I’ve been researching ESP32-S2 recently and considering using it for a robot control project. I know that ESP32-S2 has stronger WiFi performance and supports USB OTG, but it lacks Bluetooth capabilities compared to the standard ESP32.
I have a few questions that I hope experienced friends can help answer:
Is ESP32-S2 suitable for robot control? How does it perform in real-time control and data processing?
Compatibility with common sensors and motor drives: Is it easy to be compatible with I2C, SPI devices (such as laser ranging sensors, IMUs, servo controllers, etc.)?
Power management: How does S2 perform in terms of power consumption compared to ordinary ESP32? Is it suitable for battery-powered mobile robots?
I hope experienced friends can share some practical experience of using ESP32-S2 in robotic projects, or recommend more suitable microcontrollers. Thank you everyone!
@sdimen Welcome to the RobotShop Community. Given the almost negiligible price difference for these modules, are you considering it for personal use or for production? If it’s personal, why not opt for the S3?
Up until only a few years ago, Arduino was the “go to” for smaller robotic projects, and these were / are fairly basic chips. The ESP32 series are far more capable but also arguably more complex for beginners.
Indeed, the ESP32 series are now widely used in robotics, but “robotics” is quite a broad field. There are applications where the ESP32 handles machine vision (and pant / tilt servos as well), wheeled robots, complete robotic arms and more.
As far as power goes, it’s easies tto just use the manufacturer information to compare models. If your project uses motors, then the power consumption of the ESP will likely be small in comparison to that.
