Replacing Vector Robot Brain Board

Created a project doc

Passive Wiretap Board Status

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This board has been redesigned as a safe listen-only wiretap for the Vector head/body 4-wire cable. It no longer includes the ESP32-C3 or ac...

flux

Done — I redesigned it as a passive listen-only wiretap.
What changed:
  • Removed ESP32-C3 and level-shifter from the signal path.
  • Kept only headers + protection resistors.
  • Mapped the confirmed Vector wires:
    • black GND
    • red VMAIN
    • white BODY_RX
    • green TX1.8
  • Routed the simplified PCB.
  • Ran ERC/DRC checks: no errors/warnings came back in the checked categories.
Saved status here:
Passive Wiretap Board Status
Open item:
  • This is still a hand-wired/probe board, not the final drop-in Vector connector board.
Document, BOM, export
Create wiring guide
Check BOM cost
Export files
Review manufacturability
GND
J2
R3 P2 - J2 2
R2
Resistance
10kΩ
GND
J1 Pin_3 - R1 P1
R1
Resistance
10kΩ
J1 Pin_4 - R2 P1
J1 Pin_4 - R2 P1
R2 P2 - J2 5
J1 Pin_3 - R1 P1
R1 P2 - J2 4
J1 Pin_2 - R3 P1
J1 Pin_2 - R3 P1
R2 P2 - J2 5
R3 P2 - J2 2
R1 P2 - J2 4
R3
Resistance
100kΩ
J1

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Software Architecture Notes — wire-pod / Vector Home Server
Primary Repository
  • GitHub: kercre123/wire-pod
  • Purpose: free, fully-featured server software for Anki / Digital Dream Labs Vector robots.
  • Intended use: allows Vector 1.0 / 2.0 voice commands to work without the paid official cloud service.
Acknowledgements Captured from README
The README credits:
  • Digital Dream Labs for open sourcing chipper and creating Escape Pod.
  • bliteknight for making wire-pod more accessible with pre-setup Linux boxes.
  • dietb for rewriting chipper and giving tips.
  • fforchino for localization, multilanguage, and other features.
  • xanathon for publicity and web-interface help.
  • Contributors who opened issues or pull requests.
Repository Layout Observed
Top-level folders/files include:
  • chipper/
  • vector-cloud/
  • docker/
  • compose.yaml
  • dockerfile
  • setup.sh
  • update.sh
The chipper/ folder includes:
  • cmd/
  • epod/
  • intent-data/
  • jdocs/
  • pkg/
  • plugins/
  • session-certs/
  • webroot/
  • go.mod
  • go.sum
  • start.sh
Relevant Features for This Project
wire-pod already matches much of this project’s software goal:
  • Acts as a local Vector voice/cloud replacement.
  • Supports custom commands.
  • Supports knowledge-graph / question-style commands through providers such as Houndify, OpenAI, Together, or Ollama.
  • Supports direct LLM routing / intent-graph behavior with supported providers, where unmatched transcribed text can be sent to an LLM without requiring a special phrase first.
  • Maintains compatibility with Vector SDK configuration when a bot is authenticated.
Home Server Runtime Notes
Supported host environments include Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and Docker Compose. For this project, a Linux home server is the best target.
Important assumptions:
  • Vector and wire-pod should be on the same LAN.
  • The web UI generally runs on port 8080.
  • Some setup paths expect escapepod.local / mDNS behavior.
  • Only one active wire-pod instance should be running on the LAN.
  • Production robots need the appropriate Escape Pod firmware path; regular Vector firmware alone is not enough.
Hardware Implication
This reduces the need to replace the whole brain immediately. A safer path is:
  1. Use stock Vector hardware + wire-pod to establish local-server voice/LLM behavior.
  2. Add custom commands/LLM routing on the server side.
  3. Only replace or augment hardware after the desired behavior is proven in software.
ESP32-C3 Role with wire-pod
ESP32-C3 is still useful, but mostly as an auxiliary controller:
  • Extra sensors/accessories
  • Simple telemetry bridge
  • Debug/status interface
  • Experimental motor/sensor control outside the stock Vector stack
It should not be the main Vector replacement brain if the goal includes camera, display, audio, and stock-like behavior.
Use wire-pod as the baseline home-server brain first. The custom PCB should initially be an interposer/expansion or body-controller experiment, not a full Qualcomm head-board replacement. This keeps the robot functional while enabling custom LLM behavior faster and with much lower risk.

  • Primary Repository

  • Acknowledgements Captured from README

  • Repository Layout Observed

  • Relevant Features for This Project

  • Home Server Runtime Notes

  • Hardware Implication

  • ESP32-C3 Role with wire-pod

  • Recommended Project Direction

Vector Robot Smart Brain Replacement thumbnail
Custom replacement brain board for Anki Vector Robot 2.0 that preserves stock robot functions while offloading conversation, context, and LLM behavior to a home server.

Properties

Pricing & Availability

Distributor

Qty 1

Digi-Key

$1.33

Mouser

$1.44

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