I built an AI Tamagotchi before Meta could

A homemade Muse Charm

Meta sells a $50 pocket AI device called the Muse Charm, shaped like a Tamagotchi toy. Instead of buying it, Sean Hollister bought a similar $50 touchscreen board from China, made by Waveshare. Meta lists this board as an official option for building a 'Muse Gadget,' a device that connects to Meta's Muse AI. Sean then used Claude, an AI coding helper, to rewrite the software and add features.

Key facts

• Both devices cost about $50.
• The Waveshare screen is 1.75 inches across.
• The board is an ESP32-S3 device, a small computer chip used in gadgets.
• Sean spent a few sessions of Claude Code to fix most of the problems.

What was wrong at first

After setup, the device did very little. Muse thought Sean was sending audio to transcribe, not giving commands. Replies were slow, and the device did not speak them aloud. The screen showed only a few words at a time. It had only one avatar and did not find smart home devices on its own. The sample camera app had no remote shutter button, so it was hard to take photos.

Why it matters

This shows that a cheap, open device plus an AI coding tool can let almost anyone customize AI gadgets. Meta's open code made this possible, and it also shows where the official product fell short. It is a fun example of how far hobbyists can go with AI help.

What to watch

• Whether Meta adds the features Sean built, such as a reading screen and a remote shutter.
• How well the device finds and controls smart home gadgets.
• Whether more people build their own Muse Gadgets with AI tools.