HomePod S3 - A Smart Desk companion

HomePod S3 is a Smart Desk Companion that combines everyday utilities into one compact offline-first device designed to sit permanently on your desk. The goal of this project was to answer a simple but important question:

If a small device stays on your desk all day, how can it actually make your daily life easier without distracting you?

Instead of building another trendy IoT gadget, we focused on solving small but real problems that people face daily-staying focused while studying or working, managing tasks, remembering medicines, and controlling basic room comfort - all without relying on cloud services or mobile apps.

HomePod S3 brings together:

Touch-based control for lights and fan

Offline voice commands for hands free use

A local Web UI for remote control from phone or laptop

Study timer (Pomodoro-style)

Lock screen with slide to unlock

To make the device blend naturally into a desk setup, we also designed and 3D printed a custom outer enclosure with a gear shaped pen holder. This adds practical value as a small desk organizer while making the device look like a real everyday product instead of a prototype.

Features & Their Benefits

Benefit: Instant control without opening any mobile app. Reduces distractions and keeps your phone away while working or studying.

Benefit: Control lights, fan, and screens even when your hands are busy or you're away from the desk - works without internet, ensuring privacy.

Benefit: Lets you control everything from another device on the same Wi-Fi without installing any app or relying on cloud services.

Benefit: Helps maintain focus during study or work sessions and creates discipline without touching your smartphone.

Benefit Tasks remain visible throughout the day, unlike phone apps that distract you with notifications and social media.

Benefit Reduces missed doses for elderly users or anyone with daily medication routines.

Benefit Gives quick awareness of room comfort during long work or study sessions.

Benefit Prevents accidental touches and makes the device feel like a finished consumer product rather than a prototype.

All features are designed to work offline-first ensuring low latency better privacy and zero dependency on cloud services.

Why We Chose ESP32-S3 Box3

We specifically chose the ESP32 S3 Box3 as the core of the HomePod S3 because it offers everything needed to build a polished, real world, smart device on a single platform:

Built-in capacitive touch display

Wi-Fi for local Web UI (no cloud required)

Dual-core MCU for UI + web server + voice + Sensors

Compact, desk friendly form factor

Using ESP32-S3 Box3 allowed us to focus more one user experience and real world usability instead of building basic infrastructure from scratch.

We would like to sincerely thank the entire team of CircuitDigest and Digi-Key for providing the hardware, articles and for organizing such hands on hackathon. Their articles resources helped us a lot throughout the development, and opportunity like this push students and makers to explore real-world embedded systems.

We truly appreciate their support and wish both CircuitDigest and Digi-Key the very best for future initiatives and hackathons.

DF2301Q Offline Voice Recognition Module

4 Channel Relay Module

PRECAUTION: Ensure the DF2301Q module is switched from I2C to UART mode, otherwise voice commands will not works

Follow these steps to assemble HomePod S3 and wire all modules safely and correctly

Motor positive terminal to GPIO 21

Motor negative terminal to GND

Buzzer positive terminal to GPIO 41

Buzzer negative terminal to GND

The DF2301Q module supports training using voice commands only:

Wake the module using the default wake word

Say “Learning wake word” to train a custom wake command (optional)

Follow the voice prompts to record your new wake word

Say “Learning command word” to start training control commands

(e.g., “Light one on”, “Fan speed three”, “Open timer”)

Repeat each command as prompted (2–3 times)

Say “Exit learning” to finish training

Perform training in a quiet environment for better recognition accuracy.

You can refer to the DF2301Q documentation for the full list of learning commands and IDs.

< and > buttons on the screen are used to navigate between

Medicine List Screen

Controller Screen (Lights & Fan)

Controls Light 1, Light 2, Light 3 ON/OFF

Double-tap the Fan icon - a popup appears

Use + and - to increase or decrease fan speed

Set time in HH:MM:SS format

+/- adjusts hours, minutes, seconds

Play/Pause to start and stop the timer

Big Timer DONE screen appears

Tasks added from Web UI appear here

Tap any task to view full text

Checkbox on the side deletes the task (task completed)

Medicine List Screen

Medicines added from Web UI appear here

Ticking the checkbox stops further reminders for that dose

Auto-lock after idle

Shows time, temperature, slide to unlock

Wake via touch or voice

Web UI (Local Web Dashboard)

Light & Fan Controls

Light 1, Light 2, Light 3 ON/OFF

Fan speed set via dropdown menu

Add tasks (max 5 tasks)

D button deletes a task

Changes sync instantly to device

Medicine List Section

Add medicine name + time + AM/PM

D button deletes medicine

Real-time sync with device

The firmware for HomePod S3 is written using the Arduino framework for ESP32 S3 Box3.

It integrates touch UI, offline voice control, web server, sensors, timers, and GPIO control into one application.

To keep everything responsive, the code is structured into clear modules: