Haiku
Matic
A pocket robot poet that writes original haiku on its own chip, with no internet connection.
What It Is
Haiku-Matic turns Vidiotbox hardware into a poet that writes 5-7-5 haiku on its touchscreen. A tiny language model runs on the board itself, so there is no app, account or network to set up.
| Part | What Is In It |
|---|---|
| Board | Vidiotbox hardware, an LCDWIKI ES3C28P |
| Chip | ESP32-S3, 16 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM |
| Screen | About 2.8 inches, 320 x 240, run in landscape |
| Touch | FT6336G capacitive, two fingers |
| Sound | ES8311 codec and a small speaker |
| Storage | microSD card for music |
| Light | One RGB LED |
| Model | 28.9 million parameters, 14.9 MB, stored in flash |
Rules check the grammar as each poem is written, but the model is very small and its imagery can wander. Expect the occasional strange poem.
Start It Up
Power it on and wait. You get the splash screen, then the instructions, and if you leave it alone it starts writing by itself.
| When | What Happens |
|---|---|
| First 10 seconds | Splash screen. Touches do nothing yet. |
| Next 25 seconds | Instruction screen. Music starts if the volume is above 0. |
| Left untouched | The first poem starts with your saved settings. |
| Touched during the 25 seconds | The auto-start is canceled. Tap the upper half when you want a poem. |
In a Vidiotbox case, the magnetic cap still controls power. Take it off to run or charge, and put it back to disconnect the battery.
Touch Map
The screen has two halves and one gesture. Taps act when your finger lifts.
| Control | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Tap upper half | Shows the next poem. If one is ready it appears at once. If not, you watch it being written. |
| Tap lower half | Moves to the next theme and drops poems written ahead for the old one. |
| Two fingers | Opens the menu, anywhere on the screen. |
| RESET | Restarts the board. Saved settings stay. |
| BOOT | Only used when installing firmware. See section 10. |
The touch position is scaled to the screen, so aim straight at what you want to press.
Read The Screen
Three lines of poem, the theme above them, and a status line that only appears when you need it.
| Part | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Top line | The theme in gray capitals. A notice such as Music On or Auto Mode On replaces it for about 3 seconds. |
| Poem | Three lines. Line one ends in "...", the pause a haiku traditionally takes. Long lines shrink to fit. |
| Spinner | A poem is being written and you are waiting for it. |
| Bottom line | Version on the left, battery on the right. It stays up until the first poem, then shows for 10 seconds after each touch. |
Five Themes
Tap the lower half to step through them in this order. The RGB LED shows which one you are on.
| Theme | LED | One Of Its Openers | Written Openers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Green | Soft rain falls | 10 |
| Summer | Gold | Hot winds blow | 15 |
| Autumn | Orange | Moonlight fades | 10 |
| Winter | Icy blue | Snow falls | 10 |
| Space | Violet | Stars drift past | 34, and it also writes first lines of its own |
The LED glows dim and steady, and slowly breathes while a poem is being written, on screen or ahead of time.
The Menu
Rest two fingers on the screen to open it. It stays up until you press Done, and poems keep being written underneath.
| Control | What It Does | Starts At |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | Music loudness, 0 to 100. At 0 the music is off. | 60 |
| Brightness | Screen backlight, 10 to 100. | 100 |
| Auto mode | Shows a new poem every 40 seconds. | Off |
| Stars | The star field behind the poem. | On |
| Light show | The RGB LED. | On |
| Right arrow | Goes to page 2. | |
| Done | Saves everything and closes the menu. |
Drag a slider, and tap anywhere along a toggle's row. Adding a second finger cancels a press, so a stray hand will not flip anything.
Poem Color
The right arrow on page 1 opens page 2. Tap a swatch to choose the color of the poem.
| On Page 2 | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Swatch | Chooses that color. A ring marks it, and its name appears at the top in that color. |
| Left arrow | Goes back to page 1. |
| Done | Saves, closes the menu and shows the poem in the new color. |
Music
One looping shakuhachi track plays from a microSD card. The volume slider is the only control, so there is no separate music switch.
| Step | Set Up The Card |
|---|---|
| 1 | Use a microSD card formatted as FAT32. |
| 2 | Make a folder named haikumatic at the top level. |
| 3 | Copy the track into it without renaming it. |
| 4 | Put the card in the board and press RESET. |
/haikumatic/shika-no-toone-shakuhachi.mp3
| On The Top Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Music On | The track is playing. |
| Music Off | The volume reached 0 and the track paused. |
| Music: no SD card | No readable card. Poems still work. |
| Music: file not on card | Check the folder and file names. |
| Music: card read failed | The card stopped responding. Reseat it and press RESET. |
| Music: no sound chip | The audio chip did not answer. Press RESET. |
Music: Araki Kodō III, Shika no Tōne (shakuhachi), Victor 13029, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Battery
The bottom line shows charge as BAT 87% 4.05V. It appears for 10 seconds after any touch. Voltage is the number to trust.
| Voltage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Above 4.2 V | Normal while plugged in. |
| About 4.2 V | Full. |
| About 3.4 V | Time to charge, even though the percentage still reads about 47%. |
| About 3.2 V | Low. Charge it now. |
| About 2.7 V | Flat. The percentage reads 0%. |
The board can read battery voltage but not charging current, so no charging symbol appears. Watch the voltage rise instead.
Install Firmware
There is no public flasher for Haiku-Matic on this hardware yet. Install it from the haiku-esp32-32e project with PlatformIO.
From the project folder
# Full flash: model and firmware scripts/deploy.sh # Firmware only: keeps the model pio run -c platformio-s3.ini -t upload # With several boards connected PORT=/dev/cu.usbmodemNNNN scripts/deploy.sh
| Use | When |
|---|---|
| Full flash | First install, or changing a Vidiotbox board over. Takes about 2.5 minutes. |
| Firmware only | Updates that keep the same model. Takes under a minute. |
| BOOT and RESET | If an upload will not start, hold BOOT, tap RESET, then release BOOT. |
Opening the serial port can restart the board. Save your settings with Done first, then read its log with pio device monitor -p PORT -b 115200.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Try This |
|---|---|
| Settings did not stick | Press Done before restarting. That is when they are saved. |
| No poem appeared after 25 seconds | A touch canceled the auto-start. Tap the upper half. |
| The menu will not open | Put two fingers down together and keep them there for a moment. |
| No music and no message | Open the menu. If it says Volume (music off), raise the slider. |
| New card not found | Move the volume slider to try the card again, or press RESET. |
| The Mac does not list the board | Push the USB-C cable fully in, flip the plug, or try another cable. Some cables only charge. |
| Upload says no serial data received | Reseat the cable and retry. If it still fails, use the BOOT and RESET sequence. |
For firmware work, pins live in include/vidiotbox_s3.h, touch scaling in include/touch_controls.h, and the menu in include/settings_menu.h.
Charm Card
| Action | Do This |
|---|---|
| Next poem | Tap the upper half. |
| Next theme | Tap the lower half. |
| Open the menu | Rest two fingers on the screen. |
| Change poem color | Menu, right arrow, tap a swatch, Done. |
| Turn music off | Menu, slide Volume to 0, Done. |
| See the battery | Tap the upper half. The bottom line shows for 10 seconds. |
| Restart | Press RESET. |
