EarGear v1 Protocol
Command list for The Tail Company EarGear v1.
Each system command generates a specific unique response.
Device Advertisement
Device name is EarGear.
Ear Moves
Each move command sent is <COMMAND> plus angle. It gets the same command returned from the ears with <COMMAND> <VALUE> BEGIN. When the move is done, <COMMAND> <VALUE> END. HOME defaults to 90 degrees.
All move commands sent with values outside ranges will be forced within range. Commands sent during a move will return BUSY.
| EARHOME | Move servos to their HOME position |
| LETWIST | LEft TWIST |
| RITWIST | RIght TWIST |
| BOTWIST | BOth TWIST |
| LETILT | LEft TILT |
| RITILT | RIght TILT |
| BOTILT | BOth TILT |
| DSSP | Directly Set Servo Position, followed by four values to send to all servos at once (e.g. DSSP aaa bbb ccc ddd where a = LETWIST, b = RITWIST, c = LETILT, d = RITILT). All four parameters must be sent. |
| CASUAL MODE | See Casual Mode, below. |
| ENDCASUAL | See Casual Mode, below. |
| LISTEN IOS | See Listen Mode, below. |
| LISTEN FULL | See Listen Mode, below. |
| ENDLISTEN | END LISTEN Mode. Returns LISTEN OFF. |
| MICBAL | See Listen Mode, below. |
| MICSWAP | See Listen Mode, below. |
Other Commands
| BATT | BATTery percentage, returns the integer value of estimated battery capacity remaining (e.g. 61) |
| LTLIM | Left Twist LIMit. See Home and Limits, below. |
| RTLIM | Right Twist LIMit. See Home and Limits, below. |
| LILIM | Left Tilt LIMit. See Home and Limits, below. |
| RILIM | Right Tilt LIMit. See Home and Limits, below. |
| PING | Keepalive heartbeat (from application). Returns OK. |
| SET | SET current servo position as Home. |
| SHUTDOWN | Switches off the unit (will lose the BLE connection). |
| VER | Returns the firmware VERsion number (e.g. VER plus firmware version.) |
Casual Mode
CASUAL MODE T\<n\>T\<nn\>
The tail will select a random move from the specified group(s), pausing for a random number of seconds between each move (min and max specified by the first and second T parameter, respectively).
ENDCASUAL
ENDCASUAL will abort the current Casual Mode after completing any ongoing move.
Home and Limits
LTLIM RTLIM LILIM RILIM
Without parameters, the above will return current low and high limits for corresponding servo. Acceptable limits are from 1 to 180 degrees.
SET saves the current positions of the servos as HOME position
LTLIM \<xxx\> \<yyy\> RTLIM \<xxx\> \<yyy\> LILIM \<xxx\> \<yyy\> RILIM \<xxx\> \<yyy\>
Where _xxx_ and _yyy_ are low and high limits, respectively. Servos have limits set in firmware (25 to 160). Values outside this range are forced to the nearest maximum or minimum.
Auto Sleep
Ears sleep after 120 seconds (3 minutes) of inactivity. Power-off after 300 seconds (5 minutes) of inactivity. Note: Switching Listening Mode on suspends timers until listening mode off is triggered.
Battery
Battery notifications are automatically sent every 5 percent. The BATT terminal command returns the numeric percentage. You can monitor the separate battery characteristic for 5 nice slices.
Listen Mode
LISTEN IOS
For iOS, with triggered moves. 6 second moving cycle (3 s twisted + 3 s at home).
LISTEN FULL
Verbose mode, no moves triggered. Update every 0.3 seconds. Negative values are right microphone, positive values are left.
ENDLISTEN
Stop Listen Mode, returns LISTEN OFF.
MICBAL
Execute in a quiet room to re-baseline the microphone noise floor. Value stored in flash.
MICSWAP
Swaps L and R microphones.