PlayBot is an unofficial, experimental accessory for Panic Inc.'s Playdate handheld console, which transforms your console into a lovely little desktop robot. With its integrated charging capabilities, it can serve as a charging dock for your Playdate.
Here is a little video of Playbot (click to watch)
⚡ Battery life: ~45 min of autonomous operation per charge.
This project is not affiliated with nor endorsed by Panic.
I cannot be held responsible for any damage, data loss, short circuit, burned down house, etc. 😘
The project is based on a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller that acts as a USB hub for the Playdate and communicates over serial.
The Playdate acts as the robot's brain and sends commands to the Teensy to control motors and gather various sensor values:
- 2 TOF distance sensors
- TEMT6000 Ambient light sensor
- 2 IR sensors
- Dual motors with encoders
- MAX1704X fuel gauge
I'm also using the Playdate's integrated sensors:
- Accelerometer
- Microphone
Additionnal Vision AI camera powered by Huskylens will be compatible.
PlayBot's frame is fully 3D printed. A complete bill of materials and assembly instructions can be found here
You can flash the firmware using the Arduino IDE and Teensyduino add-on available here.
- USBHost_t36 by PaulStoffregen
- Encoder by PaulStoffregen
- drv8835-motor-shield by pololu
- SD library by Arduino
- Servo library by Arduino
- MAX1704X by adafruit
- PID_V1 by br3ttb
- WS2812FX by kitesurfer1404
- CircularBuffer by rlogiacco
The app, written in Lua, needs to be sideloaded onto the Playdate and is located in a separate repository.
A Custom rig and sequence exporter written in python is also available for Blender in a seperate repository. Animate, render and export custom animation sequences!
- ToF sensors show unreliable readings when pointing into empty space (possibly defective units) - planning to replace with IR sensors
- Battery gauge readings become erratic under high current load - investigation ongoing