Instructions - DIY Bluetooth Gamepad

[@synthgal1090]

This software sounds great. Something that may be useful is a QMK style layer system, that way someone could press a button that changes a stick from gamepad control to mouse control, etc.

[@avieleliyahu6199]

Wow, looks amazing! You made me enthusiastic about the ESP32 and DYI again, thanks

[@GreySectoid]

Nice project, the controller looks good and the button layout is innovative.

[@TravisSmith-ry4vt]

I just have to say thanks. I'm currently working on a personal project of my own and your video (among a few others) is very detailed and informative, which really helps. Thanks man

[@ThatGuyPory]

Dude, awesome channel! Can't wait to watch it grow, your content is phenomenal!

[@stefangiudici5547]

How's the input lag? Is there a limit on simultaneous inputs? Does sending many inputs concurrently impact input delay? I'm hoping to make a custom controller for someone with accessibility/disability limitations, but they're also a pretty competitive gamer, so if it performs worse than say an xbox controller, I'm concerned they'd rather continue to struggle to use that rather than deal with input lag or missed inputs from 6KRO from a custom device

[@jacobmartincontreras]

I'm wondering that too. Coding with c instead of python might be necessary

[@lian7092]

if you want something , make it yourself , dope , thank you for sharing everything with us 💛💛💛

[@wayneshephard]

Great tutorial, I've been trying to get this going for ages and now just noticed it won't work with my current esp32 model, ordered a firebeetle now, Great work by the way

[@real_robots]

If you're having trouble with some ESP32 models it might be a power issue, a lot of these can't run the radio off standard USB power due to diodes causing voltage drop. Give it a try with a 5v connection to the VIN pin or a 2a phone charger. ESP32 Bluetooth only uses about 100ma from memory, but with the board layout causing voltage drops you can still have issues. If it's not that, let me know what esp32 board you're using and maybe I can suggest, I've only really tested on the Dev Board v1 and my own custom boards.

[@wayneshephard]

@@real_robots awesome advice, much appreciated, I shall try that, it's a board I am unfamiliar with called a Digishuo ESP32S

[@jarvex]

Amazing work! Thx for sharing. :))

[@paulb36utube]

I didn’t realise you could get such a high degree of accuracy from an esp 32 I actually bought 2 teensy just for that with my twin joystick project. Got some time off now so going to have a go at this but with twin joysticks first. This project just keeps getting better and better. I have a bunch of esp32 and the Esp32 D1 minis ( just love those things)

[@real_robots]

Yeah the ESP32 really is a little powerhouse, especially for the price. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the new S2 version which I believe will be able to do USB HID as well (which the current ones can't). I've had the teensy recommended to me a few times but they're quite expensive compared to what you get with Arduino, though the teensy is much more powerful, but the ESP32 can really fill that niche when you need power. I've also just got in a handful of the Raspberry pi pico so I'm looking forward to trying those out. If you try my software with the ESP32 D1 mini and you find the pins I've mapped are different there's a pretty easy fix if you change the pin index near the top of "inputs.ino", the labels will be off in the gui but you'll get to use all your broken out pins if you remember the order.

[@paulb36utube]

@@real_robots thanks for the reply. Those teensy are expensive but I really want the twin joystick project(I’ve mention a twin gimbal project before on a previous project) the best it can be. Although now a Bluetooth version would be even better! I’m still glad I got a bunch of pro micros from the previous videos From your videos although till give the d1 minis a go. I’m still trying to figure out how you get the other tabs on the arduino IDE. I seem to be missing something.

[@jakewilkinson7815]

@@paulb36utube To get additional tabs in your Arduino IDE press the little down arrow on the top right side of the screen just under the Serial Monitor button. Press "New Tab" and it'll create a new .ino file in the same folder and give you that extra tab. If you don't have them when you open my firmware it's probably because you're opening it directly from the .zip file. You need to extract all the files first, the tabs will only show up if the files are all in the same folder and when you run straight from the zip file without extracting the others it only brings the single file out.

