Hi! 👋 You've got a Robot-01 — an ESP32-C3 brain on wheels with lights, sounds, and a phone-app remote control. This guide walks you through everything from the first power-on to driving like a pro. No coding needed. Tap any section below to expand it.

🤖 1 — Hi, I'm Robot-01 — what can I do?

Your robot is a small wheeled buddy with these built-in superpowers:

🦾

Move

Two motors → drive forward, back, turn left, turn right. Top speed: ~30 cm/s.

💡

Glow

4 NeoPixel LEDs → show battery, mood, errors, and patterns you trigger from the app.

🔊

Beep

Buzzer → boot tune, low-battery warning, obstacle alert, button feedback.

📡

See

Ultrasonic sensor → measures distance to walls and objects. Avoids crashes.

📺

Speak

Tiny OLED display → shows status, battery %, and live sensor readings.

📱

Listen

Bluetooth → talks to your phone over a free RemoteXY app. No WiFi needed.

🔌 2 — Power me on

Two ways to power Robot-01: USB cable (charges the battery) or battery alone (cordless drive).

Option A · Plug in USB-C

  • Plug a USB-C cable into the side of the robot.
  • Plug the other end into any USB-A or USB-C charger / laptop / power bank.
  • The status LED turns 🟢 green when charging is going well.
  • Wait until the LED turns 🟢 solid green and stops blinking — that's full battery (about 90 min from empty).

Option B · Switch to battery

  • Unplug the USB cable.
  • Flip the small power switch on the bottom of the robot to ON.
  • You'll hear a short boop-beep and the LEDs will do a rainbow sweep — that's the boot animation.
  • The OLED shows READY. The robot is now waiting for your phone to connect.
// FIRST CHARGE A brand-new robot ships with about 30% battery. Plug it in for at least 30 minutes before the first ride.
// BATTERY LIFE A full charge gets you ~45 minutes of active driving. Idle time (sitting and listening for the phone) is much longer — about 4 hours.
📱 3 — Connect your phone

Robot-01 is controlled from a free app called RemoteXY. It uses Bluetooth, so no WiFi or internet is needed.

  1. Open the App Store (iOS) or Play Store (Android). Search for RemoteXY. Install the app — it's free.
  2. Power on Robot-01 (see section 2). Make sure the OLED shows READY.
  3. Open RemoteXY → tap + New connection → pick Bluetooth.
  4. The app scans. After a few seconds you'll see RemoteXY or Robot-01 in the list. Tap it.
  5. Phone will ask to pair. Confirm. The buzzer plays a short connect jingle.
  6. The app loads the control screen — joystick, button, and battery gauge appear. The robot's status LED turns 🔵 blue = connected.
ROBOT-01
BTN
BAT 87%
distance: 38 cm
// SAVED FOR NEXT TIME Once paired, your phone remembers Robot-01. Next time, just open RemoteXY and tap Connect — no re-scanning.
// "NO PRO LICENSE" If you see a "PRO license required" dialog, that's a known limit of the free RemoteXY tier (max 5 controls). The grown-ups need to fix it — see audit BUG-004.
🎮 4 — Drive me

The phone shows a round joystick (left thumb) and an action button (right thumb).

⬆️

Push up

Robot drives forward. Push further = goes faster.

⬇️

Push down

Robot drives backward. Same — further = faster reverse.

⬅️

Push left

Robot turns left. Push left + up = curve left while moving forward.

➡️

Push right

Robot turns right. Push right + up = curve right while moving forward.

⏺️

Release

Joystick centers automatically. Robot stops.

🔘

Action button

Tap = beep. Hold = LED rainbow party. Try double-tap.

// PRO TIP For a smooth turn, push the joystick diagonally — like tilting a steering wheel. Pushing it pure-left or pure-right makes the robot pivot in place.
💡 5 — What my lights mean

The 4 NeoPixel LEDs on the front of the robot tell you what's going on.

