Show HN: An e-ink frame that hears birds and draws them as 1800s illustrations

This is the coolest thing on HN that I've seen in a minute. The whole thing is a perfect blend of ideas with the end result of something that feels... magical. Honestly this is the highest inspiration to me as a builder as I just want to create magical experiences, even if they are just small oddities.

The underlying classifier, BirdNET, is a traditional neural network and not an LLM:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101236

This could totally be a commercial product. I picture it being sold with a bird feeder. Maybe it uses a camera on the feeder.

Then have the screen look like a biologists notebook where he sketches the bird and writes a few notes about the time and its behavior.

So many bird projects recently and I think it’s all thanks to this project[0]

It seems IP over Avian Carriers is finally within reach!

0. https://github.com/tphakala/birdnet-go

As a fellow Norwegian I must say that this is pure art by the developer Arne Munthe-Kaas.

e-ink is so much fun, especially when combined with ESP32 or BTLE boards. I currently have 4 around my house displaying book quotes that I've highlighted in KOReader and they bring me joy each time I see them. They are simple and do one thing very well.

I just got and setup a BTLE e-ink driver the other day and according to my calculations it will last _years_ on a single charge (2000mAh) even with multiple refreshes per day (crazy compared to the Wifi ones). Year+ lifetime completely changes the calculus for where to put these IMHO.

I'm considering designing a multiple-screen "art" piece to hang on my wall and playing around with various ideas (on both content and design).

LLMs + 3D Printer + e-ink is my new favorite hobby.

I am buying an e-ink display just to try this!

I was thinking about building this for a while and now i don't have too, insane. Thanks!

This project is super cool! But the price of the e-ink board is quite steep

This is such a cool project. My mom would absolutely love this if I made it as a gift. This may be a good project.

Bryce Shivers and Lisa Eversman would definitely have this in their boutique. Put a Bird on It!

Isnt this a fork* of https://x.com/WarnerTeddy/status/2060018688645115964?

https://github.com/Twarner491/AvianVisitors

https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/

Or maybe im missing to see is the same author? It went viral a few months ago

This is the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time :')

My granny is almost deaf and I will test the idea for her, for she loves birds

Love the aesthetic of 1800s illustrations combined with modern tech. Wonder if it ever misidentifies a squirrel.

This is such a cool idea and I want to build one. I wish I had this kind of creativity. I can do the hardware/software side, but great ideas elude me.

Very cool!

I wish E-ink displays were a bit more affordable. The 13 inch one is £229.50. Does anyone know why they are still so expensive, at least at large sizes?

Frigate, the IP camera security system, also does bird classification: https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/bird_classification...

I would like to build something which can do the exact opposite. Sounds from illustrations.

What would be cool is if you can put AI to identify individual birds. They all have different calls/voices, though largely indistinguishable to human ears. And you can name them and see when they come for a visit.

I built one of these that shows the hacker news front page, nyt front page, my most listened to album of the last 7 days etc.

Refreshes every hour

Battery lasts a few months

Esp32 and a colour eink panel, same as this one I think

this is so cool :) thinking about some remixes already with maritime traffic and tides

People are so creative.

I just happen to have an extra Pi and an e-ink display sitting around and I LOVE this idea. Going to try it on my screened in porch - we typically get 10-20 Merlin detections on a decent day so this could be fun!

Cool project!

On a side note. How do people deal with all the ugly mess birds cause in such settings? I'd love to have such thing but seeing all the white stuff on glass door does not really feel fun to me overall.

Cool project! I set up an e-ink frame with this recently as a gift and it's been so much fun creating themed collections.

https://github.com/defl/hokku_epaper

What is the energy label of this frame?

All I'd get is pigeons and seagulls...

This is one of the most wonderful uses of AI I've seen in a while.

This is amazing. I want to build this. Curious about the authors “full garden” link, surely he doesn’t get that many birds in such a small space of time in his garden, unless he lives next to a park I suppose?

Very cool!

I can't help wonder what this would look like for humans. Imagine, set one of these up at a party and it has the means to identify anyone on the invite list. When it hears the person it displays a photo, brief bio, and relationship status.

Most whimsical application of local ai so far

I love this new era of AI powered creativity. I expect we're just getting started.

Amazing. Best post I've seen on HN in ages.

Cool Project!! I like it

Super fun project!

I love it.

So cool, I'm going to try building one myself!

Why isn't this a thing on Amazon I can buy?

oh I need to build this for my mom she would love it!

What a cool idea. I might have to give this one a try. I've got Raspberry's coming out the wazoo.

Artig! :)

I love this! I have a forest garden with lots of birds. I so want to try this project asap!

intresting!

Now could you make one for urban noises? (e.g. traffic, trash truck, drunk guys at 3AM etc)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

cool project!

Now this is why I come here!

Amazing thing, will replicate.

super stylin’