[@paulb36utube]

I noticed the link to the esp32 is for the 38 pin model but in the video has the 30 pin models.

[@real_robots]

@@paulb36utube You're right, it's so strange I couldn't find anywhere on Amazon that had the one I used in the video in stock. I actually get all mine through TaoBao, a chinese site. The one in the link will work fine, the only reason I don't usually use that one is becaues they put the pin labels on the bottom so it's super annoying to use them no a breadboard.

[@per19963]

Hey, nice project. Hows the battery life? Does it last a few hours or whats its efficency?

[@baseltup]

Dude i wanted to build one thank you

[@dgm778]

i can use this controller without battery/bluetooth only from usb c with my phone?

[@real_robots]

Yep, if you power it with USB you don't need the battery. But you do still need to use Bluetooth as it can do HID(game controller) over USB

[@Shinzuu999]

thank you very much for the video . im planning to make a bt macro pad for adobe photoshop work , and this is really helpful for that regard

[@满阳MaxFire]

My hand:ok! My eyes:ok! My brain: Let’s buy game controller from Amazon!

[@josebatista8981]

Hi bro, thanks for the amazing time invest in this tuturial! I have a question cause i dont know if you have mention it on video... It uses bluetooth classic or bluetooth LE?

[@tommo120]

Super neat stuff! Came across the video because I was looking for a way of converting old Guitar Hero controllers to bluetooth for use on PC, feel like this might be a suitable solution! One question though; is the arduino necessary or is that just because you have so many inputs?

[@real_robots]

Yeah the ESP32 didn't have enough inputs for this one, also I made this after adding the ability to network ESP32s and Pro Micros together with my rr_controller software. If you're going to try this out, just test out the firmware on an ESP32 and the computer you want to connect it to first, I haven't updated the bluetooth code in a while and I've heard from some users that it doesn't connect nicely to everything.

[@sobieldaniel9526]

Me pudieras hacer un video fabricando un controlador con 33 botones * solo botones y cuanto me costaria ?

[@taisthogersen]

Hey, great video, i was wondering if these controllers would work with ipads and iphones?

[@real_robots]

I haven't tried but they should, it's just standard bluetooth HID

[@taisthogersen]

@@real_robots Thank you for the quick response! I researched the subject since, and found out that you need to enroll in the MFI-program (“Made for iPhone”) as a business. That will give you acces to an authenticator coprossesor that makes your bluetooth controller compatible with iOS games.

[@ThomasMaurey]

Hi, thank you for the instructions. how can we change the game controller name in Windows? any tutorials?

[@real_robots]

Not using my configurator, that feature was too tricky to implement for different chips. If you check out some more text esp32 Bluetooth hid libraries they might let you do it though.

[@steve9265]

Is there a smaller LiPo that you could use other then the 18650 to "save" this build? It doesn't look like it will fit. Great video, BTW, did you ever make a version 2?

[@real_robots]

You could put any 3.7v lipo you like in there. I never got around to making another version of this one.

[@MrBoi96969]

hey i want to use two joysticks can i use

[@real_robots]

Sure, I don't see why not.

[@eagonsiahaan5682]

THANKYOU I needed this!

[@christopherowens2635]

Does the controller go into sleep mode or auto shut off when the controller is inactive for a certain amount of minutes? All the pc bluetooth gamepads have this sleep mode. I’m wondering if this setup is the same

[@real_robots]

The bluetooth code is fairly simplistic, after its made the handshake it just stays open forever until you disconnect.

[@christopherowens2635]

@@real_robots Interesting..i might have to force myself into learning ardurino. I always thought the arduino programing was hard.

[@mgdchris1768]

Thank you...your the best👍

[@akmalsalikhov3732]

Thank you very much for such a detailed video tutorial! Could you please tell is it possible maybe you've even made a Steering Wheel using ESP32? And what would best way for it? I saw Arduino based wheel using a potentiometer.

