TiltyBot

A smartphone-controlled robot platform built on the ESP32 (TinyPICO) and Dynamixel XL330 servo motors. The robot hosts its own Wi-Fi network and serves a web interface that lets you control it from your phone's browser — no app install required.

This repo contains architectural improvments building on the incredible Rei Lee's Conebot

Rei's Original ConeBot

A tiltyBot in gyro control mode

A tiltyBot in drive control mode

What it does

The TinyPICO runs an HTTPS server over a local Wi-Fi access point. You connect your phone to that network, open the control page in a browser, and send commands to the motors over WebSocket. There are three control modes:

• 2motor — Direct position control of two motors (0–360°). Useful as a starting point for custom builds.
• tilty — A pan/tilt head that responds to your phone's gyroscope orientation, or manual sliders.
• drive — Differential drive with a virtual joystick. Two wheels plus a caster ball.

There's also a sound recorder page that lets you capture and play back audio clips through a Bluetooth speaker connected to a second phone.

Hardware

• TinyPICO (ESP32-based)
• 2x Dynamixel XL330 servo motors
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• Wheels, axle pieces, hinge bracket, idler cap (included in kit)
• Cardboard, tape, and whatever else you want to build with

The motors daisy-chain together and connect to the TinyPICO via Serial2 (RX: GPIO 14, TX: GPIO 4).

Software requirements

• Visual Studio Code
• PlatformIO extension for VS Code
• Git
• macOS Sonoma+ (if on Mac)
• iOS 17.3.1+ or any modern Android browser (for the phone controller)

Getting started

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/imandel/tiltybot.git
cd tiltybot

Open the project in VS Code with PlatformIO installed.

Configure your network

Edit src/network.h and set a unique SSID and password:

const char *ssid = "my-robot";
const char *password = "something";

Select a control mode

In platformio.ini, uncomment the mode you want under build_src_filter and comment out the others:

build_src_filter =
	-<*>
	+<init.cpp>
	+<init.h>
	; +<2motor.cpp>
	+<tilty.cpp>
	; +<drive.cpp>

Upload

1. Connect the TinyPICO to your computer via USB.
2. Upload the firmware (arrow button at the bottom of VS Code, or PlatformIO: Upload).
3. Build the filesystem image: PlatformIO sidebar → Platform → Build Filesystem Image.
4. Upload the filesystem image: PlatformIO sidebar → Platform → Upload Filesystem Image. Make sure the Serial Monitor is closed before this step.

Connect

1. Open the Serial Monitor to find the IP address.
2. On your phone, join the Wi-Fi network you configured.
3. Navigate to the URL shown in the monitor (e.g. https://192.168.4.1/tilty.html).
4. Ignore the self-signed certificate warning and proceed.

The URL path depends on the mode: /2motor.html, /tilty.html, or /drive.html. There's also an index page at / with links to all modes.

Project structure

src/
  init.cpp / init.h   — Wi-Fi setup, HTTPS server, LittleFS, SSL cert generation, motor init
  network.h            — SSID and password config
  2motor.cpp           — 2-motor position control mode
  tilty.cpp            — Pan/tilt gyroscope mode
  drive.cpp            — Differential drive mode

data/
  *.html / *.js        — Browser-side control interfaces
  sound.html / sound.js — Audio recorder/player
  lib/                 — Pico CSS, joystick controller library

Dependencies

Managed by PlatformIO (see platformio.ini):

• ESP32_HTTPS_Server
• Dynamixel_XL330_Servo_Library
• ArduinoJson 5.13.4

Notes

• The robot generates a self-signed SSL certificate on first boot and stores it in LittleFS. First boot may take a minute.
• Turn off cellular data on your phone so it doesn't drop the robot's network.
• Disconnect from any VPN before connecting.
• If you're building the tilty robot, set both motors to position 0 in 2motor mode before assembling. Don't rotate the motors by hand after that.
• Corporate/managed phones may not work due to network restrictions.