Features​

• Powered by the ESP32-C6 high-performance 32-bit RISC-V processor with a main frequency up to 160MHz
• Supports 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 5, with an onboard antenna for excellent RF performance
• Built-in 512KB SRAM and 320KB ROM, plus an external 16MB Flash
• Features a Type-C interface, eliminating the hassle of plug orientation and enhancing user convenience and device compatibility
• Onboard 1.54inch capacitive LCD screen, 240 × 240 resolution, 262K colors, capable of displaying color images clearly
• Onboard ES7210 audio codec chip, supporting dual-microphone audio capture
• Onboard ES8311 audio codec chip, NS4150B power amplifier chip, microphone, and speaker
• Onboard QMI8658 6-axis IMU (3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope) for detecting motion and posture in expanded applications
• Built-in ST7789 driver IC, communicating via SPI interface
• Built-in CST816 capacitive touch controller, communicating via I2C interface (touch version only)
• Onboard PLUS and BOOT buttons, both customizable for function development
• Onboard 3.7V MX1.25 lithium battery charge/discharge interface
• Exposes 1-ch I2C, 1-ch USB and 1-ch UART pads for external devices connection and debugging, enabling flexible peripheral configuration
• Onboard TF card slot supporting storage expansion and high-speed data transfer, facilitating functions like data logging and media playback while simplifying circuit design

Onboard Resources​

1. ESP32-C6 Integrates a RISC-V single-core processor running at 160MHz, supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 6 and BLE 5
2. 16MB NOR-Flash
3. NS4150B Audio power amplifier chip
4. ES8311 Low-power audio codec chip
5. ES7210 ADC chip for echo cancellation circuit
6. Battery charge/discharge management chip
7. QMI8658 6-axis IMU includes a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis accelerometer
8. PLUS button
9. PWR button
10. BOOT button Used for device startup and functional debugging
11. Microphone
12. TF card slot
13. Onboard antenna Supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 5 (LE)
14. MX1.25 lithium battery header MX1.25 2PIN connector for connecting a 3.7V lithium battery, supports charging and discharging
15. Type-C port
16. MX1.25 speaker header
17. 1.54inch display panel connector
    

LCD Screen Specifications​

SPI Communication Protocol:

• Note: Unlike the traditional SPI protocol, because only display functionality is needed, the data line from the slave to the master is omitted

• RESX is the Reset pin; it is pulled low during module power-up and is normally set to 1.

• CSX is the slave chip select pin; the chip is enabled only when CS is low

• D/CX is the data/command control pin of the chip. When DC = 0, commands are written; when DC = 1, data is written.

• SDA is the data transmission pin, specifically for RGB data.

• SCL is the SPI communication clock pin.

• For SPI communication, data transmission follows a specific timing sequence, which are determined by the combination of clock phase (CPHA) and clock polarity (CPOL):

• The level of CPHA determines whether data is captured on the first or second clock transition edge of the serial synchronous clock. When CPHA = 0, data is captured on the first transition edge;

• The level of CPOL determines the idle level of the serial synchronous clock. CPOL = 0 means the idle state is low level.

• As shown in the diagram, data transmission begins on the first falling edge of SCLK, with 8 bits of data transferred per clock cycle using SPI mode 0, transmitting bits from MSB to LSB

Peripheral Quick Reference​

Pinout Definition​

When using the GPIO terminals reserved on the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 board, note that this board uses the ESP32-C6, and the BOOT, USB, and UART assignments differ from those of ESP32-S3 series boards. Avoid connecting according to old board wiring to prevent functional issues.

Expansion Interface​

GPIO Allocation​

Dimensions​

XiaozhiAI (XiaoZhi AI) is an open-source AI voice chatbot project based on the ESP32 development board, aiming to bring the general intelligence of large language models (LLMs) to edge devices. It provides a software-hardware integrated solution supporting full-duplex voice conversations and IoT device control, dedicated to assisting developers in building highly customized physical AI agents quickly and at low cost.

This article demonstrates how to flash firmware for Waveshare ESP32 development boards that support XiaoZhi AI, covering two methods: flashing without a development environment (directly flashing precompiled firmware) and flashing with a development environment (compiling from source and flashing).

