The palm-sized robot integrates eight smart actuators, wireless control, battery management and sensing interfaces into a compact PCB-based architecture.
ZeroWire Robotics has introduced Q8botOne, a palm-sized quadruped robot built around an ESP32-C3 microcontroller and eight ROBOTIS DYNAMIXEL smart actuators. Its central printed circuit board (PCB) also serves as the structural chassis, eliminating conventional internal wiring harnesses. Designed for robotics development, the platform supports walking, jogging, jumping and payload handling.
The robot uses an ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4 module featuring a 32-bit RISC-V processor running at up to 160 MHz, 400 KB SRAM and 4 MB flash storage. It communicates with eight DYNAMIXEL XL330-M077-T actuators through a shared half-duplex serial bus, enabling individual joint control, feedback monitoring and configurable proportional-integral-derivative (PID) parameters. Wireless connectivity includes 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0.
Power comes from two 14500 lithium-ion cells. The PCB incorporates a BQ25887 battery charger with cell balancing, an S-82C2A battery-protection IC and a TPS543A26 step-down converter supplying 6 V at up to 16 A to the actuators. A separate MPM3632C regulator provides 5 V at up to 3 A for the controller and peripherals. USB Type-C supports charging, programming and serial communication.
For sensing and expansion, Q8botOne supports an optional MPU-6050 six-axis inertial measurement unit for motion tracking and stabilisation, an INA228 power monitor and an ESP32 camera module. I2C and UART connectors allow additional peripherals to be connected. The robot’s mechanical components are made from multi-jet fusion-printed nylon PA12, with ball-bearing-supported joints. It measures approximately 120 × 70 × 70 mm and weighs around 221–250 g.
A separate ESP32-C3-based wireless controller incorporates a joystick and buttons and communicates with the robot through ESP-NOW. The platform also supports desktop control tools and custom applications through an application programming interface (API), allowing developers to experiment with motion control and quadruped locomotion. Its design combines embedded processing, actuator feedback and wireless communication in a compact robotic system.
The planned hardware and software resources include schematics, Gerber files, a bill of materials, three-dimensional CAD models, firmware and Python control tools, allowing developers to modify and reproduce the design. Q8botOne is being offered through Crowd Supply, with the barebones kit priced at US$99, excluding the eight actuators, and the fully assembled version at US$599. Deliveries are expected to begin in March 2027.
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