Sesame Micro Pushes the Limits of Pocket-Sized DIY Robotics

Few things capture an engineer’s curiosity quite like robots. However, once you move beyond simple toys, they quickly become expensive and complex, putting them out of reach for most weekend tinkerers. But it doesn't need to be that way. Dorian Todd has built what he calls Sesame Micro — a small, walking robot companion designed to be built at home using affordable, accessible components on a tight budget.

Sesame Micro is a fully self-powered, wireless quadruped robot that pushes the limits of miniaturization in hobby robotics. Despite its tiny footprint, the bot features eight degrees of freedom, with two independently controlled joints per leg. This level of articulation allows it to perform a variety of movements and expressive poses typically reserved for much larger — and more expensive — robots.

Sesame Micro’s capabilities are made possible by a pair of microcontrollers. An Adafruit Metro Mini v2 handles the task of generating precise PWM signals for the eight tiny servos, while a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32 acts as a wireless bridge. The ESP32 hosts a captive portal, allowing users to connect via Wi-Fi and control the robot through a simple web interface. Commands are then passed to the main controller over a serial connection.

Using Autodesk Fusion 360, Todd carefully arranged the servo motors in a compact, symmetrical layout before building a custom 3D-printed frame around them. The process required multiple iterations, with each prototype revealing new constraints — particularly when it came to squeezing electronics into such a tight space.

To make everything fit, standard servo connectors were removed and wires were soldered directly to the boards, reducing bulk at the cost of increased assembly difficulty. The result is a densely packed but clean internal layout, hidden beneath a polished outer shell.

On the software side, Sesame Micro is fairly feature-rich for a hobby project. The firmware supports a wide range of commands, from basic directional movement to expressive animations like waving, dancing, and even “playing dead.” Additional tuning parameters allow users to tweak gait timing, servo offsets, and motion behavior, making the platform highly customizable.

Todd has released the project files — including CAD models and firmware — on GitHub. While the repository is geared more toward experimentation than beginner-friendliness, it offers a solid foundation for hobbyists interested in exploring compact robotics design.

If a larger robot is more your style, be sure to check out the original Sesame.