🧠 SmartPi Agentic Assistant
A GPT-5-Powered, Expandable Raspberry Pi Pico W Personal Assistant
🧩 Overview
SmartPi Agentic Assistant is a compact, low-power personal assistant built on the Raspberry Pi Pico W, integrating OpenAI GPT-5 to transform raw digital data — from your calendar, email, weather feeds, or news sources — into concise, human-readable, or spoken insights.
It bridges the physical world of sensors, displays, and sound with the cognitive power of large language models, creating a modular platform for building context-aware, ambient intelligence at the edge.
Think of it as your pocket-sized digital public infrastructure node — open, extensible, and locally controllable.
🧱 Core Goals
- Useful Daily Information
- Display calendar appointments, reminders, and tasks on a 64×64 RGB matrix.
- Fetch weather from APIs and visualize it with icons and short text.
- Summarize news headlines or personal alerts and read them aloud via a speaker.
- Conversational & Context-Aware
- Use a microphone + speaker for two-way interactions.
- GPT-5 processes queries and returns responses optimized for the small display or voice.
- Expandable & Modular
- Plug in new "capability modules" easily: e.g. email summarizer, IoT control, or daily-focus coach.
- Provide a simple plugin architecture so developers can add new use-cases.
🧰 Hardware Setup
| Component | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi Pico W | Wi-Fi-enabled MCU for data fetch + GPT-5 integration |
| 64×64 RGB LED Matrix | Display for calendar, icons, and visual feedback |
| I²S / PWM Speaker | Audio output for speech synthesis |
| Microphone (I²S / analog) | Optional voice input for interactions |
| Optional Sensors (DHT11, LDR, PIR) | Environmental awareness |
🧠 Software Architecture
- Microcontroller Layer (Pico W)
- Written in MicroPython or C++ SDK.
- Handles network requests, LED rendering, and I/O.
- Uses HTTP/HTTPS calls to a Pi Zero 2W or cloud relay for GPT-5 API access (since TLS is heavy on the Pico W).
- Integration Layer (Python Service / Local Gateway)
- Runs on a Pi Zero, Pi 4, or local server.
- Authenticates with Google Calendar, Weather APIs, and GPT-5.
- Returns pre-processed, compact text payloads to the Pico W.
- GPT-5 Layer (OpenAI API)
- Converts structured data (e.g. calendar events, weather JSON) into concise summaries.
- Generates both text output for LED and speech text for the Pico's TTS module.
🪄 Example Use-Cases
🗓 Calendar Display
- Pulls events from Google Calendar.
- GPT-5: "Next meeting at 10 AM — AI team sync."
- LED Matrix scrolls summary + day icon.
🌦 Weather Update
- Fetches weather JSON.
- GPT-5: "27 °C and sunny, slight breeze."
📰 News Headlines
- Retrieves RSS feed and summarizes headlines for display and audio output.
⚙️ Future Expansion Ideas
- Voice assistant mode: "What's on my schedule today?"
- Smart notifications: subtle glow when new email arrives.
- IoT integration: control home lights/devices via GPT-intents.
- Local caching: offline fallback for weather/time display.
- Companion app: configure sources and themes.
🌍 Why It Matters
This project embodies Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) principles — openness, modularity, and interoperability — in an edge AI form factor.
It's a step toward human-centric, interpretable intelligence that lives with you, not in the cloud.
🔎 Open Questions / Next Steps
- Best communication bridge between Pico W and GPT-5 (Pi Zero relay vs ESP32 proxy)?
- Which open-source projects already explore similar ambient LLM assistants?
- How to standardize a plugin system for adding GPT-powered modules easily?