0. Firmware Flashing Process Reference​

1. Flashing Without a Development Environment​

1.1 Download Firmware from XiaoZhi Official GitHub​

1. Visit the XiaoZhi GitHub to download the firmware file for your device. Click Assets to expand the full file list:

   
   

2. Refer to the Flash Firmware Flashing and Erasing Tutorial to complete the firmware flashing.

1.2 Download Firmware from Waveshare GitHub​

1. Visit the Waveshare GitHub repository and download the appropriate firmware version for your needs:

   
   

2. Refer to the Flash Firmware Flashing and Erasing Tutorial to complete the firmware flashing.

2. Flashing with ESP-IDF Environment​

2.1 Download the Project from XiaoZhi GitHub​

Visit the XiaoZhi AI Chatbot repository to download the complete project code:

2.2 Environment Setup​

Refer to the ESP-IDF Environment Setup Tutorial to configure the development environment.

2.3 Configuration and Compilation​

1. Click  to select the target device. Choose the chip model corresponding to your development board (e.g., esp32s3):

   
   

   TIP

   When setting the target device, ESP-IDF will automatically configure the corresponding toolchain and libraries. This process may take some time, please be patient. For more details, please refer to the Official Documentation.

2. Click  to open the ESP-IDF terminal, then execute the command idf.py menuconfig to enter the configuration interface. Select Xiaozhi Assistant:

   
   

3. Select Board Type to choose the development board type:

   
   

4. Choose the product model corresponding to your development board:

   
   

5. Choose XiaoZhi-AI default display language:

   
   

   
   

6. Press the S key to save the configuration and exit. Then click the  to automatically complete compilation, flashing, and serial monitoring.

2.4 Start Network Provisioning​

1. Connect your phone or computer to the device's Wi-Fi hotspot: Xiaozhi-xxxxxx. After successful connection, the configuration page should automatically pop up. If not, manually open a browser and visit http://192.168.4.1.

2. On the network configuration page, select the Wi-Fi name you want to connect to (only 2.4G band is supported; to connect to an iPhone hotspot, enable Max Compatibility in your phone's system settings). The SSID will be auto-filled. Enter the password and click Connect to start connecting:

   
   

2.5 Add a New Device to the Management Console​

1. Ensure the device has successfully connected to the Internet. The device will then broadcast a 6-digit device verification code (you can wake the device again to replay the code).

2. Visit the XiaoZhi AI Console. If you haven't registered, complete the registration and log in:

   
   

   
   

   
   

3. Enter the 6-digit verification code. The device will automatically activate and appear on the Device Management page, ready for normal use.

4. Say the wake word "Hello XiaoZhi" to wake the device and start voice conversations.

5. ESP32-S3-Touch-AMOLED-1.8 Button Instructions:

   • BOOT button: Press to wake XiaoZhi
   • PWR button: Short press to power on; long press for more than 6 seconds to power off

   
   

3. XiaoZhi Resources​

• XiaoZhi AI Chatbot Encyclopedia
• XiaoZhi AI Chatbot FAQ

This chapter contains the following sections. Please read as needed:

• Arduino Getting Started
• Setting Up the Development Environment
• Example

Arduino Getting Started​

New to Arduino ESP32 development and looking for a quick start? We have prepared a comprehensive Getting Started Tutorial for you.

• Section 0: Getting to Know ESP32
• Section 1: Installing and Configuring Arduino IDE
• Section 2: Arduino Basics
• Section 3: Digital Output/Input
• Section 4: Analog Input
• Section 5: Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
• Section 6: Serial Communication (UART)
• Section 7: I2C Communication
• Section 8: SPI Communication
• Section 9: Wi-Fi Basics
• Section 10: Web Server
• Section 11: Bluetooth
• Section 12: LVGL GUI Development
• Section 13: Comprehensive Project

Note: This tutorial uses the ESP32-S3-Zero as a reference example, and all hardware code is based on its pinout. Before you start, we recommend checking the pinout of your development board to ensure the pin configuration is correct.

