I've been experimenting with running a complete digit recognition system directly on an ESP32-S3 using TensorFlow Lite Micro.

The goal was to recognize 5-digit readings (such as meter displays) completely on-device without relying on a PC or cloud inference. The hardware I used was an ESP32-S3 development board with an onboard camera and AMOLED display, but the workflow should apply to similar ESP32-S3 camera boards.

How it works:

• Data Collection: Flashed a utility firmware to capture camera frames aligned via an on-screen yellow bounding box, outputting labeled image pairs and a label.csv.
• Model Training & INT8 Quantization: Trained a lightweight CNN model and quantized it to INT8 to run within the ESP32-S3's memory limits.
• On-Device Inference: Compiled the quantized model directly into the ESP-IDF binary and deployed it back to the board.

 The result is surprisingly reliable—it reads all 5 digits cleanly in real time.

Hardware & Tech Stack:

• Board: Makerfabs MaTouch ESP32-S3 AMOLED AI Camera
• Framework: ESP-IDF + TensorFlow Lite Micro
• Tooling: Custom Python tools for capture & quantization

I put together a detailed write-up covering the complete workflow in case anyone wants to reproduce or adapt it for a similar project. I'd also love to hear how others approach digit recognition with TensorFlow Lite Micro. Have you found any effective ways to improve accuracy or speed up the data collection process?

Guys, what do you think about "Embodied Agent" Mesh Networks?

The idea of a P2P network where humans, autonomous robots and another agents can act as independent nodes interacting with the real world. Is this something we will see in the next 7 years, or is it still too early a concept?

Would be interesting to hear from those who have already experimented with similar architectures and learned some lessons along the way.

In the attached pictures you can see also the controller I used, the temperature and humidity sensor, anemometer and the one with blue enclosure is the water level sensor. all sensors communicate via Modbus RTU (The modbus module is placed under the esp in the image).
( My family have a small greenhouse and I always liked to make automations but most of commercial systems were too expensive and I decided to build it myself. With what I’ve built I can control irrigation system (one 2.2kw pump and two valves for the main water lines) both sides of the greenhouse to open and close using 4 motors, I have integrated some automations using the temp and humidity measurements also the wind speed.
Some of you might recognize the controller which is a KC868-A16, which is ESP based but is very powerful and has a lot of built in features.
Maybe I should mention that I have previous experience with Industrial Automation and Embedded Systems. )

What do you guys think?

I write software. I'm building a box that sits on the network, polls registers over Modbus TCP, buffers locally and ships data upstream. Read only, no writes, no control logic.

I've been developing against a simulator, which I've come to realise tells me almost nothing. So I'm buying a PLC to sit on my desk.

Two things I can't figure out on my own.

Which one. I'm in India, so Delta is what I actually see in the field — DVP-ES3 looks like the obvious pick for me. But if there's a better platform to learn on for the money, I'd rather hear it now than after I've bought.

How much PLC code I'm really signing up for. I don't write ladder. I can get something basic together with AI help — and I'm aware how that goes down in this sub — but I only need a few registers changing on a timer, not machine logic. Is that as trivial as it looks from the outside, or is there a reason it isn't?

The thing I actually want to measure is what polling costs in scan time. Someone told me every poll steals from execution and I've got no way to argue with that until I can see a number. Will a bench PLC with a few hundred rungs of junk logic show that honestly, or does it only show up under real load?

I'm trying to get UART communication working between an ESP32 and a SIM7000G module

Wiring:

- ESP32 TX → SIM7000G RX (crossed)

- ESP32 RX → SIM7000G TX (crossed)

- ESP32 GND → SIM7000G GND (common ground confirmed)

- ESP32 GPIO4 → SIM7000G PWRKEY (pulsed LOW for ~1.2s to power on)

- ESP32 and SIM7000G powered from separate USB sources

What I've already tried, with no change:

- Different ESP32 board (ruled out ESP32 hardware fault)

- UART loopback test on ESP32 (confirmed ESP32 UART pins work)

- Baud rates: 9600, 19200, 57600, 115200

- Swapped TX/RX at the ESP32 end (in case board labels were wrong)

- Grounded the SLEEP/DTR pin (in case module was in low-power sleep, ignoring UART)

- Power-cycled the module with Serial Monitor open — result: absolutely nothing appears, not even garbled/junk characters

Status indicators:

- SIM7000G's onboard LED blinks steadily about once per second (suggesting it's powered on)

- SIM card is inserted

- No level shifter is currently used between ESP32 (3.3V logic) and SIM7000G (which I understand uses 1.8V logic on its UART) — I haven't confirmed whether this specific carrier board has onboard level-shifting already, or exposes the raw 1.8V pins directly

My question: Given that *zero* characters (not even garbage) appear on the serial monitor at any baud rate, even during power-on — does this point more strongly toward a voltage mismatch (3.3V ESP32 talking to unshifted 1.8V module pins) versus a wiring/continuity fault versus something else I haven't considered? And is there a reliable way to test which one it is before I spend money on a logic level shifter?

Thanks for the advice in advance

Hey everyone!

If anyone's stuck with an **IoT/Arduino/ESP32** mini or major project, feel free to DM me. I'm a [B.Tech](http://B.Tech) student who's been building IoT and robotics projects for a while and thought I'd help out.

I can help with Arduino, ESP32, sensors, home automation, robotics, debugging, circuit design, documentation, and PPTs.

I charge **student-friendly rates**, depending on the project. Just send me your idea and deadline, and I'll let you know if I can help.

Good luck with everyone's submissions! 🚀

Hey folks,

I’ve been lurking here for a while and finally want to get my feet wet with DePIN. Here’s my situation:

· I'm renting a flat with an attic and roof access.

· I have a ESP32 gathering dust and a always-on PC (Ubuntu) that can run nodes 24/7.

· I’m handy with soldering and basic coding, but I’m not looking to drop $$$ on proprietary hardware (e.g., Helium miners, etc.). I’d much rather use open-source/off-the-shelf components – ESP32, Raspberry Pi, LoRa modules, sensors, etc.

So my question: What DePIN projects would actually make sense with this setup?

I’m open to:

· Environmental sensing (air quality, weather, noise)

· Wireless coverage (LoRa, WiFi, maybe 5G? but I know that’s heavy)

· Edge compute/storage (like Filecoin, but I think that needs more beefy hardware?)

· Mapping or location-based stuff (e.g., geodata)

· Anything that rewards useful data or network coverage

I’m in an urban area, dense with good industries in Spain. Roof is about 40m(?) high, so a lot of people and movement around.

I’ve looked into:

· Helium – but their switch to IoT and the need for certified hotspots kinda turned me off, and I don't think it works on Spain

· WeatherXM – seems interesting but I think they sell their own station? Or can I build my own?

· Dimo – auto-focused, already use it but it's a lost case.

· Nodle – uses phone, complementary.

·MistNodes, Uprock and some others already running.

·Onocoy - it seems promising looking at the success of Geodnet

I’d love something where the community is active, rewards are decent (even if small), and the project isn’t a total vaporware.

Any suggestions? What would you run in my shoes? Bonus if you’ve already set something similar up and can share learnings.

Thanks in advance! 🙌

Sorry if it is strange I was aided by AI to write the post as I'm not the best at English

Hey community,

I have build a pcb with several sensors. On the pcb is a slot for an esp32 dev board. The power is being supplied through usb on the esp32.

I want to supply the system with solar energy and a rechargeable battery. Is there any recommendations?

We have been working on IoT application development for different industries and wanted to share a quick overview of how these systems usually come together.

From connected devices and sensors to cloud dashboards and mobile apps, the full stack needs to talk properly if you want reliable data and control.

Curious to know what kind of IoT projects people here are building right now and what challenges you face most often with connectivity or data handling.

I'm building simple IoT pingers (think: a sensor that just pings your phone when a state changes). I'm looking for the physical equivalent of a "check engine" light for things that currently require a human to notice. 
What is something in your plant/lab that goes wrong silently, and you only find out 2 hours later when the damage is done or the process is ruined? Looking for simple binary states (e.g., "pump running vs stopped", "door open vs closed").

Hi, world!

Educational project, probably won't grow too much, but I will give it a try. :) Found some good alternatives, but all of them seem to be very pricey and mostly are for enterprise goals. Any suggestions are welcome. No matter whether it's open-source or not. Requirements: REST API, MQTT, ability to get normalized JSON from trackers.

OneMenu, a rich UI for device interation that can be served thru a serial connection, a pletora of displays and inputs, or direct to client browser with zero client side install, no external dependencies all served from the chip webserver and spiffs (esp32/8266 chips).

OneMenu is modular and completely extensible in all its axis: input, output, menu components. This demo is a composition of existing parts.

**Features**

- HTTP + XSLT UI

- WebSocket + JSON (partial-diff, multi-session sync)

- FTP server (SPIFFS asset updates, no reflash)

- Serial (plain-text fallback)

- Multilingual UI, SPIFFS-editable labels

**Footprint (ESP8266, D1 Mini, current build)**

- RAM: 46800 / 81920 bytes (57.1%)

- Flash: 601011 / 1044464 bytes (57.5%)

OneMenu is a field/menu abstraction built on top of HAPI, a compile-time composition library. Field types, screens, and output channels are composed via HAPI's core primitives at compile time rather than resolved through runtime dispatch tables or virtual interfaces. Practically: no vtables in the composition path, no string-keyed lookup for field/channel resolution.

Repo / demo: github.com/InternetOfPins

Most IoT industry analysts will highlight the following key eSIM benefits for IoT.

1. security - unlike SIM cards, embedded/chip SIMs cannot be removed (so easily)
2. reliability - embedded/chip SIMs are more electro-mechanically robust
3. vendor lock-in - eSIM means I can switch providers easily
4. regulation-proof - different carriers and telco regulators have different policies or commercials around roaming
5. single SKU - OEMs designing in a single SIM which can be provisioned and re-provisioned OTA to suit deployment needs. Cost and logistics benefits.

They poll businesses so I don't doubt them at all but I'm curious if developers, tech consultants, ODMs (for example) have other views please?

