RoboCore

RoboCore

RoboCore is a classroom robot kit and coding platform, designed and built in Zambia by Plastal-Bot Builders (Lusaka). It has four parts:

• an ESP32-S3 controller board;
• a 3D-printed robot with a parallel lift and a geared gripper;
• a retail box with a quick-start guide;
• the RoboCore IDE, where students code the robot with blocks or C++.

This repository holds the design sources for all of it: the PCBs, the mechanical design, the software design and the brand. Pitch decks, grant applications and community posts live elsewhere.

The robot (V2, Fusion 360)	The controller board (V2, KiCad 9)

The controller board (V2)

An XRP-style robot controller on a 68 × 60 mm, 4-layer board. Everything a classroom robot needs is on one board, and it charges and programs over one USB-C cable.

Top: every port labelled on the silkscreen	Underside: pin names and the "Designed in Zambia" artwork
The ESP32-S3 module, buttons and IMU	The connector edge: ultrasonic, battery, USB-C, line sensor, power switch

• Design files: hardware/controller_v2/. Open RoboCore_V2.kicad_pro in KiCad 9.
• Renders: studio renders made in Blender are in hardware/controller_v2/renders/, full size and 1600 px, with transparent and white backgrounds. Each shot has a map of where every part sits in the image, for pinouts and highlights in the IDE or on the website. See its README.
• Before connecting anything: the sensor headers are not keyed, so a cable can go on backwards. Read the wrong-plug check. Known issues and bring-up findings are kept in the errata list.
• Sensor boards: our own 3-channel line sensor and ultrasonic boards are designed in hardware/sensors/. For now the robot uses bought-in modules.

The robot

The current robot (V3, the V-wheel version): an open printed frame with Warren-truss sides, two encoder motors with 56 mm wheels, four V-wheels in wheel wells, a parallel four-bar lift on one MG90S servo (the gripper stays level from the floor to +40 degrees) and a geared gripper on a second servo. The RoboCore V2 controller sits between the side frames, three 18650 cells lie in a printed cradle, the sonar sits in a housing at the front, and a cream rear deck carries an 8 mm Technic/M4 hole grid. 154 x 286 x 111 mm with the lift level, about 620 g; every part prints flat without supports. The V3 model lives in Fusion 360 (document "RoboCore V3 Robot"); the files below are the earlier V2 robot, kept for reference.

• Model: mechanical/robot_v2/RoboCore_V2_Robot.f3d (Fusion 360) and .step (any CAD program).
• Generator: the model is built by a Python generator through the Fusion API (mechanical/robot_v2/fusion/). Its README explains the parameters, the fasteners and the checks: clashes, overhangs, antenna clearance and caster load.
• Print files: mechanical/robot_v2/print/, already in print orientation. Every part prints without supports on a 180 mm bed.
• Cardboard version: a low-cost cardboard chassis template is in mechanical/robot_v2/cardboard/.

The box

A printed mailer box, XRP-style, with the quick-start guide printed inside the lid and an insert with a pocket traced from the robot (lift lowered, jaws on the floor) plus a strip for the cable, screws and card. Outer 303 x 213 x 91 mm. The print-ready 1:1 PDFs are in mechanical/robot_v2/packaging/out_v3/ (generator make_box_v3.py; the V2 box is in out/).

Software

• RoboCore IDE design (software/ide_design/): the screens of the RoboCore IDE, built in Figma by a plugin. It covers block coding (Google Blockly) and C++ (Monaco), a hardware-first block catalogue, and a behaviour spec. The app itself is developed in its own repository, robocore-ide.
• System architecture (software/architecture/): UML and C4 diagrams of the whole platform, also generated into Figma.
• Firmware (software/firmware/motion/): an arm-aware braking limiter in C, with tests.

Brand

Event branding is in design/event_branding/: roll-up, pop-up, banner, A5 flyer, A4 tri-fold and the brand kit, built in Figma by a plugin. The topographic backgrounds are drawn from Copperbelt elevation data.

Repository layout

hardware/          PCB design (KiCad 9)
  controller_v2/     RoboCore V2 controller: project files, libraries (lib/), PCBWay and JLCPCB order
                     packages (fab/), generator, check, costing and Blender render scripts (tools/),
                     silkscreen artwork sources (technicalreference/), studio renders (renders/)
  sensors/           Line sensor (3-channel) and ultrasonic carrier boards for V2
  controller_v1/     RoboCore V1 (ESP32-C3) controller with its fab package and review scripts
  libraries/         Shared symbol and footprint libraries used by V1
  datasheets/        Component datasheets
mechanical/        Mechanical design
  robot_v2/          The Fusion 360 robot: model, Python generator (fusion/), print files (print/),
                     component STEP exports (export/), mailer box (packaging/), cardboard version
                     (cardboard/), vendor models (vendor/), renders
  board_step/        STEP models of the boards, for mechanical integration
  reference/         Motor and XRP reference pictures and models
  chassis_v1_spec/   Specification and script of the V1 chassis
software/          Software
  ide_design/        RoboCore IDE screens (Figma plugin), app icon, block catalogue, behaviour spec
  architecture/      UML + C4 system architecture (Figma plugin)
  firmware/motion/   Arm-aware braking limiter (C, with tests)
design/            Brand
  event_branding/    Roll-up, banner, flyer, tri-fold and brand kit (Figma plugin), topographic maps
docs/              Specification, costing and sourcing, component lists and supplier quote requests,
                   wrong-plug check and errata, schematic PDFs, part photos, A4 technical-reference
                   posters, progress renders, hand-off notes, PCBWay sponsorship request
tools/             sync_from_sources.sh: copies the working sources into this repo

Opening the designs

• PCB: open hardware/controller_v2/RoboCore_V2.kicad_pro in KiCad 9. Project libraries resolve through ${KIPRJMOD}/lib; the V1 project's symbol table points at ../libraries.
• Robot: mechanical/robot_v2/RoboCore_V2_Robot.f3d opens in Fusion 360; the STEP beside it opens anywhere.
• Box: mechanical/robot_v2/packaging/README.md. The print files are 1:1 PDFs.
• Board renders: hardware/controller_v2/tools/blender/render_board.sh re-renders them in Blender 5.1, from the KiCad model.
• Figma plugins: the READMEs in software/ide_design/, software/architecture/ and design/event_branding/ explain how to load and run each plugin.

Status (2026-10-23)

• Controller V2: two assembled prototypes are paid for at PCBWay (order YU1827457, 14 October) and expected to ship around 11 November. Bring-up findings will go into the errata list.
• Robot: rev 6. The model and STEP here are Fusion v33.
• Sensor boards: designed, not yet ordered. The robot uses bought-in modules for now.
• IDE: in development in robocore-ide.
• Parts: the component list and supplier quote request for two robots are in docs/.

Keeping this repo up to date

The design work happens in working folders outside this repo. Copy it in, then commit:

tools/sync_from_sources.sh           # list what changed
tools/sync_from_sources.sh --apply   # copy it in

The script lists every source folder it copies. On a slow connection, push large changes in several small commits.

Licence

MIT, see LICENSE. Vendor models under mechanical/robot_v2/vendor/ keep their own licences, noted in each folder's SOURCE.txt.