Setting Up the Development Environment​

1. Installing and Configuring the Arduino IDE​

Please refer to the tutorial Installing and Configuring Arduino IDE to download and install the Arduino IDE and add ESP32 support.

2. Installing Libraries​

To run the example, you need to install the corresponding library. The example code uses the GFX Library for Arduino library to drive the ST7789 display and the SensorLib library to drive the CST816 touch controller.

The example package for the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 development board can be downloaded from this link. The Arduino\libraries directory within this package contains all the necessary library files required for this tutorial.

Installation Steps:

1. Extract the downloaded example package.
2. Copy all folders from its Arduino\libraries directory to your Arduino libraries folder.

3. For other installation methods, please refer to: Arduino Library Management Tutorial.

ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 Board Installation Instructions

3. Additional Tips​

The ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 requires selecting and configuring the development board.

1. For ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54, select ESP32C6 Dev Module.
2. Select the corresponding USB port.
3. The ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 uses the ESP32-C6 native USB interface, not UART-to-USB.
4. For serial communication:
   • The printf() function can be used directly;
   • To use the Serial.println() function, it is recommended to enable USB CDC On Boot in the IDE Tools menu.
5. Select 16MB Flash.
6. Choose the appropriate partition table size based on example requirements. When running ESP-SR examples, you need to select a large partition table that supports voice models.

Example​

The Arduino example programs are located in the Arduino/examples directory of the example package.

01_audio_out​

• This example demonstrates the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 reading audio data and playing it back. No activity on the screen.

Code Analysis​

• Set I2S pins:

  void setupI2S() {
    i2s.setPins(I2S_BCK_PIN, I2S_LRCK_PIN, I2S_DOUT_PIN, I2S_DIN_PIN, I2S_MCK_PIN);
    // Initialize the I2S bus in standard mode
    if (!i2s.begin(I2S_MODE_STD, EXAMPLE_SAMPLE_RATE, I2S_DATA_BIT_WIDTH_16BIT, I2S_SLOT_MODE_MONO, I2S_STD_SLOT_LEFT)) {
      Serial.println("Failed to initialize I2S bus!");
      return;
    }
  }
  
• Set the audio data to be played:

  i2s.write((uint8_t *)audio_data, AUDIO_SAMPLES * 2);
  

Operation Result​

• The device will play auido directly without showing content on the screen

02_button_example​

• This example demonstrates how to use the OneButton library to read button states such as single-click, double-click, and long press, and prints them to the serial port.

Code Analysis​

• Bind callback functions:

  button1.attachClick(click1);
  button1.attachDoubleClick(doubleclick1);
  button1.attachLongPressStart(longPressStart1);
  button1.attachLongPressStop(longPressStop1);
  button1.attachDuringLongPress(longPress1);
  

Operation Result​

• The screen shows no output
• Button information is printed to the serial monitor
  
  

03_qmi8658_example​

• This example uses the ESP32-C6-LCD-1.54 to obtain data from the onboard QMI8658 and prints it to the serial port.

Code Analysis​

• Initialize QMI8658:

   if (!qmi.begin(Wire, QMI8658_L_SLAVE_ADDRESS, SENSOR_SDA, SENSOR_SCL)) {
        Serial.println("Failed to find QMI8658 - check your wiring!");
        while (1) {
            delay(1000);
        }
    }
  

Operation Result​

• The screen shows no output
• Opening the serial monitor shows printed accelerometer and gyroscope data for the x, y, and z axes.
  
  

04_gfx_helloworld​

• This example demonstrates the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 using the GFX_Library_for_Arduino library to drive the screen and display "HelloWorld" on it.

Code Analysis​

• Configure the screen interface and screen resolution, etc.

  Arduino_DataBus* bus = new Arduino_HWSPI(3 /* DC */, 5 /* CS */, 1 /* SCK */, 2 /* MOSI */, -1 /* MISO */);
  Arduino_GFX* gfx = new Arduino_ST7789(
  bus, 4 /* RST */, 0 /* rotation */, true, 240, 240);
  

Operation Result​

• The screen displays as follows:
  
  

05_esp_wifi_analyzer​

• This example demonstrates the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 using the GFX_Library_for_Arduino library to display Wi-Fi band signal strength.