[@bimog8923]

From where can I downlad the librays "InputClass.h" and "encoders.h"

[@real_robots]

Those aren't libraries, they're part of this code. You have to unzip the whole project into a folder, you can't just run the main .ino file by itself

[@neail5466]

Great, I wish you prosperity. ❤️+1 Does it work with Android? Could the pro micro be replaced with pico? That does HID. And how are you making the esp get recognised as HID device! Sorry for my naivety. Could you please refer me to some docs to have a better understanding?

[@real_robots]

It should work with Android, and anything else which understands the HID standard. I haven't tested it though. The pro micro absolutely could be replaced with the Pico, I actually wrote a Pico gamepad HID library and have released that but I haven't integrated it into the rr_controller firmware yet. If you want to use a Pico and don't mind writing the rest of the code yourself you can find it here. gitlab.com/realrobots/PicoGamepad The ESP32 Arduino libraries have built in HID libraries which handle the basics, on top of that I just make sure it sends the specific handshake and data packets required for a gamepad/joystick device.

[@ysrkasem]

Hi, Thank you for sharing your amazing work, i tried to upload the code to my esp32 devkit v1, it's uploading via the web or the arduino ide, the problem is the configurator is not saving the changes to the esp32 eeprom! is there something i did wrong? or my esp32 having an issue? suggestions! thank you again and keep the amazing work

[@shaneken4056]

Nice project! But how about using another thumbstick instead of the throttle?

[@real_robots]

Could be done, I like to have a settable throttle though, rather than all self centering thumbstcks.

[@wake-archus]

how many digital input pins does the esp32 you linked support? I'm working on a similar project to this and this board would save a few dollars to the one I plan to use if it has enough digital pins.

[@real_robots]

You can use 16 pins with a single ESP32, here's the list. 4, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34

[@wake-archus]

@@real_robots thank you for the quick response that is about two more than what I need.*just re watched the video and realized just one is 2 pins short.

[@LordOfWizardurl]

Cleanest buils

[@polarbear9765]

Hey man, love your tutorials, can you try and make a racing steering wheel? I would love to try and make one on the cheap :) Love the content keep it up!

[@real_robots]

You can use this same software to do a wheel, wheels are a bit harder to do as a 3d print project as it's so much bigger and requires mechanical parts.

[@Sanchez9241]

how to add vibraions to this gamepad?

[@real_robots]

My firmware doesn't implement force feedback I'm afraid

[@drewd423]

Could you update your Amazon links? Several are wrong and point to the same buttons.

[@DGworksIvan]

things were goint great until i changed my esp32 address to 1. I'm only using esp32 as my controller, and after reflash the configurator still having handshake issues, any idea?

[@real_robots]

The esp32 has to be the master, so it has to be zero, but that should only effect its ability to talk to subdevices, not the configurator. I have found a few issues can be fixed by clearing the flash on an ESP32, you need to do it in command line using the esptool esptool.py --port COM6 erase_flash COM6 should be whatever com port your esp32 is on

[@DGworksIvan]

@@real_robots yeah I cleared the eeprom last night and it’s finally working However one roll of my button matrix was recognised in the configurator, but not the window I saw someone have the same problem in your github Tried a lot of combinations and still no luck

[@Jinxid77]

Hello, that looks great :D I'm trying to make an "arcade" joystick with a trackball in it... Would this thing support something like that? I'm not sure what it qualifies as.. maybe a mouse?

[@real_robots]

I'm afraid it doesn't really support mouse movements, all the analog axis controls are min-max rather than allowing constant movement along an axis.

[@Jinxid77]

@@real_robots ok, thank you for the quick reply! Looks like a very cool gadget. Maybe I can find something that works with a teensy, they can do keyboard mouse serial support, but I wanted Bluetooth 😊

[@saswatmund8904]

I am using arduino uno rev3 instead of micro as slave device but in configurator when connected to pc it doesnot show both controllers I have commited to eprom and individually when I connnect uno it shows i configurator the device and esp32 shows its self but not together with the uno rev3 device. Is it because uno R3 is not an HID supporting device.