OFF
All off — robot is powered off, or battery completely dead. Plug in USB.
🌈
Rainbow sweep — boot animation. Plays for 2 seconds when you turn it on. Means everything started OK.
100%
All 4 green — battery is over 75%. Lots of juice left.
50%
2 amber — battery 25–75%. Plenty of driving left, but think about charging soon.
10%
1 red, blinking — battery under 15%. Plug in within 5 minutes or the robot will shut down.
📡
Slow blue pulse — phone connected via Bluetooth.
🎉
Purple party — you held the action button. Robot is having a moment.
⚠️
All 4 red, fast blink — error. Usually wiring or sensor problem. Power-cycle the robot.
🔊 6 — What my sounds mean

Each beep means something specific. Listen up.

🎵
Boot tune
Three rising notes doo-dee-DOO. Plays once when you power on. Means firmware booted OK.
📞
Connect ping
Single high boop. Plays when your phone successfully pairs over Bluetooth.
🔘
Button beep
Short beep. Plays each time you tap the action button on the phone.
🔋
Low-battery whine
Slow descending weep, repeats every 30 seconds. Battery is below 15% — charge soon.
🚧
Obstacle alert
Three quick beep-beep-beep. Ultrasonic sensor saw something within 10 cm — robot will refuse to drive forward into it.
💔
Disconnect tone
Two falling notes dee-doo. Phone walked out of Bluetooth range or quit the app. Robot stops moving.
📡 7 — My senses — what the OLED shows

The tiny black-and-white screen on top of the robot is the OLED display. It shows live status info.

🔋

Battery %

Top-right corner. Shows percentage from 0 to 100. Updates every 5 seconds.

📡

Distance

Center. Shows distance in cm to the closest obstacle in front.

📱

BT status

Bottom-left. Shows BT: -- when alone, BT: ON when paired.

🏃

Speed

Bottom-right. Shows current speed as a percentage of max (0% = stopped, 100% = full throttle).

The ultrasonic sensor is the round black eye on the front. It pings the world 10 times per second using sound waves humans can't hear.

🚨 8 — If something's wrong

// Won't turn on

  • Battery might be flat. Plug in USB-C for a few minutes, then try again.
  • Power switch might be off. Check the bottom of the robot.
  • If LEDs don't light at all even with USB plugged in, ask a grown-up — could be a hardware problem.

// Won't pair with phone

  • Make sure Bluetooth is ON in your phone settings (not just in the app).
  • Make sure the robot is powered on and showing READY on the OLED.
  • Force-close the RemoteXY app and reopen it.
  • If it still won't connect, switch the robot off, count to 5, switch it back on. Re-scan.

// Drives in circles when joystick is centered

  • The joystick needs calibration. Hold the action button for 5 seconds while the joystick is centered. The robot will store the new center.
  • If it still drifts, one motor might be sticking — check the wheels for hair or carpet fibers.

// Stops randomly during a drive

  • Phone walked out of Bluetooth range. Move closer (max ~10 m).
  • Battery might be very low — check the LEDs.
  • Obstacle sensor saw a wall — the robot refuses to drive into things. Back up or turn.

// All 4 LEDs blinking red fast

// HARDWARE ERROR Power off the robot. Wait 10 seconds. Power on again. If the red blink comes back immediately, ask a grown-up to check the audit page — could be one of the known issues.
🛡️ 9 — Stay safe — five rules
  1. Don't drive off tables. Robot-01 has no edge sensors — it will drive off and break. Stick to floors.
  2. Don't charge while wet. If the robot got splashed, dry it for an hour before plugging in USB.
  3. Don't pull on the wires. Lift the robot from the bottom, not by sensors or cables.
  4. Don't drive on stairs. Same reason as tables. Plus stairs eat wheels for breakfast.
  5. Don't leave it charging unattended overnight. Once the LED says full, unplug it.
// HAVE FUN Other than that — Robot-01 is built for play. Drive fast, try patterns, make obstacle courses, race friends. When something breaks, that's just a learning chance. Audit page tracks every quirk.

Building one yourself? See build-guide.html.
Teaching a class? See instructor.html.
Coding the firmware? See start-here.html.