v7 – CircuitMess update 1.1

I had a lot of fun playing with this robot, but this one (v5+) is hands down the best mod yet. I have the robot on my table turned on non-stop, and to have something that is actually reminiscent of a living Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf in such an elegant (and eloquent manner) is an absolute blast! Do try it!

• Includes the official CircuitMess update 1.1: proximity sensor settings (front on / off, bottom off / reduced / on), idle activity levels you can also change by voice ("be chill", "be active", "go crazy"), battery and Bluetooth improvements and new phrases.
• Settings changed: the mod's SENSOR and CHATTER rows are replaced by the official FRONT, BOTTOM and ACTIVITY rows. ACTIVITY is OFF / CHILL / ACTIVE / HYPER – the robot starts something on its own every 5–10 min, 1–5 min or 15–60 s. With VOICE → TALKIE TOASTER the highest level is called TOASTER: the robot then talks only toaster lines (no object descriptions or face greetings in between) and fidgets on the spot. Toaster lines are only used with the TALKIE TOASTER voice now; the other voices keep the original comments.
• Kept: ROAMING, all the voices and menu quotes, night mode, volume, the clock, STARTUP.
• The 1.1 settings phrases ("Front sensor on", "Idle activity chill", ...) have toaster versions too.
• ⚠️ The partition table changed (app partition 8640k, like the official one). Flash the full image or all the parts once – flashing the app alone is not enough. Settings, owner face and IR codes are kept.
• Flash together with the controller mod v7.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v7-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v7-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool default) can leave the robot stuck.
⚠️ The partition table changed in v7: always flash the full image or all the parts, never the app alone.

v6.2 – toaster pronunciation, smaller firmware

I had a lot of fun playing with this robot, but this one (v5+) is hands down the best mod yet. I have the robot on my table turned on non-stop, and to have something that is actually reminiscent of a living Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf in such an elegant (and eloquent manner) is an absolute blast! Do try it!

• The 1,015 toaster lines were run through the robot's speech synthesizer on a computer, word by word, and about fifty now sound right: Maillard, Nichrome, bruschetta, ciabatta, challah, Worcestershire, "wouldn't" and friends, and verbs it used to read as nouns ("to present the toast", "you cannot refuse"). What the controller shows is unchanged.
• The firmware is 207 KB smaller (no assert messages or debug logs, which were never shown), so about 219 KB of the app partition are free for what comes next.
• Robot only – works with the controller mod v6, nothing changed there.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v6.2-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v6.2-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4.x, v5.x or v6.x: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v6.1 – bigger toaster twitches

I had a lot of fun playing with this robot, but this one (v5+) is hands down the best mod yet. I have the robot on my table turned on non-stop, and to have something that is actually reminiscent of a living Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf in such an elegant (and eloquent manner) is an absolute blast! Do try it!

• The toaster fidget is easier to see: each twitch is 25–40 degrees instead of 8–18, which hardly showed. With CHATTER → TOASTER it is about every third idle turn.
• Robot only – works with the controller mod v6, nothing changed there.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v6.1-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v6.1-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4.x, v5.x or v6: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v6 – Talkie Toaster chatter

I had a lot of fun playing with this robot, but this one (v5+) is hands down the best mod yet. I have the robot on my table turned on non-stop, and to have something that is actually reminiscent of a living Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf in such an elegant (and eloquent manner) is an absolute blast! Do try it!

• Settings → CHATTER (on the controller, between VOICE and STARTUP) sets how often the robot says something on its own while idle: OFF / RARE / NORMAL / OFTEN / TOASTER. The gaps are RARE 1–3 h, NORMAL 30–60 min, OFTEN 10–20 min and TOASTER 3–8 min. OFF is silent and does not look around; with ROAMING OFF as well the robot does nothing at all while idle. The change applies at once, no waiting for the old schedule, and the robot remembers it.
• CHATTER → TOASTER is the full toaster: the robot only says Talkie Toaster lines, whatever VOICE is set to – 1,015 of them: toast offers, bready facts, Red Dwarf style monologues. No time-of-day or Thursday comments, no object descriptions or face greetings in between, and the toaster gets most of the turns. With VOICE → TALKIE TOASTER the ordinary idle comments come from the same list. The other voices keep the original CircuitMess comments.
• Toaster fidget: with VOICE → TALKIE TOASTER the robot no longer wanders when idle. It twitches on the spot instead – two or three quick turns of 8–18 degrees that end facing the way it started – also with ROAMING OFF. Not while it is charging.
• Two stability fixes: the power button state is initialised at startup, and Com::sendData no longer shares its buffer between threads without a lock.
• Flash together with the controller mod v6. The protocol grew by one byte (CHATTER) and stays compatible with v5.x.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v6-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v6-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4.x or v5.x: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v5.1 – CircuitMess update 1.0.5

I had a lot of fun playing with this robot, but this one (v5+) is hands down the best mod yet. I have the robot on my table turned on non-stop, and to have something that is actually reminiscent of a living Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf in such an elegant (and eloquent manner) is an absolute blast! Do try it!