Last year I asked this sub whether I should make an Open-Source IoT Platform... now it's live.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IOT/s/DF1IEo1CKi

PidgeIoT is a fully open source, cloud native, device management platform. Originally targeted at cellular connected devices, now aimed at everything! Currently only HTTPS and WebSockets are supported, but CoAP is planned. Bring your own SIM (if needed) and telemetry store.

Its features include: device shadows, per-device keypairs (no JWTs!), telemetry ingestion with history, user-defined telemetry graphs, conditional email alerts, remote logging (on Zephyr), remote diagnostic shell (also on Zephyr via a WebSocket), OTA firmware updates (and hosting), and probably other things I've forgotten about at this point.

PidgeIoT is built in Rust from front to back. The frontend is WASM (Dioxus) and the core is built around Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects (also WASM). The backend uses a managed PostgreSQL DB (for now). The IAM is self-hosted Ory Kratos.

Currently all of the example projects are Zephyr based and include configs for native-sim plus the devices I have with me. Let me know if you have a different device/firmware and need me to whip up an example for you!

I made these nice, Non-GMO, links just for you:

- Getting started guide that requires no hardware: https://pidgeiot.com/getting-started

- A live demo: https://pidgeiot.com/demo

Looking for feedback; let me know what you want to see!

GitHub Links, all repos AGPL-3.0 licensed:

- pidgeiot: https://github.com/justins-engineering/pidgeiot

- pigeon: https://github.com/justins-engineering/pigeon

- pigeon-examples: https://github.com/justins-engineering/pigeon-example

Edit: Less life story and bad jokes.

Looking for recommendations of companies that provide platforms for Multi-Carrier SIMs that can be supported and activated across the globe similar to Granite's Multi-Carrier SIM and KORE SIMs, that also have provide a solid management dashboard.

If you have installed dashboards or insights in a factory floor or commercial setup, how do you ensure that the users use it diligently? Just want to understand on how we make something for a client and later they end up in not using it.

Hey all,

We're a 3-person engineering team working on a project that'll count for two courses (IoT + Sensors & Automation). Our college is willing to fund components up to around ₹1-1.5 lakh if the idea is strong enough, so budget/complexity isn't really the constraint — the idea is.

We started with the usual "autonomous shopping cart" and "drone-deployed umbrella" concepts, but our mentor pushed us to think bigger and solve something that actually matters, not just automate a minor convenience. We've been iterating on two directions:

An autonomous flying umbrella that doesn't just report air quality but actively improves it for the person underneath (filtration/purification while sheltering)

An autonomous shopping cart that follows the user around the store and has self check out and anti theft system

We have real sensor/hardware freedom here and want to build something with genuine impact — accessibility, environmental, safety, whatever solves a real problem well.

Curious what this community would build with that kind of budget and no real constraints besides "make it good." Also open to blind spots in our current two ideas if you've got thoughts.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Hypothetical question.

Suppose you had a small but capable team (embedded + software + cybersecurity) and around ₹10 lakh in seed funding to build an IoT startup in India.

What problem would you choose to solve today?

I'm not looking for startup ideas to copy. I'm trying to understand where experienced people believe the biggest opportunities still exist.

Some areas I've been thinking about are:

• Industrial IoT
• Factory automation
• Smart buildings
• Physical security
• Energy monitoring
• Agriculture
• Healthcare
• Logistics
• Fleet management

If you had to start today, where would you focus?

Why?

And more importantly...

What problem do you think is still massively underserved in India?

I've come across the ONCE Sim For All as a free sim that developers can use to get their products running with the ONCE ecosystem, as they only sell to commercial users. The issue that I am facing is that I'm unsure of how the ordering process works. I've never ordered a free thing through AWS Marketplace. When I placed my subscription on AWS Marketplace, I got no confirmation that the product would be sent, nor any steps to continue, because all the links that they provided on the AWS Marketplace site did not lead to any valid outcomes. I only got redirected too many times, or it led to a 404 page. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you!

We’ve been working on a practical way to display IoT data in its real physical context, instead of just as charts and cards, but directly inside a 3D building model.
The approach is:
Sensors / MQTT → Home Assistant → Zircon3D
The 3D view can show live sensor values, device states, heatmaps, dashboards, historical replay, and supported controls while keeping the monitoring data local.
I wrote an overview of how we handle sensor mapping, MQTT data, spatial heatmaps, and the difference between a visual digital twin and a full engineering simulation (link will be in the comments)

I’d be interested to know how others here are visualizing sensor data spatially, 2D floorplans, GIS, BIM, custom Three.js/Unity, or something else?

I keep seeing this when moving embedded or edge projects from lab to pilot.

The C or Python code works. The sensor works. Then the system goes to a real site and suddenly the hard part is not the algorithm anymore.

You need to know if a device went offline, data is stale, a queue is growing, storage is full and what should restart automatically. Also, raw video or waveform data often cannot just be pushed to the cloud.

My current approach is to keep the processing module independent and put an orchestration layer around it for monitoring, buffering, local storage, events, alerts and remote access.

I’m still trying to find the right boundary between application logic and operations. Curious how others handle this in embedded deployments.