Hardware · build

A desk robot with 56 expressions and Gemini Live voice

A round-screen desktop companion that blinks, emotes and talks back through Gemini Live. There's also a browser emulator, so you can poke at the eyes without any hardware.

Can I build this?Intermediate · AI 4/5 · $30–60

Difficulty: Intermediate
AI-buildability: 4/5
Time: A weekend
Cost: $30–60

Tools

soldering iron3D printer

Starter prompt

Based on "A desk robot with 56 expressions and Gemini Live voice" on Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/a-desk-robot-with-56-expressions-and-gemini-live-voice

Write an animated robot-eye face for a round 240x240 TFT on an ESP32-S3 board. Include blink, look-around, happy, sad and surprised states, with a state machine that switches between them. Add a browser emulator using the same expression code so the animations can be tested without hardware. Later, hook up a microphone and a speaker for Gemini Live voice.

Estimates based on the original write-up. How AI-buildability is scored. Building with an AI assistant? Connect it to Afterware (free MCP server).

Story

The face is the hook. This round-screen desk robot runs 56 expressions and 47 animations, all driven by Gemini Live voice, so the eyes react while it talks back.

The source is a short project blurb with no build details, so the board, display and wiring aren't documented here. What it does say is that a browser emulator is included, which lets you run the eye animations on a computer before you commit to hardware.

If you want a cheap desk companion, the emulator-first approach is the useful part to steal: build and tune the expression set in a browser, then port it to a round display once the animations look right.

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