chatman-controller 0.1.2

A reverse-engineered controller for the Chatman toy

🟡 Chatman Controller

A reverse-engineered controller for the Chatman toy, allowing you to bring it back to life! Originally designed as a USB-connected talking assistant for kids, Chatman is no longer supported by its manufacturer — but that doesn't mean it's useless. This project lets you control its LED matrix, eye, hand, and antenna movements using Python.

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🎉 Features

• ✅ Control Chatman's LED matrix (3x8) in real time
• 👁️ Move eyes, hands, and antenna
• 🖥️ GUI (chatman_gui) for easy control
• 🧑‍💻 CLI (chatman_cli) for scripting or automation
• 🔌 USB HID communication with the Chatman device

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🧠 Why This Exists

The official Chatman software and website are now discontinued, leaving the hardware unsupported. This project reverse-engineers the USB commands sent to the toy, allowing anyone to repurpose it — whether for fun, education, or building a retro-styled virtual assistant.

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Install Chatman Controller via pip

The chatman-controller package is now available on PyPI. To install it, simply run:

pip install chatman-controller

This will install all the necessary dependencies for communication with the Chatman device, including hidapi for USB HID communication.

2. Connect Your Chatman Toy

Make sure your Chatman device is plugged into a USB port before launching the app.

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🖥️ Running the GUI

chatman_gui

This will launch a control panel where you can:

• Toggle the LED matrix (3x8 grid)
• Choose eye, hand, and antenna movement
• See the resulting hex code for your LED configuration

If the device fails to connect, an error will be shown.

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🔧 Running the CLI

You can control Chatman directly from the terminal using the CLI tool chatman_cli.py.

▶ Interactive Mode

Run without arguments or use --interactive to enter an interactive session:

chatman_cli

In this mode, you'll be prompted to choose eye, hand, and antenna movements, as well as LED values for Chatman's face.

▶ One-Time Command Mode

Provide movement and LED values directly via command-line arguments:

chatman_cli --eyes EYES_OPEN --hands HANDS_UP --antenna ANTENNAS_OUT --leds FF 00 AA

• --eyes: Choose from:

  • EYES_CLOSED, EYES_ONE_THIRD_OPEN, EYES_TWO_THIRDS_OPEN, EYES_OPEN, NO_MOVEMENT

• --hands: Choose from:

  • HANDS_DOWN, HANDS_ONE_THIRD_UP, HANDS_TWO_THIRDS_UP, HANDS_UP, NO_MOVEMENT

• --antenna: Choose from:

  • ANTENNAS_IN, ANTENNAS_CENTER, ANTENNAS_OUT, NO_MOVEMENT

• --leds: Provide 3 hexadecimal values for the face LEDs:

  • e.g., --leds FF 00 AA

▶ No Reset Option

If you don’t want to reset Chatman on startup, use the --no-reset flag:

chatman_cli --no-reset --eyes EYES_OPEN --hands HANDS_UP --antenna ANTENNAS_CENTER --leds 00 FF 00

💡 You typically only need to reset Chatman once — usually on the first command after plugging it in. After that, you should use --no-reset.

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🧑‍💻 Using the Chatman Controller in Python

If you'd prefer to control the Chatman toy directly from your Python code, you can use the ChatmanController class, which provides an easy-to-use API for controlling the toy's movements and LED matrix.

Example Usage:

from chatman_controller import ChatmanController, EyeMovement, HandMovement, AntennaMovement

# Initialize the ChatmanController
controller = ChatmanController()

# Move the eyes, hands, and antenna, and set the LED matrix
controller.move(
    EyeMovement.EYES_CLOSED,         # Eye movement
    HandMovement.HANDS_UP,           # Hand movement
    AntennaMovement.ANTENNAS_IN,     # Antenna movement
    [0x3C, 0x7E, 0x00]               # LED matrix (3x8)
)

Parameters:

• EyeMovement: Controls the eye position.

  • Options: EYES_CLOSED, EYES_ONE_THIRD_OPEN, EYES_TWO_THIRDS_OPEN, EYES_OPEN, NO_MOVEMENT

• HandMovement: Controls the hand position.

  • Options: HANDS_DOWN, HANDS_ONE_THIRD_UP, HANDS_TWO_THIRDS_UP, HANDS_UP, NO_MOVEMENT

• AntennaMovement: Controls the antenna position.

  • Options: ANTENNAS_IN, ANTENNAS_CENTER, ANTENNAS_OUT, NO_MOVEMENT

• LED Matrix: A list of 3 hexadecimal values representing the LED matrix (3x8 grid). Each value should be in the range 0x00 to 0xFF.

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🛠️ Extend This Project

Here are a few fun ideas:

• 🎙️ Add voice control
• 🤖 Use a local LLM or OpenAI API to turn it into a chat-based assistant
• 🎵 Make it dance to music by analyzing sound

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🙌 Credits

Created by Mohammed N. Almadhoun

Email: [e-mail]

Feel free to fork, improve, or reach out if you’ve built something cool with it!