[@real_robots]

You need to flash rr_controller to the uno first, then use the configurator to set its address to 1 (or anything from 1-127). Then you can unplug the uno from your USB and connect the esp32, make sure the esp32 address is set to 0. Then you should get the esp32 and the uno in the dropdown on the left. For windows it will only show up as the one device when you connect the bluetooth HID.

[@saswatmund8904]

@@real_robots I am using windows only it comes up as one deivce and when I connect with bluetooth in the game controller properties testing the buttons conencted with uno doesnot work but buttons connected with esp32 works. UPDATE: I found the issue the connection in esp32 should be in D22 and D21 for SCL and SDA in your layout u have used pin D19 instead of D21 in esp32. For anyone else working on UNO the SDA and SCL pin are market along the digial pins.

[@real_robots]

@@saswatmund8904 Oh you're right, thanks for catching that. I put a note in the description so hopefully no one else gets caught on that.

[@ambientskai]

Hi, nice tutorial. For some reason, my pro micro doesn't seem to be communicating with my ESP32. I have D19 connected to pin 2 and d22 connected to pin 3. Which I think matches the wiring diagram, yet no dice when opening the ESP32 in the configurator. Any ideas?

[@real_robots]

Yep sorry about that, the schematic had an error. The wire going to pin 19 on the esp32 should be going to 21

[@ambientskai]

@@real_robots Thanks for the response. That fixed the issue for me.

[@ambientskai]

@@real_robots Hey I seem to be encountering another issue, that I'm not sure if you know a solution too. Everytime I connect the ESP to my PC via bluetooth, I have to delete the device from my bluetooth devices and re add it. Otherwise it doesn't connect. I can't just switch the circuit off and back on again, as this will cause it to connect briefly (less than a second) then disconnect. Any help is appreciated :)

[@real_robots]

@@ambientskai not sure about that one sorry

[@onexpice1465]

Hey ik my comment might not reach you out since this video is quite old but i would like and really appreciate it if you showed us in a video how to turn a ps2 controller into a functional wireless controller Bluetooth all that i have an old ps2 controller and it has lots of emotion attachment to it i would really like to mod it out and use it on anything would be appreciated if u could with random parts of different technology

[@real_robots]

I don't have one to hack up. Not knowing anything about them you COULD just take out all the electronics, except what is needed to hold the dpad etc, and then try and squeeze an ESP32 in there and hook all the buttons and pots to it. I don't know how much space you've got inside to work with, you might have to find a smaller ESP32 board, you'll need space for a battery as well.

[@frankmentiplay8343]

Great work. I built your bluetooth gamepad on breadboard. Works fine. One issue is when I turn on gamepad it pairs but does not connect. To get it to connect I have to go in settings (Windows 11), bluetooth and remove device and pair again then it connects and I can use joy.cpl to test buttons and axes and they work. Any ideas why pairing but not connecting?

[@real_robots]

The only time I've had that issue in the past was in earlier versions when I allowed the device configuration (as in how many button and which axes) to change on the fly, it needed to reconnect to work. If you've got the latest version I'm not sure what's happenign there. I'll see if I can replicate it.

[@frankmentiplay8343]

@@real_robots Thanks for the reply. Just a bit more information. I am using a NUC 11 i5 with Bluetooth 5.2. If I have bluetooth open in my Windows 11 settings I see the bluetooth gamepad as paired and when I power the bluetooth gamepad the bluetooth setting in Windows goes to connected but instantly goes back to paired. I am using the latest version of your software (version 7). Any thoughts on what might be the problem? What setup are you using to test your bluetooth gamepad? Regards Frank

[@real_robots]

@@frankmentiplay8343 It works on my PC and it's built in bluetooth and on my pretty modern Thinkpad, it didn't work on my 2011 Macbook but it always was finicky about what bluetooths it would connect to. I haven't tested it on any other machines, some of the guys on the discord were trying it with different bluetooth dongles and talking about their success/failure. You can see it here discord.gg/QzrrbQVfpb on the help-bugreports page if you scroll up a bit.

