Freddie – An Expressive Robotic Face

What is this?

Freddie is a robotic mask that can show different facial expressions like happy, angry, sad, and more. It’s controlled wirelessly by another ESP32 with joysticks and an LCD screen.

This project combines FreeRTOS, ESP-NOW wireless, and servo control to bring a face to life.

Hardware

• 2x ESP32-S3 (mask + controller)
• 13 servo motors (eyebrows, eyes, eyelids, jaw, mouth)
• PCA9685 16-channel servo driver (I²C)
• Dual joysticks + button
• 16x2 I²C LCD
• Buzzer
• ELEGOO Breadboard Power Supply MB V2

Modes

• Free Play → Move servos directly with joysticks
• Game Mode → Match random faces within a time limit

Demo

Watch the YouTube demo

Credits

• Built by Rambod Taherian and Kourosh Ghahramani
• Uses Adafruit PCA9685 Library and ESP-NOW
• The eye mechanism is based on the design by Morgan Manly with small modifications to adapt it for this project.