the Arduino IDE. Please refer to the below steps to set up the Arduino IDE for Calico.

• Install the Arduino IDE.
• Open Arduino IDE settings (Mac Version) Arduino IDE (the top-left corner on the screen) > Settings, (Win version) File > Preferences
• Adding the following URL to the "Additional Boards Manager URLs" field:

  https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json
  

• Open the Boards Manager from Tools > Board > Boards Manager, search for esp32. Then install the latest version of esp32 by Espressif Systems.
• Select the ESP32 S3-Zero board from Tools > Board > ESP32 S3 Dev Module.
• Refer to the below image to configure the ESP32 settings:
• 

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Connect & control the robot

To connect and control the robot, follow these steps:

1. Connect the robot to your computer using a USB-C cable.
2. Open the Arduino IDE and select the correct port from Tools > Port.
3. Change the WiFi credentials in the `main_app.ino' file (line 46 - 49) to match your network:

   const char* ssid_dev = "your-ssid";
   const char* password_dev = "your-password";
   const char* ssid = "your-ssid";
   const char* password = "your-password";
   

4. Upload the code to the ESP32 S3-Zero by clicking the upload button in the Arduino IDE. (You only need to do this once. After you have updated the Wi-Fi credentials and uploaded the code into Calico robot, you can control the robot without needing to upload the code again.)
   • Make sure you have the correct board and port selected in the Arduino IDE.
   • The upload process may take a few minutes, and you will see the progress in the console at the bottom of the IDE.
5. Once the upload is complete, open the Serial Monitor from Tools > Serial Monitor to see the connection status.
6. If the robot connects successfully, you will see a message indicating the IP address assigned to the robot.
7. Open the GUI by navigating to the IP address in your web browser. The GUI will allow you to control the robot's movement and LED strip.

Tips

1. The robot will light up the LED light on board in different colors based on its status:

   • light off: Robot not powered
   • steady blue: Wi-Fi connected
   • flashing blue: Trying to connect Wi-Fi

2. If you can not see the ip address from the serial port you can use LanScan tools to find the IP address of the robot.

   • For example, you can use LanScan or Advanced IP Scanner.

3. Battery connector is JST PH 2.0, and motor and LED connectors are JST SH 1.0.

4. The robot can be charged via USB-C port. (be careful with the battery +/- directions)

   • The battery is 3.7V LiPo battery, and the charging current is 500mA.
   • The battery can be replaced if needed.