Tally - A clip-on wearable

Tally

Most of what happens in a day disappears. You have a thought worth remembering on a walk, you notice something worth flagging while inspecting a site, you want to hold onto a moment while traveling, and by the time you're in a position to write it down, either the thought is gone or the effort of stopping to type has already talked you out of it. The tools that exist to fix this (notes apps, voice memos, phone cameras) all share the same flaw: they require you to stop what you're doing, pull out a device, and translate the moment into an app before you can capture it. That gap between "something worth keeping" and "something actually kept" is where almost everything gets lost.

Tally is a clip-on device that listens, sees, and remembers where you were, turning a passing thought, voice note, or photo into an organized, re-visitable part of your day, processed entirely on-device with local AI.

The solution: one mechanism, two audiences

Tally is a small touchscreen device that clips onto clothing, a bag strap, or a lanyard. Talk or snap a photo, and it's automatically transcribed, tagged with where and when, and organized. No app, no typing, nothing leaving the device.

• For anyone: a frictionless voice journal. Talk when something's on your mind; by the time you're home it's transcribed and searchable.
• For field workers: the same loop becomes a hands-free logging tool, narrating as you walk an inspection, trail, or route.

Same hardware and firmware, proven across a daily habit and a professional workflow.

Core capabilities

• Voice capture: tap and speak, transcribed automatically via local AI on the UNO Q
• Onboard camera: snap a photo, analyzed for auto-tagging/context
• GPS + 9-axis IMU path tracking: logs route and heading, so entries are pinned to place and direction, with no manual tagging
• Environmental logging: barometric pressure (elevation) and temperature/humidity along the route
• Local storage: captures and logs saved to an onboard microSD card as a durable backup
• Route review: replay a day or path afterward with entries, photos, elevation, and conditions laid out along the way

Why it fits the brief

• Compact and carryable: small clip-on form factor, small footprint, travel-safe
• Connected: camera, external mic, and sensor fusion on Board A/B, coordinated with UNO Q for on-device AI
• Creative: round form factor, dual journal/field-tool framing, combining an AI badge with a real memory-assistant concept
• Useful broadly: the same capture-and-organize loop works as a personal voice journal and a professional logging tool
  
  In the following diagrams, you will see side-by-side comparisons of V1 and V2. I have intentionally included images of V1 in the carousel to highlight the evolution of the design. I plan to continue this documentation practice for future iterations, as I hope to incorporate the unique aesthetic and functional elements of Tally V1 into the development of Tally V3.

Check out the live 3D view of the PCB and the case for this project!

https://mntadros.github.io/TallyView/