KIDCOM
A two-button voice mailbox for a child with no phone. Grandparents send voice notes from Telegram, a light turns blue and the child answers.
A small box on a Raspberry Pi Zero, with no screen and no account for the child. Press one button to listen, hold the other to reply. A family can set it up at home in under five minutes.
Built with
Python · Raspberry Pi Zero · ALSA · FFmpeg · Telegram Bot API · SQLite
What it is
The grandparents record a voice note in the Telegram they already use. At home, a blue light comes on. The child presses a button and listens, then holds the other one and answers.
The child has no phone, no tablet, no screen and no Telegram account.
How it works
At its core is a small state machine with its queues in SQLite, so a reply goes out exactly once even if the network drops or the box restarts. Incoming notes are downloaded, decoded with FFmpeg and played; replies go up as real voice notes, with their waveform.
Wi-Fi setup uses only the two buttons and the LED: the box opens its own network with a small local web page.
Telegram, the buttons, the LED, the audio and the Wi-Fi setup all work on the real board. The enclosure is designed, as in these renders, but not built yet. Still to come: building it, tuning its acoustics and a trial with a family.
- Python · one runtime dependency
- Raspberry Pi Zero WH · ALSA · systemd
- Telegram Bot API · FFmpeg · SQLite
Development
Wi-Fi setup with two buttons.
The box opens its own network and changes Wi-Fi without any cables.
Working on the real board.
A voice note sent from a phone plays on the box, and the reply arrives back as a voice note.
A voice mailbox over Telegram.
The core, the state machine, the SQLite queues, a simulator and the real Telegram connection.
Gallery
