Waveshare ESP32 General Driver Board for Robots

This multifunctional driver board, specially designed for robotics, offers expanded possibilities for robot development. It is based on the ESP32-WROOM-32 module and supports development using the Arduino IDE. The board includes multiple wireless communication options such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ESP-NOW. It features a wide range of commonly used robot component interfaces, including DC motor interface with encoder, DC motor interface without encoder, bus servo interface, IIC interface, LiDAR interface, PWM servo interface, SD card slot, etc. A variety of resources are on board, simplify robot project construction, including a 9-axis IMU, temperature sensor, automatic download circuit, LiDAR serial-to-USB circuit, and bus servo control circuit.

Key features

• Based on the ESP32-WROOM-32 module, supports wireless communication such as WIFI, Bluetooth and ESP-NOW
• Onboard motor control interfaces for 2× DC motor with encoder or 4× DC motor (2 groups) without encoder
• Onboard serial bus servos control interfaces for controlling up to 253 ST3215 serial bus servos and obtaining servos feedback
• Onboard 9-axis IMU to obtain attitude and heading information at any time
• Supports 7V–13V power input, and can be powered directly by 2S or 3S lithium battery module
• Automatic download circuit for easy uploading programs
• Support input voltage/current monitoring
• Onboard TF card slot
• Onboard Laser LiDAR interface and integrated UART to USB function
• I2C interface for connecting peripherals such as OLED, IMU, and other I2C devices
• Adapting Multi-functional extended header for additional functions, such as controlling servos or relays
• Onboard 40PIN GPIO header for connecting and powering the host computer (Raspberry Pi/Jetson Nano, etc), communicating via serial port or I2C
• Provided open-source demos and detailed tutorials for beginners, easy to get started

Hardware layout

1. ESP32-WROOM-32 controller module can be developed using Arduino IDE
2. IPEX1 WIFI connector for connecting WIFI antenna to increase the wireless communication distance
3. LiDAR interface integrated radar adapter function
4. I2C peripheral expansion interface for connecting with OLED screen or other I2C sensors
5. Reset Button press and release to reboot the ESP32
6. Download button the ESP32 will enter the download mode after powering on
7. DC-DC 5V voltage regulator circuit power supply for host computers such as Raspberry Pi or Jetson nano
8. Type-C port (LiDAR) LiDAR data transmission
9. Type-C port (USB) ESP32 communication interface, for uploading programs to ESP32
10. XH2.54 power port supports DC 7V–13V input, can directly power the serial bus servos and motors
11. INA219 voltage/current monitoring chip
12. Power ON/OFF external power supply ON/OFF
13. ST3215 serial bus servo interface for connecting with ST3215 serial bus servo
14. Motor interface PH2.0 6P group B interface for motor with encoder
15. Motor interface PH2.0 6P group A interface for motor with encoder
16. Motor interface PH2.0 2P group A interface for motor without encoder
17. Motor interface PH2.0 2P group B interface for motor without encoder
18. AK09918C 3-axis electronic compass
19. QMI8658C 6-axis motion sensor
20. TB6612FNG motor control chip
21. Serial bus servo control circuit for controlling multiple ST3215 serial bus servos and obtaining servos feedback
22. TF card slot can be used to store logs or WIFI configurations
23. 40PIN GPIO header for connecting with Raspberry Pi or other host boards
24. 40PIN extended header easy to use the GPIO pins of Raspberry Pi or other host boards
25. CP-2102 UART to USB, for radar data transmission
26. CP-2102 UART to USB, for ESP32 communication
27. Automatic download circuit for uploading programs to the ESP32 without pressing the EN and BOOT buttons

40pin GPIO extended header

Serial bus servo control

Voltage and current monitoring

Onboard voltage/current monitoring chip to obtain the power supply status of the robot at any time.

Onboard 9-axis IMU

Equipped with the QMI8658C & AK09918 sensors for accurate detection of movement, orientation, and magnetic field. Supports real-time acquisition of the robot’s heading angle anytime and anywhere.