Desktop companion robots are the latest craze in the maker community. It seems like everyone is making their own these days. And why not? In the simplest case, they only require a few components that can be assembled in well under an hour. For this tiny bit of effort, you can have a little robot that keeps you company during the workday or helps you blow off some steam when you get frustrated with your weekend projects.
However, most of these little robots are very basic and are barely even worthy of being called “robots.” They are still fun to play with, but that will fade pretty quickly when the same old routine starts feeling repetitive. Of course, these little companions can be more complex, and YouTuber Tech Talkies has just detailed the build process of one such desk buddy. It still manages to keep things simple so that almost anyone can build one, yet it also has some additional functionality that will keep it interesting for much longer.
The ESP32C3 Super Mini (📷: Tech Talkies)
The project is built around the ESP32C3 Super Mini. This compact development board serves as the robot’s brain, coordinating its movement, handling user input, and controlling the display. Despite the modest hardware, the resulting robot still feels very expressive thanks to a small 1.3-inch OLED screen mounted on the front. This display provides visual feedback, allowing the robot to communicate simple states and reactions to the user.
Unlike most desk robots, this one doesn’t sit still. Movement is handled by a pair of N20 geared motors connected through a DRV8833 motor driver. These motors power the robot’s drive wheels, enabling it to wander around the surface of a desk. To stabilize the platform, the front end rides on a caster wheel. This did complicate things somewhat: because caster wheels come in a variety of sizes, the robot initially sat unevenly. The creator solved this by stacking additional nuts beneath the wheels to achieve the proper height and keep the chassis level with the drive wheels.
Assembling the hardware (📷: Tech Talkies)
Power for the robot comes from a rechargeable LiPo battery paired with a charging and boost module. This board allows the battery to be safely charged while also stepping the voltage up to a steady five volts for the electronics. The entire system fits neatly inside a custom 3D-printed enclosure designed specifically for the components used in the project.
As far as interactions are concerned, a touch button controls the device’s power states—one press turns it on and two presses power it down. Once active, the robot waits patiently for attention. When the user pets it, the desk buddy springs to life and begins roaming around the desk. If the user continues to pet it, the robot pauses, almost as if enjoying the attention before setting off again once the interaction stops.
Tech Talkies is planning to update this desk buddy in the future, so be sure to stay tuned to Hackster News for the latest. In the meantime, you can grab the source code and circuit diagram to create your own desk robot.
