A three-day sprint to build a Pico W–driven agent device that could see, range and talk to a web console, then use it to clear an escape room. We hid it in a top hat.
2.0
Work performed
2.1Hand-soldered a boost converter so the Pico W could drive the sensor array.
2.2Built a Python backend that pulls frames as fast as the camera allows and pushes them to a React console, approximating a live stream.
3.0
Specification
Hardware
Raspberry Pi Pico W · ESP32-CAM · ultrasonic rangefinder · temperature/humidity sensor · OLED
Software
Python · Socket.io · React
4.0
Plates
Pl. 1Inside the hat: microcontroller boards, an ESP32-CAM, perfboards, a temperature sensor and a LiPo cell wired inside the kerf-bent plywood crown.
Pl. 2The finished top hat: laser-cut, kerf-bent plywood wrapped in black fabric, with two round ultrasonic-sensor "eyes" and a "TouchFish" logo engraved on the lid.
Pl. 3Concept sketch: a stick figure in a top hat packed with electronics, wired to a display on the wrist.
Pl. 4The top hat worn outside the HAcK makerspace, sensor "eyes" on the crown and the wrist display strapped to the arm.
Pl. 5The "TouchFish Operator's Website" on a laptop: ESP32 camera live view and latest picture, a sensor dashboard and a send-text-to-OLED box.
Pl. 6The kerf-bent plywood hat before its fabric cover, with the ultrasonic rangefinder and a camera module mounted at the front.
Pl. 7Slide tracing a photo request: the React button emits "take_picture", the Node backend spawns a Python script that downloads the ESP32 frame, and the frontend shows "picture_taken".
Pl. 8Breadboard prototype: a Pico microcontroller with an OLED display, ultrasonic rangefinder, temperature/humidity sensor and LiPo cell.
Pl. 9Hand-held OLED reading "Distance: Error, Temp: 24.0 C, Light: 0.4%", with an ESP32-CAM board and laser-cut hat parts on the bench.
Pl. 10Hand-annotated Pico W pinout: 3.7 V lithium cell on the power-input pins, OLED on GP0/GP1, ultrasonic trig/echo on GP2/GP3, temp/humidity sensor on GP4, photoresistor on GP26.
5.0
Anomaly report
Closed
Observed
Wi-Fi throughput collapsed during the final demo after working in testing.
Root cause
To fit the hat, the Pico W was mounted face-down against the battery pack. The metal formed a partial Faraday cage around its antenna.