Introducing MagicPoi Alpha

TLDR: Magic Poi Alpha is getting test circuit boards, new firmware which works with the new web service and development is being accelerated by AI. At the end I ask for money to fund the AI coding assistant – via my Patreon Account.

Major updates to the Magic Poi project:

HARDWARE:

  • ESP32 S3 chip
  • Buttons
  • 2020 size LED’s for more pixels
  • Lithium battery
  • Full housing re-design

FIRMWARE:

  • OTA programming
  • Dual Core with FreeRTOS background processes (downloading images won’t interfere with display)
  • Streaming from web functionality
  • Full integration with magicpoi web service API but works offline
  • Any number of LED’s supported
  • Timed events supported

Instagram video of magicpoi breadboard in action: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-KaTrBOwb_/

WEB SERVICE:

  • Friends – share with friends (working on this now)
  • Products – currently legacy 36px, 72px and new 200px with more to be supported.
  • Image classification with AI on upload
  • Moved back-end data to PostgreSQL for scaling purposes
  • Actually complete re-write of the whole thing (old version online at http://magicpoi.circusscientist.com, new version to be hosted at https://magicpoi.com soon)
Adding friends to the new magicpoi.com alpha version

Development:

Firmware and Web Service are moving forward really fast now – recently I moved over to Cursor IDE, the AI based IDE that’s so easy to use my kid loves it: https://www.circusscientist.com/2024/09/05/my-10-year-old-son-made-an-android-game-with-no-coding-experience

There have been some challenges – recently I found out that the new ESP32 boards I bought aren’t even fully supported by PlatformIO – but I found a way to work around that.

Ultimately I want MagicPoi to work seamlessly. Add your friends on the web dashboard, create some timelines and push a button on your poi to sync everything up.

Hardware:

The first test board is coming out soon. The design is finished, using EasyEDA. We will be sending the board for production by JLPCB in the very near future – look out for an update.

After that it’s on to the poi body full re-design and finally Indigogo when you will be able to purchase the very first Magic Poi.

You can help!

If you want to be a part of MagicPoi development and the road to the Alpha production line, you can. I have started a Patreon to fund my AI dev tool and services addiction* as well as web hosting costs** – until we have something to sell that is. A few dollars per month from you would really help make this thing go faster. Also, anyone who signs up will get some exclusive discounts on the finished product.

*Go check out Cursor IDE and also the open source Aider they are so worth it.

**I’m spending $25 per month on hosting, $20 per month on AI coding tools and of course my friends over at EnterAction are putting up their own money to do the prototypes.

Feel free to reach out to me and don’t forget to subscribe to the magicpoi mailing list if you haven’t already.

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