Control Your Droid With Bluetooth

Disney recently released the Droid Depot app which allows you to control your droid with your smartphone. By monitoring the bluetooth communications with the droid it's possible to create a list of commands that can then be used to control the droid with a custom bluetooth application.
This video demonstrates controlling a Galaxy's Edge droid with a custom bluetooth application developed by Bap and is located at droid.bap.dev. You will need to use Chrome in order for the app to work.
This is the product of work by several people working together in the #makerspace channel on the Galaxy's Edge Discord server. They are, in no particular order, Jamie, Bap, Cowkitty, and Russ. Without their work this would not be possible.
You can join the Galaxy's Edge discord server and our discussions in #makerspace by going to swgediscord.com.

[@KevinScottFries]

Seriously, thank you for putting out these videos. So interesting to see you work on galaxys edge stuff like this.

[@Krenath]

This gives me lots of ideas for things I could work into a MicroBit.

[@HackerBilly13]

Ohhhhh you know what. That special sound that doesnt normally get heard, It sounds like a Drink machine. I wonder if it was for the drink dispenser accessory. Maybe originally it was going to be a plug in accessory

[@iainloveday5791]

Awesome work to all have you done a video on adding that little circuit board that you showed on the accessory port with the resistor and the LED

[@Ruthsarian]

i haven't done a standalone video on just those, but I did cover them in my making a personality chip - part 3 video. here's a timestamped link to the section that covers them:
th-cam.com/video/SUpH8con-GQ/w-d-xo.html

[@bryansiepert9222]

Lay down some phat _beeps_ perhaps? :0

[@lilmrmagoo]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to have facial recognition or some sort of spaica awareness with sound so it would turn do face sound or a persons face. It would make the droids come to life so much more.

[@Ruthsarian]

if you mean incorporate facial recognition into the app, i'm sure that's possible, it just takes someone with the time to sit down and do it. if you mean incorporate it into the droid itself, probably doable, but you'd have to completely replace the logic board and the remote control; essentially create your own robot and then stuff it into the shell of your droid.

[@Samonac]

@@Ruthsarian First of all, love your videos : Bresh of fresh air for embedded-system-enthusiasts such as myself.
Second : I didn't realize the droids had Bluetooth. Do you reckon the BT could be somehow used (perhaps through the app) in order for different droids to detect one another ? (or at the very least simulate the beacon used in the park to define different areas)

[@Ruthsarian]

​@@Samonac droids do emit bluetooth beacons that others droids can react to. there are what I call "location" beacons that are scattered throughout Galaxy's Edge that droids react to as you're exploring the land. if a droid has not encountered a location beacon within the last 2 hours (essentially, after you've left Galaxy's Edge) and it encounters a droid beacon, it will react to it. I believe they do this to prevent excessive droid reaction while you're in Galaxy's Edge.
it is possible to emulate those beacons. these two videos of mine demonstrate this:
th-cam.com/video/1UvBvs6lMXs/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/UUo-L128cFc/w-d-xo.html
you can also emulate these beacons with an android device and an app called "nRF Connect". There is an nRF Connect app for iOS devices, but it does not allow for emulating bluetooth beacons.
i have a spreadsheet that you can view which has a bunch of research on various galaxy's edge devices including how the droid beacons work. you can view that here:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13P_GE6tNYpGvoVUTEQvA3SQzMqpZ-SoiWaTNoJoTV9Q/edit#gid=372067469

[@Imknowitall]

What danger can this lead to. Also can you post the number for the new sound

[@Ruthsarian]

if you leave the motors running for too long you risk damaging the motor or other components. when sending commands to the droid you might find a command that inadvertently overwrites some of the programming and the droid stops working.
for the new sound, there's a text overlay at the bottom of the screen when the sound first plays that has the command. it's 27 42 0f 44 44 00 10 08

[@garyrandles8806]

Does anyone know the codes for moving the head?

[@Ruthsarian]

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13P_GE6tNYpGvoVUTEQvA3SQzMqpZ-SoiWaTNoJoTV9Q/edit#gid=941538687
Go to the "Astromech Droid Controller" tab and scroll down to the 'Bluetooth Command" section.
Motor Control Command Format: 27 00 05 44 DM SS RR RR
Where:
D = direction of motor (0=forward or left, 8=backwards or right)
M = identifies motor to power (0=left, 1=right, 2=head)
SS = motor speed; a minimum value of 0x60 needed to get motor to move; 0xA0 seems to be a common value used by the app
RRRR = two byte value that sets the time it takes the motor to ramps up to full speed; 0x012C seems to be a common value used by the app

[@Silver.Productions]

is this open-source? i wanna control this with python

[@Ruthsarian]

I do not have access to the source code for the app in this video. However there is another person developing an android app that is sharing their code on github. The repository for that app is here:
github.com/jamieadkins95/droid-controller/
That should have all the information on how to pair and send commands to the droid.