RoboticWorx's PolyCast5 Promises to Be the "Everything Remote" for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LoRa, and IR

Self-described "open-source collective" RoboticWorx is funding for a gadget designed as an "everything remote" for communication media from infrared and dual-band Wi-Fi up to LoRa and Bluetooth, powered by an Espressif ESP32-C5: the PolyCast5.

"PolyCast5 is a portable, open-source multi-tool everything remote to control all your devices wirelessly," says RoboticWorx' Justin Atkins of the collective's creation. "It utilizes five different core wireless technologies, all embedded into one easy-to-use device. The main idea behind PolyCast5 is to be an all-in-one controller so that you can interact with appliances from coffee makers to full-on robots, TVs, phones, or even your own computer. Total control from a single, secure, and portable device waiting in your pocket or on your keychain. Open source and full of features."

Inside the compact housing is an Espressif ESP32-C5 module, a much-delayed but now-readily-available chip that includes a single 32-bit RISC-V core running at up to 240MHz, a lower-power real-time coprocessor running at up to 40MHz, 384kB of static RAM (SRAM) plus 8MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM), 320kB of on-chip flash and a further 4MB of SPI flash. On-board radios offer dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE) connectivity.

RoboticWorx has then expanded this connectivity with a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver, for long-range low-power wireless communication. Add in the ESP32-C5's built-in support for Espressif's ESP-NOW protocol, and that adds up to four of the promised five wireless technologies — with the fifth being good old infrared. The Bluetooth connection can be used as a USB Human Interface Device (HID) for payload deployment, the Wi-Fi radio can capture packets, and the LoRa radio can be used for home automation with a wireless relay add-on dubbed the PolyPlug.

The company is also leaning into the current boom in large language models (LLMs), promising the ability to perform packet analysis and execute natural-language instructions dictated to an integrated microphone — though, as you might expect from a microcontroller-powered device, these tasks rely on uploading your data to third-party cloud services and come with the usual privacy, reliability, environmental, and ethical considerations surrounding their use.

RoboticWorx is funding manufacturing of the PolyCast5 on Kickstarter, with physical rewards starting at $129 for a single unit for "early bird" backers — a claimed $50 discount over the device's planned retail price. Hardware is expected to ship in September this year, though as with all crowdfunding campaigns fulfillment is not guaranteed. The company has also pledged to release firmware source code — though not hardware design files — under an unspecified open-source license "once the first few units have shipped."