Automato V2.0

Brain Board — Automato Ag

Firmware and documentation for the Automato Brain Board V2.0, an ESP32-C6 based agricultural IoT node with onboard temperature, humidity, and light sensing, ESP-NOW mesh networking, relay control, and a self-hosted web dashboard served directly from the board.

Hardware

See hardware/Brain_Board_Reference.md for full pinout and hardware notes.

Firmware

Current Version

All boards run the same unified firmware. There is no separate Host or Remote build — role (gateway, relay, isolated) is determined automatically at runtime based on WiFi connectivity.

Required Libraries

Install all of the following via Arduino Library Manager:

• Adafruit SHTC3 Library
• Adafruit TSL2591
• Adafruit BusIO (installed automatically as dependency)
• Adafruit Unified Sensor (installed automatically as dependency)
• SparkFun TCA9534 (for Qwiic GPIO relay control)

Arduino IDE Settings

Note: USB CDC on Boot must be re-enabled each Arduino IDE session — it does not always persist.

First Flash

1. Open BrainBoard_v110/BrainBoard_v110.ino in Arduino IDE
2. Set board settings as above
3. Sketch → Upload — flash firmware
4. Tools → ESP32 Sketch Data Upload — upload data/ folder to LittleFS
5. Open Serial Monitor at 115200 baud, press RESET
6. Connect phone or laptop to the Automato-XXXX WiFi network
7. Open http://192.168.4.1/setup — enter your Network Name, password, and WiFi credentials
8. Board joins your network and is accessible at http://networkname.local

OTA Updates (after first flash)

• Navigate to http://boardname.local/update or http://192.168.4.1/update
• Upload new firmware .bin or new LittleFS filesystem image
• Firmware and webapp update independently — UI changes do not require reflashing firmware

Boot Button (IO9)

Dashboard

The Brain Board serves a complete webapp directly from its own flash memory — no internet, cloud, or external server required. Works in a field with no cell service.

Tabs

HTTP Endpoints

Agri Data Sidebar

External API calls are routed through the board's /proxy endpoint so they work when connected to the board's SoftAP (phone in the field with no direct internet). All sources are free and require no API keys.

Data sources can be enabled or disabled individually from Settings → Agri Data Sources.

ESP-NOW Mesh

All Brain Boards on the same Network Name automatically form a mesh using ESP-NOW. No configuration required beyond giving boards the same Network Name in /setup.

Channel seek: Non-WiFi boards cycle through channels 1–11 (US), restarting their SoftAP on each channel to keep the radio active for ESP-NOW reception. Lock occurs on first matching MSG_HELLO beacon.

Plugin hooks: Add a custom.ino file to the sketch folder to extend functionality without modifying core firmware. Available hooks: customSetup(), customLoop(), customDataJSON().

Relay Control

• GPIO expander: SparkFun Qwiic GPIO (TCA9534) at I2C address 0x27, connected via Qwiic cable
• Relay defaults OFF at all times — boot, sensor failure, I2C error, connectivity loss
• Manual ON/OFF toggle in dashboard always overrides automation
• Rule engine arriving in v1.2

Relay Safety Contract

Relays default OFF under all failure conditions: boot, sensor failure, WiFi loss, cloud loss, browser closed, no rules configured, conflicting rules, hardware expander not found.

There is no condition under which a relay defaults ON.

Roadmap

Repository Structure

Brain-Board/
├── README.md
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── LICENSE
├── .gitignore
├── firmware/
│   ├── BrainBoard/
│   │   └── BrainBoard_v110/            <- current (v1.1)
│   │       ├── BrainBoard_v110.ino
│   │       ├── partitions.csv
│   │       └── data/
│   │           ├── index.html
│   │           └── version.txt
│   ├── BrainBoard_Host/                <- legacy (pre-v1.1)
│   └── BrainBoard_Remote/              <- legacy (pre-v1.1, retired)
├── docs/
│   ├── Roadmap.md
│   ├── QuickStart.md
│   ├── RelayControl.md
│   ├── AgriDataSidebar.md
│   ├── ESP32C6_Capabilities.md
│   ├── I2C_Address_Map.md
│   └── ProductFamily.md
├── hardware/

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Automato Ag — automato.ag