The Tome of Boundless Knowledge

I made my GitHub repo for the project! I also added the mic holes to the case, selected my final components, and made a cost breakdown. Time to submit my funding request!

I have a basic version of the firmware completed assuming it actually works (being I can’t test it fully without the actual device). The tome will listen for a wake word followed by a command such as “Show me level 4 Evocation”. The tome will compile a list of these commands based on the available combinations of two categories (level and school). Once it hears one, it will filter for and display all spells in those categories on the display. It will then listen for one of those spells to be said aloud, at which point it will pull the data for that spell and display it onscreen. There is an LED indicator for these steps. I’m currently using a very limited dataset of 10 entries, since I don’t want to reformat a large list if I have to change it later, but once I confirm it actually works in it’s current state I will expand the dataset.

This one’s a bit of a mess. It’s been my longest time between devlogs. I was having a very hard time getting VSCode to let me set up the right extensions to work with the ESP board. Since I’m going to be using ESP-SR for voice recognition through wakenet and multinet, I have to have it to work on the firmware. The good news is I think I finally got it. Yesterday, it occurred to me that I had designed a charging circuit when the Xiao ESP32-S3 Pro already has one built in. So I removed it, fixed some other things in my design, and redid all my PCB routing, making it a bit smaller. If I can get the funds for it, I want to complete the case by making a hardcover book case for it, so it truly looks like a tome.

I have finished the main body of the case/enclosure. Here’s a picture of it with and without the top of the case. I added some slots for magnets along the right side, so I can do a folio case style cover. I’m thinking of making a book-style cover for it with faux leather and doing custom foiling, since it’s pretty cheap to do so and I already have supplies for foiling. You won’t see much of that until the end though, since it will be done by hand and not digitally. I may end up moving the magnet sockets to the top rather than the side for that, but I can always change that later. Next up is some firmware. I won’t be able to do all of it without the actual device, but I can get a simplified “demo” version of it.

I finished the bottom of the enclosure for the tome. I will still have to do the part that covers it, as well as the front cover, which I’m considering doing in a different style (Fabric maybe?). Here’s a picture with and without the display in place. The empty lanes are for the cables.

I have been working on the case/enclosure for the tome, and I’ve made good progress on the bottom section, but it’s taking quite a while since I want to make sure everything is going to fit. Here’s a picture of how it’s going.

I made the first version of the PCB design. I do still have to check the mic grounding, but otherwise it seems pretty good. I may end up editing it to fit with the case a bit better too later on. Also updated project photo. Here you go!

So it turns out I did not actually finish the schematic last time. I fixed several things, added a real power switch, as well as two keys for some simple controls other than voice. I also added some rgb leds. It helped a lot that apparently you can use the JTAG debug pins as GPIO after boot, so I managed to go from using 2 gpio pins for 1 mic to using essentially 0 gpio for 2 mics, since they run on L/R channels and can use the same data and clock pins at this quantity. Here’s some schematic screenshots.

I actually finished the schematic by checking things over and adding some caps. I also did footprint assignment so that I’ll be able to start the PCB routing.

I added all the things! I will be checking if they work though. I added a multi-purpose button, pins to interface with the e-ink display, and a pdm mic for the voice recognition. Here’s some photos.

I’ve finished the first real step other than planning. I created a charging circuit schematic so that the power can go from the Li-Ion battery to the board, and the battery can be charged through USB-C.