This DIY Desktop Companion Gets Real Sad If You Ignore It

Think about how many Tamagotchi pets died without their owners’ notice, surrounded by virtual feces in tiny digital prisons. If that visualization exercise induced melancholy within you, then you’re the perfect target audience for Paul Lagier’s DIY desktop companion.

This is a “companion” in the literal sense. It isn’t an assistant that reminds you about meetings and answers when you ask it to look up the capital of Suriname. It doesn’t control smart lights or monitor the temperature. It won’t even display the time. It just sits there on your desk, waiting for you to interact with it.

Interaction makes it happy. Neglect makes it sad. And the large, expressive eyes really help convey those emotions. You will feel genuinely bad if you don’t take care of it.

Proper care means maintaining three things: energy, sleep, and fun. Energy is just the companion’s battery level, so you can keep that full by charging it. Sleep happens when you put the companion in a dark place, so it can have a little snooze. Fun comes from direct interaction, like using the companion’s touch sensor to play mini games.

Over time, the companion will age and consistent interaction through its life will develop its bond with you.

I’m getting a depressed describing that, because it is almost like the life of a beloved dog condensed down into one tiny device. So, let’s talk about the hardware to distract ourselves from the looming existential crisis.

Lagier designed the companion around a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 development board. The display is a 1.28” round TFT LCD and capacitive touch sensors handle input. There is a passive buzzer for feedback and a lithium battery with charging module to power everything. All of those components fit into a 3D-printable enclosure.

If the idea doesn’t make you feel too sorrowful and you want to build a companion of your own, you can find the necessary files on Lagier’s Ko-fi page.