sesame-robot

The Sesame Robot is an affordable, open-source mini quadruped platform built around the ESP32 microcontroller. It uses eight MG90 servos (two per leg) for roughly eight degrees of freedom and features a 128×64 OLED screen that acts as a reactive, emotive face synchronized with movement. All structural parts are designed for PLA 3D printing with minimal supports. The repository provides CAD source files, STL models, a detailed bill of materials (~$50–60), wiring and build guides, and Arduino-IDE firmware (C++) that handles kinematics, face rendering, and a built-in WiFi access point with a RESTful JSON API. This API enables programmatic control from Python, JavaScript, or the included Sesame Companion App, which adds voice-assistant integration and dynamic face control over the local network. Additional tooling includes Sesame Studio, a desktop animation composer for visually posing the robot and generating servo-angle code; a browser-based, physics-enabled Sesame Simulator (Rust/WebAssembly) for testing gaits without hardware; and a separate ML toolkit (MJCF/URDF, tasks, policy evaluation) for reinforcement-learning research. Pre-programmed emotes cover walking, waving, dancing, pointing, resting, and more, while a serial CLI and web UI offer direct manual control. The project targets makers with basic soldering skills and Arduino familiarity, encouraging community contributions such as kinematics improvements, new animations, sensor integration, and custom hardware forks.