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Originally shared on Hacker News

Oculette

This hardware-plus-AI device pairs an ESP32 camera with a vision model that users prompt to watch things and send webhooks, enabling monitoring of analog gauges, legacy equipment, and sourdough starters. It includes an air quality API that reads the display of a cheap monitor, and supports direct camera access via MCP so Claude can help debug the hardware. Cloud video streaming is on by default, with a LAN MCP mode option for sending images to a local model, plus cropping, privacy screens, and no image retention. The rationale for dedicated hardware over a spare phone is plug-and-play setup, quality control, not tying up a device, and lower long-term price.

Last shared
01 / The problem

What it addresses

Legacy equipment and everyday objects like analog gauges and sourdough starters lack APIs, so they can't be monitored or wired into automated actions.

02 / Source history

Shared over time

Each entry reflects what was shared on that date. Details may have changed since then.

  1. Oculette

    This hardware-plus-AI device pairs an ESP32 camera with a vision model that users prompt to watch things and send webhooks, enabling monitoring of analog gauges, legacy equipment, and sourdough starters. It includes an air quality API that reads the display of a cheap monitor, and supports direct camera access via MCP so Claude can help debug the hardware. Cloud video streaming is on by default, with a LAN MCP mode option for sending images to a local model, plus cropping, privacy screens, and no image retention. The rationale for dedicated hardware over a spare phone is plug-and-play setup, quality control, not tying up a device, and lower long-term price.

    Problem: Legacy equipment and everyday objects like analog gauges and sourdough starters lack APIs, so they can't be monitored or wired into automated actions.

    Posted by @oculetteai · Original comment ↗

    “I'm building Oculette (https://prelaunch.oculette.ai/). Basically, I hooked up an ESP32 camera to a vision model so I can prompt it to watch stuff and send webhooks. Thinking analog gauges, legacy equipment, sourdough starters (still no API), and stuff like that.”
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