This ESP32-Based Gamepad Handles Play and Robotics Work Equally Well

Remember when the whole OceanGate thing happened and everyone was flabbergasted that the Titan sub had an off-the-shelf Logitech F710 gamepad for control? One group that didn’t find that weird was the robotics engineering community, because they use gamepads to control robots all the time. That said, nobody wants to be constrained by proprietary hardware or firmware, which is why The Open Gadget's ESP32-based Smart Joystick Controller is ideal.

This is a much more engineer-friendly version of the typical gamepad, such as the Logitech F710, and it is good for both playing games and controlling robots.

It can act like a conventional gamepad, so you can use it to play video games on a PC. It can also act like a handheld game console, because you can run some games on the controller itself (emulation will make a lot possible). But most importantly — at least for our audience — it is completely programmable and therefore perfect for robotics.

The physical inputs are decent, with dual analog joysticks, eight tactile action buttons, and two small tactile shoulder buttons. In addition, there is a 2” full-color LCD, an RGB LED status light, a vibration motor, an IR transmitter, and a battery connector.

Because it is built around an ESP32-S3, you get great performance, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, and a wide range of programming options. That last factor is what makes this so appealing. Instead of connecting a Logitech F710 to a control computer and sending commands to the robot, you can program the ESP32 to interface with the robot directly. That can be over Wi-Fi or serial or whatever is the most convenient for your use case.

If that sounds good to you, then you can back the Kickstarter campaign until July 10th. It has already surpassed the funding goal, which is great news. Early birds can get their own Smart Joystick Controller for $55 and rewards should ship in October.