[@LegendOfTheRee]

how is the latency on this?

[@real_robots]

I can't give you a number as I've never tried to measure it but I've never noticed any latency.

[@sammymiller6740]

Are you still working on the video with the batterie for the gamepad because this video is almost 2 years old.

[@real_robots]

I don't think I'll be making that video, but the schematic at about 15:30 works well.

[@sammymiller6740]

@@real_robots Also do you have an idea of what to call this controller/gamepad, I'm very fond of designing things like labels.

[@real_robots]

@@sammymiller6740 Haha sorry mate, I'm awful with names.

[@sammymiller6740]

@@real_robots RR Origin, Carbon RR, Gamepad Genesis, Carbon Gen, Carbon Genesis, and RR Genesis. Those are some ideas I could come up with.

[@sammymiller6740]

I dont know if this is te second time ive sent this my computers slow but heres a logo idea docs.google.com/drawings/d/1-2WGZ3ywCyU4ULPsjGSt3MLs4jTXxW1SuMqMUFJor1Q/edit?usp=sharing

[@tiagopviana]

Hi. Thank you for the amazing software you made. Really easy to use and install. On question: is it possible to connect a rotary encoder? I'm trying to make a wireless steering wheel for sim racing, using ESP32. And in sim racing we love rotary encoders :D

[@real_robots]

What kind of rotary encoder is that? I just added support for mechanical rotary encoders a couple of days ago but thoes things would be awful for a racing sim. I use AS5600 for some of my own stuff, those give a pwm signal so can be used just like any other pot my rr_controller, though I don't really support looping back from max to min for multiple turns. Is that the kind of think you'd use in a racing wheel?

[@tiagopviana]

@@real_robots First thank you for the fast reply. Unfortunately I'm no expert in this stuff. that is why I like your software, easy and don't need to understand about programming. the rotary I'm using is similar to the product ID 377 found in the adafruit webpage. Just a simple up down rotation counter, doesn't take knob position in consideration.

[@real_robots]

@@tiagopviana It does support those, but you'll find those things are awful for a steering wheel. If they are turned too fast the mechanical contacts bounce and give horribly noisy readings. Those are more useful as a selector knob, detecting a slight turn to the left or right to move a menu or radio stations, combined with the push button for select. Get something like the link below, you can make your steering however you like, a nice beefy bolt with bearings. Just pop the magnet on the end and the pcb as close as you can get to that, it'll give you a signal based on the angle of of the disc magnet. It gives a pwm signal that can be read just like any other potentiometer. They also give 0-4096 positions in 360degrees, compared to 12-24 positions over 360 degrees of the mechanical encoders, so way smoother movement. The only thing I would say is that my software doesn't have any built in way to account for being able to turn the wheel multiple times so you'd be locked to 360degrees of motion. One way to solve that mechanically would be to put the magnet and sensor on an attached 1:2 gear to give yourself 720degrees. It's not actually a big thing in code to have rollover though, I'll have to think about how to add it to my GUI though. There's also have to be some centering/homing maneuvre if the sensor doesn't give an actual, absolute position.

[@tiagopviana]

@@real_robots Sorry for the confusion... the intent of the rotary encoder isn't to use it as a steering wheel. Is to use it as a button, for controlling the ABS intensity, or the brake bias on a racing car. The steering wheel is from Fanatec, in my case. The rim is the one I'm making. Just a aluminum plate with buttons and encoders The esp32 is really cool because of the bluetooth capacity. So, I don't need a usb cable coming out of a spinning rim. I will try to connect a encoder and check if it works. At the moment I just uploaded the code to a esp32 and every thing is working. Random link with an example of what I'm talking about www.racedepartment.com/threads/diy-ferrari-488-gt3-wheel-by-orion-simracing.205448/

[@real_robots]

@@tiagopviana oh I see! That's exactly what they're for so you should do great. Let me know if you have any trouble, like I said, I only added encoder support a few days ago and it got a total of about 5 mins of testing on my esp32 test rig.