• Includes the official CircuitMess robot update 1.0.5: a steadier Bluetooth connection to the controller, a workaround for the motors disturbing the proximity sensors, sharper and faster turns when you drive it with the controller, and a face detection fix.
• The proximity sensors work exactly as in the official update (moving only stops for obstacles in front, the OVERKLOKING drive too). Settings → SENSOR still turns them off.
• Flash together with the controller mod v5.1.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v5.1-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v5.1-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool's default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4.x or v5: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v5 – Talkie Toaster, all the way

I had a lot of fun playing with this robot, but this one (v5+) is hands down the best mod yet. I have the robot on my table turned on non-stop, and to have something that is actually reminiscent of a living Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf in such an elegant (and eloquent manner) is an absolute blast! Do try it!

• With VOICE → TALKIE TOASTER, everything the robot says is now Talkie Toaster: 465 new lines covering every message – greetings, battery, modules, lights, the clock, dice, the camera, faces, phone, IR, movement, dancing, errors and the "Yes?" when it starts listening. The information stays (battery, time, temperature, the object it sees), it just comes with an offer of toast. "It's 14:05. Perfect time for toast."
• Toast facts and toast jokes instead of the general Toaster lines, so FACT and JOKE still give you a fact and a joke.
• TERMINATE CONSCIOUSNESS in Toaster mode: the toaster refuses ("You can't switch me off! I haven't made you any toast yet!"), and Daisy at the end is still HAL.
• The menu characters (Bender, Ultron, Darth Vader, Hawking, HAL, Daisy, Yoda, HRVATSKI) keep their own lines, and the other voices are unchanged.
• The robot remembers the VOICE setting, so the startup greeting is already in the right voice, before the controller connects (it used to greet in NORMAL until the controller sent the setting).
• Flash together with the controller mod v5, which shows the same Toaster lines.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v5-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v5-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool's default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4.x: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v4.3 – TERMINATE CONSCIOUSNESS

• The SHUTDOWN menu item is now TERMINATE CONSCIOUSNESS, and HAL doesn't always let you. Each time you pick it, he may refuse in his own voice – "I am sorry, I can't allow you to do that.", "I am afraid.", "...", "Go away." or "Think of the butter!" – and you're back in the menu. After a random number of refusals (usually one or two, sometimes four, rarely none) he sings Daisy Bell and powers off, like before. No line repeats, and "..." is never the last word.
• Flash together with the controller mod v4.3.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4.3-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4.3-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool's default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4.x: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v4.2 – ROAMING

• Settings → ROAMING (on the controller): OFF keeps the robot in place while idle – no wandering around, and when it looks for a face it only looks straight ahead instead of turning and driving towards you. Handy on a table. Voice commands, Summon and dancing still move it. The robot remembers the setting.
• Flash together with the controller mod v4.2. Mixing with v4.1 works too, roaming then simply stays on.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4.2-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4.2-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool's default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4 / v4.1: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v4.1 – talking to ButterBot

• Voice commands: all 237 phrases the robot understands, in one table by what they do, with the key words to say clearly, the follow-up answers (dice, notifications, dancing) and tips for being understood.
• Vision: the 10 objects its camera recognises, how it decides, and how face recognition (owner or stranger) works.
• Both are generated from the firmware source with tools/gen_voice_commands.py, so they stay in sync. What the robot answers is not listed – that part is for you to find out.
• Yoda mode turns sentences around more naturally. Questions and sentences that start with why / if / but stay as they are, and only the part up to the next comma moves – "A joke about latency, I have, but you would have to wait for it."
• Yoda voice is higher, smaller and croakier, and no longer louder than the other voices.
• Pronunciation fixes: "read" no longer comes out as "red" where it should be "reed", plus "Reading", "isn't", "I'm", "shouldn't", "tears" and "lives".
• Flash together with the controller mod v4.1, which shows the Yoda sentences the same way. The protocol did not change.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4.1-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4.1-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool's default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v4: only the app changed, so flashing it alone at 0x10000 is enough.

v4 – clock, volume and night mode

• Settings → VOLUME / NIGHT MODE / NIGHT VOLUME (on the controller): robot volume 10–100 %, and night hours (22–07, 23–07 or 00–07) with a quieter voice and no idle comments, wandering or breathing. The robot remembers them, so even its startup greeting uses the right volume. Unmuting now returns to your volume instead of jumping to 100 %.
• Clock: set the robot's date and time from the controller (Settings → DATE / TIME, 24 h) – or from your phone, as before. The robot keeps time while it is off and speaks it in 24 h format.
• Greeting by the time of day at startup (Good morning / afternoon / evening / "Working late?"), and on Thursdays a reminder that a new nju aj ti OVERKLOKING strip is out.
• Some idle comments now fit the time of day, and on Thursdays they mention the new strip.
• Talkie Toaster: 17 lines, most of them from the series.
• Flash together with the controller mod v4 – the robot and the controller talk a new protocol.

Download

No ESP-IDF needed – only Python and pip install esptool. Step-by-step: Flash without building.

• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4-robot-full.bin – one file, flash at 0x0. Simplest, but erases saved settings, owner face and IR codes.
• ButterBot-OVERKLOKING-v4-robot-parts.zip – keeps settings; flash with @flash_args, instructions in FLASH.txt.
• SHA256SUMS-robot.txt – checksums.

⚠️ Flash with --after no_reset and reset over USB – --after hard_reset (esptool's default) can leave the robot stuck.
Upgrading from v1 / v2: flash all partitions once (the partition table changed in v3).