Living in the Moment

Does living in the moment translate to fewer screen moments in modern human assembly language?

I want to break my addiction to screens but it’s hard, especially when it’s easy to main-line the world wide web all the time.

Is it possible to stay connected but not look at a screen all the time? Particularly a screen that’s designed to deliver distractions in every shape and form?

Well, challenge accepted.

Hello World!

Last week I started a hardware project to capture a photo using a small camera attached to an ESP32 S3 Sense chip that’s just 2 x 1.75cm. My hope is to tape it to a very snazzy pair of sunglasses that my husband won at last year’s airfare.

The VERY smart sunglasses

Touching the camera mounted on the frames would capture a photo of a book or a landmark that’s in front of me, get its rating or fun facts, and play it on the ear-buds, also mounted on the frames. DIY smart glasses, ftw.

What’s working

Last weekend, I was able to get the first leg working: take a photo and get an analysis.

Step 1: Set up a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) server on an ESP32 S3 with an integrated camera

The sketch for the BLE server on ESP32 is here. I borrowed a bunch from this getting started guide.

The smallest chip I could find with a camera extension and support for Wifi and BLE

Step 2: Connect to the camera from the accompanying app on the phone. The Xcode project for the app is here.

Ready to ConnectBluetooth camera connected

Step 3: Once connected to the camera, touch the camera to shoot a photo.

Specifically, touching the D0 pin on the ESP32 S3 will trigger a photo capture. The BLE server on the ESP32 will then transmit the photo to the app on the phone.

Photo transmitted to the app

Step 4: Analyze the photo.

Once the photo receives the photo, the app will automatically invoke the OpenAI API to describe the image.

This weekend (happy Fourth!), I was able to get another piece in…

Step 5: Convert the analysis to speech.

Now, the app will play back the analysis through the audio channel. If you have ear-buds mounted on your frames and paired with the phone, you’ll hear the hear the analysis within a few seconds.

The last step is to power the camera with a battery rather than USB-C and tape it on.

The Bill

Frames: free, but shall we say $20?

ESP32 with Camera: $24

JBuds: $15 (this made me give up trying to DIY these)

3.7V LiPo battery: $9

$68 for a very dorky pair of “smart” sunglasses. My parents would definitely not approve.