Pairing and Connecting Controllers#

Overview#

This document details the procedure required to pair or connect a PS5 controller to the robot, assuming usage of the primary codebase repository (ESP32PRCodebase).

A robot with working code uploaded (from a branch of ESP32PRCodebase, typically production)
- An ESP battery or other source of power (connected laptop)
  - Exercise caution if operating a robot with a connected device.
- A robot battery (24V Kobalt drill battery)
  - Technically this is optional, but you will need it if you want your control inputs to have any effect.
A charged and functional PS5 controller

The robot’s pairing code is designed to mimic the PS5 controller’s pairing light sequences.

To re-pair to the last device that was successfully connected to, simply press the PS button.
To initiate pairing mode (i.e., connect to a new device), hold the PS button and “Share” button simultaneously for about 3 seconds (See below).

For the typical (current) “automatic” or “sequential” setup, at power-on, the robot will look for the last controller it successfully paired to.
- During this time, the blue LED will flash on and off with a 50% duty cycle, matching how the PS5 controller acts when attempting to pair to the last successful device.
- If that controller is not found after 15 seconds, the robot will begin searching for new devices to pair to.
  - During this time, the blue LED will flash with a triple-burst pattern, similar to the PS5 controller’s behavior in pairing mode.

If pin-pairing mode is enabled, the robot will perform one of two actions depending on the logic level of the pairing pin upon startup:
- If the pairing pin is LOW, the robot will search for the last controller successfully paired to (as described above)
- If the pairing pin is HIGH, the robot will search for new devices (as described above)