Operation Result​

• The screen displays as follows:
  
  

06_gfx_u8g2_font​

• This example demonstrates the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 using the GFX_Library_for_Arduino library to display text in various languages by loading font libraries.

Operation Result​

• The screen displays as follows:
  
  

07_sd_card_test​

• This example uses the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 to test the TF card read/write functionality.

Code Analysis​

• TF card initialization:

  #ifdef REASSIGN_PINS
    SPI.begin(sck, miso, mosi, cs);
    if (!SD.begin(cs)) {
  #else
    if (!SD.begin()) {
  #endif
      Serial.println("Card Mount Failed");
      return;
    }
  

Operation Result​

• The screen shows no output
• Open the serial monitor
  
  

08_lvgl_example_v8​

• This example demonstrates running the lvgl (v8.4.0) example program on the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54.

  It is required to install lvgl v8.4.0 version. If you have installed other version, please reinstall.
  
  

Operation Result​

• The screen displays as follows:
  
  

09_lvgl_example_v9​

• This example demonstrates running the lvgl (v9.3.0) example program on the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54.

  It is required to install lvgl v9.3.0 version. If you have installed other version, please reinstall.
  
  

Operation Result​

• The screen displays as follows:
  
  

This chapter contains the following sections. Please read as needed:

• ESP-IDF Getting Started
• Setting Up the Development Environment
• Example

ESP-IDF Getting Started​

New to ESP32 ESP-IDF development and looking to get started quickly? We have prepared a general Getting Started Tutorial for you.

• Section 1: Environment Setup
• Section 2: Running Examples
• Section 3: Creating a Project
• Section 4: Using Components
• Section 5: Debugging
• Section 6: FreeRTOS
• Section 7: Peripherals
• Section 8: Wi-Fi Programming
• Section 9: BLE Programming

Please Note: This tutorial uses the ESP32-S3-Zero as a teaching example, and all hardware code is based on its pinout. Before you start, it is recommended that you check the pinout of your development board to ensure the pin configuration is correct.

Setting Up the Development Environment​

Install the ESP-IDF Development Environment​

1. Download the installation manager from the ESP-IDF Installation Manager page. This is Espressif's latest cross-platform installer. The following steps demonstrate how to use its offline installation feature.

   Click the Offline Installer tab on the page, then select Windows as the operating system and the ESP-IDF version you need (the version shown in the screenshot is for reference only — choose the version that fits your actual needs).

   
   

   After confirming your selection, click the download button. The browser will automatically download two files: the ESP-IDF Offline Package (.zst) and the ESP-IDF Installer (.exe).

   
   

   Please wait for both files to finish downloading.

2. Once the download is complete, double-click to run the ESP-IDF Installer (eim-gui-windows-x64.exe).

   The installer will automatically detect if the offline package exists in the same directory. Click Install from archive.

   
   

   Next, select the installation path. We recommend using the default path. If you need to customize it, ensure the path does not contain Chinese characters or spaces. Click Start installation to proceed.

   
   

3. When you see the following screen, the ESP-IDF installation is successful.

   
   

4. We recommend installing the drivers as well. Click Finish installation, then select Install driver.

   
   

Install Visual Studio Code and the ESP-IDF Extension​

1. Download and install Visual Studio Code.

2. During installation, it is recommended to check Add "Open with Code" action to Windows Explorer file context menu to facilitate opening project folders quickly.

3. In VS Code, click the Extensions icon  in the Activity Bar on the side (or use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + X) to open the Extensions view.

4. Enter ESP-IDF in the search box, locate the ESP-IDF extension, and click Install.

   
   

5. For ESP-IDF extension versions ≥ 2.0, the extension will automatically detect and recognize the ESP-IDF environment installed in the previous steps, requiring no manual configuration.

Example​

The ESP-IDF examples are located in the ESP-IDF directory of the example package.

01_factory​

This is a comprehensive example for the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54.

Hardware Connection​

• Connect the development board to the computer.

