ESP32 Kids Companion Robot

Embedded Firmware Development for Kids Companion Robot (ESP32 / RP2040)
Project Overview
I am building a kids companion robot (ages 3–10) focused on expressive behavior, emotions, routines, and reactions.
This is a NON-AI robot.
There is NO speech recognition, NO text-to-speech, NO camera vision.
The robot behaves like a living companion using:
Emotions
Reactions
Animations
Sounds
Routines
Simple sensors
I am looking for an experienced embedded firmware developer who can work on a structured, modular, production-quality codebase, not hobby demos.
Core Philosophy (IMPORTANT)
Event-driven
State-machine based
Non-blocking code (NO delay() logic)
Long-running stability (hours/days)
Clean architecture with clear module separation
Hardware Stack (Fixed)
Microcontroller: ESP32 / ESP32-S3 / RP2040 (final selection discussed)
Display: TFT (robot eyes & face animations)
Audio: Buzzer / simple sound module
Inputs:
Microphone (sound level detection only)
Touch sensors / buttons
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (OTA updates only)
No SD card
No AI / ML
No voice recognition
Software Responsibilities
Core Firmware
GPIO, I2C, SPI setup
Sensor drivers
Modular folder structure
PlatformIO or Arduino framework (discussable)
Behavior & Emotion Engine
Finite State Machine (FSM)
Priority-based reactions
(e.g. Loud sound > Touch > Idle > Sleep)
Emotions such as:
Idle
Happy
Curious
Excited
Sleepy
Sad
Smooth emotion decay and transitions
Display & Animation System
Eye expressions (20–30 expressions)
Blinking logic
Idle micro-movements
Emotion-based animations
Optimized memory usage
Sound System
Event-based sound playback
Emotion-synced sounds
Non-blocking timing
Routine & Habit Engine
Time-based behaviors
Daily routines
Repetitive learning (without AI)
Wi-Fi & OTA Updates
Secure OTA firmware updates
Safe rollback on failure
Wi-Fi only used when needed
Testing & Quality
Real hardware testing required
Stable behavior over long runtime
No random freezes or memory leaks
Clear documentation
Deliverables
Full source code
Modular, readable structure
Documentation explaining:
Behavior flow
State machine
How to add new emotions/animations
GitHub or ZIP delivery
Who Should Apply
Embedded systems engineers
ESP32 / RP2040 experience
FSM / event-driven firmware experience
Experience with displays & animations

Who shouldn't Apply
Arduino beginners
Copy-paste library coders
“One-file .ino demo” developers
AI / Python-only developers
Budget
Milestone-based
Flexible depending on experience
Looking for quality over cheap pricing
Selection Process
To apply, please include:
Similar embedded or robotics projects
GitHub / code samples
Explanation of how you design state machines
Experience with long-running embedded systems
Ownership
Full code ownership transfers to me
NDA may be required