Brett Tech's Info Orbs Is a DIY IoT Desk Clock with Eye-Catching Displays and Endless Customization
An ESP32-powered desk accessory with round displays is an open source project available as a soldering kit.
Desk clocks, a timeless fixture, have now taken a modern leap into the IoT era with Info Orbs. This latest project by Brett Turner of the Brett Tech YouTube channel is an ESP32-powered desk accessory with five round TFT displays that can tell time, display weather information, stock prices, or anything else you want since it is an open source DIY-friendly design.
The 2.1-inch TFT displays plug into a PCB that has an ESP32 module. The microcontroller runs the displays and downloads information, like the current weather, via Wi-Fi. Users interact with the Info Orbs with three pushbuttons.
The displays have a GC9A01 controller that communicates with SPI. Each display has a dedicated chip select pin so the ESP32 can select which one to update. While you could wire such a display up with a perfboard, Turner offers a PCB that makes all the connections. He even added "PCB feet," which provides a stable stand for Info Orbs to sit on a desk and make the displays easily readable!
By default, Info Orbs displays your location's current time and weather. (You need to set the location manually.) However, since the project uses PlatformIO and the Arduino framework, you can program the ESP32 to display almost any information.
The project is entirely open source. You can download the code and KiCad files from the Info Orbs GitHub repository. For those who prefer a guided approach, Turner offers a DIY kit that includes the ESP32 module, PCB, displays, and other components for $60. The kit ships unassembled, so the user needs to solder it. But no worries if you are unfamiliar with soldering because Turner designed this kit to be accessible regardless of skill.
The first part of the video demonstrates how Info Orbs works. The rest of the video is a detailed soldering and assembly tutorial of the kit. Turner also shows the steps for getting the software side working. Between the Info Orbs DIY kit and Turner's excellent video tutorial, anyone can turn to customize this eye-catching desk accessory.
