In development · v2.5

Meet Elara

A little desk companion Chris is building from scratch. She floats around her screen, bumps into the walls, talks, has moods that change with the months, and dresses up for the holidays.

That's her, running live. Tap her.

Real firmware, running in your browser

Watch her

A showreel of Elara's floating, holiday hats and animations. More videos land here as she grows.

What she can do today

  • Floats and bouncesDrifts around her screen, squishes when she bonks a wall, gets dizzy if she hits too fast.
  • Talks backSpeaks with her own voice and lip-syncs her mouth to the words.
  • Holiday hatsSanta hat, Uncle Sam, witch hat, bunny ears and more, on the right days.
  • Monthly moodsSnow in winter, leaves in fall, fireflies on summer nights, shades when it's sunny.
  • Little animationsDances, sneezes, yawns, hiccups, peeks, sparkles, hearts.
  • Feels a tapTap for a happy hop, double-tap for a wink, hold for hearts.
  • Knows you're homeSays hi when your phone comes near.
  • Sleeps at nightDims down and naps until morning.

How she's built

  1. The body A 2.8" ESP32 touchscreen board with a speaker and an RGB light. About the size of a phone.
  2. The face Every eye, hat and snowflake is drawn in code (C++), frame by frame. No video files.
  3. The brain Her thinking runs on a home computer and talks to the orb over Wi-Fi.
  4. Updates New tricks reach her over Wi-Fi. No cables.

How-tos coming soon

  • Build your own orbParts list and putting it together.
  • Give her a new hatDraw your own holiday hat in a few lines of code.
  • Teach her an animationMake her do something new.

Want one?

Elara isn't for sale yet. Chris is still building her. Leave your email and you'll hear first when orbs or build kits are ready.

Follow the whole build in the build journal.