This particular Mr. Robot Badge Mk. 2 was deemed a defective unit with several dark LEDs. I used it as a practice subject for working with surface-mounted electronic devices, bringing two LEDs back into running order though one of them is the wrong color. Is the badge fully repaired? I couldn't quite tell. The default firmware is big on blinking and flashing patterns, making it difficult to determine if a specific LED is functioning or not. What I needed was a test pattern, something as simple as illuminate all of the LEDs to see if they come up. Fortunately, there was a URL right on the badge that took me to a GitHub repository with sample code and instructions. It used Arduino framework to generate code for this ESP8266, and that's something I've worked with. I think we're in business.

On the hardware side, I soldered sockets to the unpopulated programmer header and then created a programming cable to connect to my FTDI serial adapter (*). For the software, I cloned the "Starter Pack" repository, followed installation directions, and encountered a build failure:

Arduino\libraries\Brzo_I2C\src\brzo_i2c.c: In function 'brzo_i2c_write':
Arduino\libraries\Brzo_I2C\src\brzo_i2c.c:72:2: error: cannot find a register in class 'RL_REGS' while reloading 'asm'
   72 |  asm volatile (
      |  ^~~
Arduino\libraries\Brzo_I2C\src\brzo_i2c.c:72:2: error: 'asm' operand has impossible constraints
exit status 1
Error compiling for board Generic ESP8266 Module.

This looks like issue #44 in the Brzo library, unfixed at time of this writing. Hmm, this is a problem. Reading the code some more, I learned Brzo is used to create I2C communication routines with the IS31FL3741 driver chip controlling the LED array. Aha, there's a relatively easy solution. Since the time the badge was created, Adafruit has released a product using the same LED driver chip and corresponding software libraries to go with it. I could remove this custom I2C communication code using Brzo and replace it with Adafruit's library.

Most of the conversion was straightforward except for the LED pixel coordinate lookup. The IS31Fl3741 chip treats the LEDs as a linear array, and something had to translate the linear index to their X,Y coordinates. The badge example code has a lookup table mapping linear index to X,Y coordinates. To use Adafruit library's frame buffer, I needed the reverse: a table that converts X,Y coordinates to linear index. I started typing it up by hand before deciding that was stupid: this is the kind of task we use computers for. So I wrote this piece of quick-and-dirty code to cycle through the existing lookup table and print the information back out organized by X,Y coordinates.


      for(uint8_t x = 0; x < 18; x++)
      {
        for(uint8_t y = 0; y < 18; y++)
        {
          reverseLookup[x][y]=-1;
        }
      }
      for(uint8_t i = 0; i < PAGE_0_SZ; i++)
      {
        reverseLookup[page0LUT[i].x][page0LUT[i].y] = i;
      }
      for(uint16_t i = 0; i < PAGE_1_SZ; i++)
      {
        // Unused locations were marked with (-1, -1) but x and y are
        // declared as unsigned which means -1 is actually 0xFF so
        // instead of checking for >0 we check for <18
        if(page1LUT[i].x < 18 && page1LUT[i].y < 18)
        {
          reverseLookup[page1LUT[i].x][page1LUT[i].y] = i+PAGE_0_SZ;
        }
      }
      for(uint8_t y = 0; y < 18; y++)
      {
        Serial.print("{");
        for(uint8_t x = 0; x < 18; x++)
        {
          Serial.print(reverseLookup[x][y]);
          if (x<17)
          {
            Serial.print(",");
          }
        }
        if (y<17)
        {
          Serial.println("},");
        }
        else
        {
          Serial.println("}");
        }
      }

This gave me the numbers I needed in Arduino serial monitor, and I could copy it from there. Some spacing adjustment to make things a little more readable, and we have this:

const uint16_t Lookup[ARRAY_HEIGHT][ARRAY_WIDTH] = {
  {  17,  47,  77, 107, 137, 167, 197, 227, 257,  18,  48,  78, 108, 138, 168, 198, 228, 258},
  {  16,  46,  76, 106, 136, 166, 196, 226, 256,  19,  49,  79, 109, 139, 169, 199, 229, 259},
  {  15,  45,  75, 105, 135, 165, 195, 225, 255,  20,  50,  80, 110, 140, 170, 200, 230, 260},
  {  14,  44,  74, 104, 134, 164, 194, 224, 254,  21,  51,  81, 111, 141, 171, 201, 231, 261},
  {  13,  43,  73, 103, 133, 163, 193, 223, 253,  22,  52,  82, 112, 142, 172, 202, 232, 262},
  {  12,  42,  72, 102, 132, 162, 192, 222, 252,  23,  53,  83, 113, 143, 173, 203, 233, 263},
  {  11,  41,  71, 101, 131, 161, 191, 221, 251,  24,  54,  84, 114, 144, 174, 204, 234, 264},
  {  10,  40,  70, 100, 130, 160, 190, 220, 250,  25,  55,  85, 115, 145, 175, 205, 235, 265},
  {   9,  39,  69,  99, 129, 159, 189, 219, 249,  26,  56,  86, 116, 146, 176, 206, 236, 266},
  {   8,  38,  68,  98, 128, 158, 188, 218, 248,  27,  57,  87, 117, 147, 177, 207, 237, 267},
  {   7,  37,  67,  97, 127, 157, 187, 217, 247,  28,  58,  88, 118, 148, 178, 208, 238, 268},
  {   6,  36,  66,  96, 126, 156, 186, 216, 246,  29,  59,  89, 119, 149, 179, 209, 239, 269},
  {   5,  35,  65,  95, 125, 155, 185, 215, 245, 270, 279, 288, 297, 306, 315, 324, 333, 342},
  {   4,  34,  64,  94, 124, 154, 184, 214, 244, 271, 280, 289, 298, 307, 316, 325, 334, 343},
  {   3,  33,  63,  93, 123, 153, 183, 213, 243, 272, 281, 290, 299, 308, 317, 326, 335, 344},
  {   2,  32,  62,  92, 122, 152, 182, 212, 242, 273, 282, 291, 300, 309, 318, 327, 336, 345},
  {   1,  31,  61,  91, 121, 151, 181, 211, 241, 274, 283, 292, 301, 310, 319, 328, 337, 346},
  {   0,  30,  60,  90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 275, 284, 293, 302, 311, 320, 329, 338, 347}
};

This lookup table got Mr. Robot Badge Mk. 2 up and running without Brzo library! I could write that simple "turn on all LED" test I wanted.

The test exposed two more problematic LEDs. One of them was intermittent: I tapped it and it illuminated for this picture. If it starts flickering again, I'll give it a dab of solder to see if that helps. The other one is dark and stayed dark through (unscientific) tapping and (scientific) LED test equipment. It looks like I need to find two more surface-mount red LEDs to fully repair this array.

In case anybody else wants to play with Mr. Robot Badge and runs into the same problem, I have collected my changes and updated the README installation instructions in pull request #3 of the badge code sample repository. If that PR rejected, clone my fork directly.

(*) Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.