Operation Result

• The first page cycles through the colors red, green, and blue
• The second page displays development board information
• The third page shows the data read from the IMU
• The fourth page shows the IP address of the connected Wi-Fi (if not connected or connection fails, it displays 0.0.0.0) and the discovered Wi-Fi networks

Specific Operations​

• Long press and hold the left button. After 2 seconds, the microphone captures sound. Release the left button or after capturing for 4 seconds, the speaker plays the recording (if there is noise, re-flash the firmware).
• When powered by battery, long press the middle button to power on; long press again and release to power off
• Click the left/right buttons to switch pages. On the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54, you can also swipe the screen to switch pages.

02_button_example​

This example demonstrates how to use the espressif/button library to read button states such as single click, double click, and long press, and print them via serial port.

Hardware Connection​

• Connect the development board to the computer.

Code Analysis​

• Bind callback functions:

    ret = iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_PRESS_DOWN, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_PRESS_UP, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_PRESS_REPEAT, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_PRESS_REPEAT_DONE, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_SINGLE_CLICK, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_DOUBLE_CLICK, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_LONG_PRESS_START, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_LONG_PRESS_HOLD, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_LONG_PRESS_UP, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
    ret |= iot_button_register_cb(boot_btn, BUTTON_PRESS_END, NULL, button_event_cb, NULL);
  

Operation Result​

• The screen shows no output
• Open the serial debugging tool; button information is printed to the serial port
  
  

03_qmi8658_example​

This example demonstrates how to use the sensorlib library to read data from the qmi8658 and print it.

Hardware Connection​

• Connect the development board to the computer.

Code Analysis

• Read Accelerometer, Gyroscope, and Timestamp data from the qmi8658

    if (qmi.getDataReady())
  {
    if (qmi.getAccelerometer(acc.x, acc.y, acc.z))
    {
      printf("ACCEL--x:%5.2f y:%5.2f z:%5.2f  ", acc.x, acc.y, acc.z);
    }
  
    if (qmi.getGyroscope(gyr.x, gyr.y, gyr.z))
    {
      printf("GYRO--x:%5.2f y:%5.2f z:%5.2f  ", gyr.x, gyr.y, gyr.z);
    }
  }
  

Operation Result​

• The screen shows no output
• Open the serial debugging tool; qmi8658 data information is printed to the serial port
  
  

04_sd_card_test​

This example uses the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 to test the TF card read/write functionality.

Hardware Connection​

• Insert the TF card into the card slot (TF card needs to be formatted as FAT32)
• Connect the development board to the computer.

Operation Result​

• The screen shows no output
• Open the serial debugging tool; TF card information is printed to the serial port
  
  

05_lvgl_example​

This example demonstrates running an lvgl example program on the ESP32-C6-Touch-LCD-1.54 (supports lvgl v8 and lvgl v9).

• The default LVGL version used is v9.3.0. To change the version, modify the LVGL configuration in the main/idf_component.yml file, for example, change it to lvgl/lvgl:^8.4.0.
  
  

Hardware Connection​

• Connect the development board to the computer.

Code Analysis​

• Initialization:

     /* LCD HW initialization */
    ESP_ERROR_CHECK(app_lcd_init());
  
    /* Touch initialization */
    app_touch_init();
  
    /* LVGL initialization */
    ESP_ERROR_CHECK(app_lvgl_init());
  

Operation Result​

1. Hardware Resources​

Development Board Design Files

• Schematic Rev1.1 (GitHub)

2. Technical Manuals​

• ESP32-C6 Chip Official Manuals

  • Datasheet
  • Technical Reference Manual

• Onboard Component Datasheets

  • ES8311 Datasheet
  • ES8311 User Manual
  • ES7210 Datasheet
  • CST816T Datasheet
  • CST816T Register Description
  • ST7789V2 Datasheet
  • QMI8658 Datasheet

3. Example​

• Example (GitHub)

4. Software Tools​

• Arduino:
  • Arduino IDE Official Download Link
• VS Code:
  • VS Code Official Download Link
• Debugging Tools:
  • Serial Port Debug Assistant
• Firmware Flashing Tool:
  • Flash_download_tool
• Other Resource Links:
  • ESP32-Arduino Official Documentation
  • ESP32-Arduino Official Resources
  • ESP-IDF Official Resources

Support

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Email: services01@spotpear.com