[@t-or4356]

I thought it was a bomb💀

[@milkgang1940]

Hi . this is amazing video can i use you code just for one ESP32 and not Secondary devices Because my game pad so smaller and just have 4 Button and one analog stick. i am new to arduino does ESP32 support 4 Button and one analog stick. sorry for my language

[@jakewilkinson7815]

Yes absolutely, you only need secondary devices if you want to accomodate more inputs.

[@milkgang1940]

@@jakewilkinson7815 thanks very much you are the best keep your video up

[@davegrohl9481]

Does this gamepad works with retropie?

[@real_robots]

Should do, it uses standard HID so should work with anything that doesn't actively try to block third party peripherals like XBox and some other consoles.

[@davegrohl9481]

I’ll give it a try! Thanks!

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Hi Jake, I'm having an issue uploading the rr_controller firmware to an ESP32-C3. It seems to fail with a pluggableUSB library, I'm guessing because the device doesn't have usb support. Do you know of a way to get the firmware onto a bluetooth-only ESP32?

[@real_robots]

It doesn't support the ESP32-C3, I'm actually working on a new version of the software targeting the ESP32 series that I'm hoping to have an early version of released soon. It'll do bluetooth on the standard ESP32 and USBHID on the S2. I haven't looked into the C3 yet though. If you want to try that out when it comes out (hopefully in the next few days if all goes well) I'll be announcing it in my discord channel soon. discord.gg/DPUzKdTK

[@real_robots]

discord.gg/QzrrbQVfpb

[@EGLOVEzicgo]

Are xinput games supported?

[@real_robots]

I don't know, I haven't tried.

[@EGLOVEzicgo]

@@real_robots Currently, most games are made to use xinput. The direct input method is only for classic games. Steam games also work with xinput method, which is xbox360. Can't you check it?

[@real_robots]

@@EGLOVEzicgo it definitely gets picked up by steam, don't have an Xbox to test it on

[@kailenhoward4764]

I think your search terms need changing. only found this video through suggestions even though I search basically the title

[@chrisclark9541]

How’s the latency?

[@real_robots]

I'm no latency connoisseur but it feels just like a USB connection to me.

[@giangdiygaming4918]

Does it work on iOS?

[@real_robots]

I haven't tested it but it uses standard HID protocol so it should.

[@giangdiygaming4918]

@@real_robots could you test it? Usually, the gamepad has to have MFi certificate to work with iOS

[@real_robots]

@@giangdiygaming4918 I don't have an iOS device. If you've got an esp32 you can test it without anything else, just install the firmware and it should be pairable, even if you don't set up any inputs yet.

[@user-wm8ei7tu4t]

2 микроконтроллера? Почему не мультиплексор?

[@real_robots]

Только для этой конкретной работы, которая требует еще нескольких входных данных, вы правы. Я написал программное обеспечение таким образом, чтобы у меня были съемные джойстики и дроссели, поскольку микроконтроллер может запоминать свои собственные сочетания клавиш, а мультиплексоры или расширители gpio - нет. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3LYq4yInJmBaZo

[@pic__l_]

Please provide code 😢

[@real_robots]

realrobots.net/configurator This is my newer firmware and Configurator. You can also find the older one in the video linked in the description

[@osmanpasha_diy]

Wait, why do you need an Arduino when you have a ESP32?!

[@real_robots]

Too many inputs for the ESP32 to handle by itself. My software, rr_controller links them up over i2c so the Arduino can work like a GPIO expander.

[@osmanpasha_diy]

@@real_robots Any reason to not use a scan matrix? A dumb scan matrix allows to have 16 inputs using 8 pins, clever ones - even more

[@real_robots]

@@osmanpasha_diy My software didn't do matrices at the time, it does now though. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqDTYYaleZeLgpo

[@osmanpasha_diy]

@@real_robots Ah, good to know, thanks!

[@Makhuta]

@@real_robots Is it possible to use some type of GPIO expander like PCF8575 it would be really nice if it would be possible. Thank you.

[@MultiPulia]

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