Developer Builds Custom AI Pendant on $50 Hardware
A hobbyist rebuilt Meta's Muse pendant platform on a low-cost touchscreen board after the stock software fell short.
Updated on Oct. 31, 2026 in Consumer Electronics
A developer used a $50 Waveshare ESP32-S3 touchscreen housed in a pocket watch-style casing to build a custom AI pendant on Meta's Muse platform. The stock software had slow responses, no audio output and minimal on-screen text, which the developer addressed with Claude Code.
Why it matters
The project shows how inexpensive hardware and AI coding tools let individuals reshape commercial wearable software. Meta plans to release its own Muse Charm device, and the developer's experience highlights both the platform's limits and the privacy concerns that led the developer to restrict the device to guest Wi-Fi.
The build uses a $50 Waveshare ESP32-S3 touchscreen with a 1.75-inch display in a pocket watch-style casing. The extraction does not report performance benchmarks or battery life for the custom device.
The players
Meta
Meta is the technology company that developed the Muse platform and officially supports the Waveshare hardware as a reference implementation for custom Muse Gadgets.
The details
The developer added a conversation history interface, text-to-speech voice, remote camera controls with live preview, multiple custom avatars and a Tamagotchi-style minigame. Smart home integration, which was expected, did not work automatically, and the developer restricted the device to guest Wi-Fi because of security concerns.
Timeline
Article about the custom AI pendant project was published on October 31, 2026.
The Tech Race
The project extends Meta's Muse platform by showing that third-party hardware can replace the stock software experience. It arrives as Meta prepares its own commercial Muse Charm device, putting the platform's open hardware model in direct comparison with the company's first-party product.
Readers considering a custom or commercial AI wearable should weigh the privacy tradeoffs, since the developer limited the device to guest Wi-Fi out of security concerns. The extraction notes that Muse previously leaked a reviewer's home address, a factor that bears on any device that handles personal data.
The takeaway
Low-cost hardware and AI coding assistants now let individuals rebuild commercial wearable software in a weekend. Anyone evaluating these devices should check where their data goes and how the device connects to home networks before trusting it with personal information.
Further reading
For more on the devices behind this build, see Consumer Electronics.
Source note: This article includes information reported by RocketNews.
