Cyborg Wave
Cheap boards + mic/display/speaker + cloud agents — field notes from three X posts that map to real build paths
← Cyborg stack (principles) · Shopping list · Personal · Productivity · AI Agents · HEOS · Stage Agent
Why a second cyborg page
Cyborg is the philosophy + personal stack: neck timer, Mi Band, omni.me,
named agents (arthur.agent, janice.agent), and design principles so gadgets don’t become spam.
Cyborg2 is the maker wave: three different posts, three different jobs — not one tutorial mashed together.
Three paths (pick one job)
1. E‑paper agent console
ESP32 + e‑paper polls an API for status; hold-to-talk dumps voice into chat / agents. ~$55 kit energy. Firmware + tiny backend.
Source: @hot_town
Build path →2. Character desk device
~$25 BOM → gift-able character (~$99 thesis). Face states, mic in, speaker out. People buy the avocado, not the ESP32.
Source: @Piefena
Product path →3. M5Stack StickS3
Modular IoT stick + AIFlow: demos with less bare-metal pain. Event badge / pocket form factor. “No PC, no phone” story.
Source: @M5Stack
Easy platform →Shared architecture (all three)
Same loop as the principles on /cyborg: device does I/O; cloud/agents think; vault gets the write.
| Layer | Job | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Physical | Button, mic, display, speaker, battery | E‑paper, OLED face, StickS3 |
| Board | Wi‑Fi, sensors, UI only | ESP32-S3, M5 StickS3 |
| Tiny API | Status + voice-in + agent-out | /status, /voice-in, /agent-out |
| Agent brain | Transcribe, plan, reply | Arthur, Janice, OpenAI, Grok, HEOS |
| Vault | Memory that isn’t theater | HEOS inbox, TODAY Big 3, dumps |
Rule: if the signal doesn’t land in HEOS / agent memory, it’s cosplay.
Shopping list (parts)
Concrete carts, product search names, and “what not to buy yet”: /cyborg-shopping.
First order only: Waveshare ESP32-S3-ePaper-1.54 + 3.7V LiPo + data USB‑C
(~$40–60). Don’t buy character BOM + M5 stick in the same cart.
Which path first?
| If you want… | Start here |
|---|---|
| Desk status + voice dump into Arthur / HEOS | E‑paper console |
| Demo / gift / “named character on the desk” | Character device |
| Fastest unboxing → webhook without deep PlatformIO | M5 StickS3 |
Default for this stack: e‑paper / voice dump first (matches the existing cyborg backlog: one button → agent). Character shell and M5 demos come after the dump loop is boring-reliable.
Map to named agents
| Moment | Agent | Vault write |
|---|---|---|
| Hold-to-talk dump | arthur.agent | Inbox / code dump / reverse prompt |
| “What’s next?” | janice.agent | TODAY / calendar / ops |
| Desk status display | Both (pull) | /status from HEOS |
| Talking desk character | Stage / persona | Optional public demo log |
Source posts (X)
Related
Living notes
Status: field notes only — not shipped builds yet. Update each child page when parts arrive and loops work. Next edit: first ordered kit + first endpoint stub.
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