I built an AI Tamagotchi before Meta could
A journalist used a $50 Meta-sanctioned dev kit and AI coding to build a customizable AI companion similar to Meta's Muse Charm.Summary
The author purchased a $50 Waveshare ESP32-S3 1.75C, a 1.75-inch touchscreen pendant that resembles Meta's upcoming Muse Charm and is officially sanctioned for building "Muse Gadgets" using Meta's open-source code and Muse AI cloud. Initially, Meta's firmware was rudimentary: it lacked a conversation history, voice output, smart home discovery, and a remote camera shutter, and its only avatar was a static "Jolly." Using Claude Code, the author—who has no coding experience—added features including a conversation history page, a British ElevenLabs voice, a Tamagotchi-style minigame with avatars that need food, play, sleep, and baths, a working pocket watch face, and Bluetooth camera preview. The author notes concerns about trusting Meta with personal data, having put the device on guest Wi-Fi after reports of a reviewer's home address leaking. They conclude that the value of such a device lies in its programmability rather than Muse itself, and question whether the commercial Muse Charm will be as freely programmable or whether buyers would be better off with a development kit.
(Source：The Verge)