Storytelling Bot

Overview

The AI-Powered Storytelling Bot is a physical hardware prototype designed to generate and display short, unique stories for children on an LCD screen. It combines microcontroller programming with generative AI, offering an engaging and educational experience without the need for a phone, tablet, or internet access once initialized. Every time the device is activated, a new story appears on the display, introducing young readers to imaginative tales that are never repeated.


Research & Development

The concept was born out of a desire to blend low-level electronics with real-time AI generation. The idea was to build a small, standalone storytelling device that could be used in classrooms, libraries, or at home, especially for early readers or kids with limited access to digital content.


I began prototyping using an Arduino UNO to control the display logic and an ESP32 microcontroller to interface with AI generation. The ESP32 handles the API call and story fetching, while the Arduino parses and pushes the content to a 16x2 character LCD.


The biggest challenge was optimizing character flow on the limited screen size and ensuring that the output stories were both readable and interesting to a young audience. To solve this, I implemented a scrolling text display with minimal UI input — just a button that re-triggers story generation.


Core Features

  • 1. Displays a fresh, AI-generated story each time the device is triggered.

  • 2. Uses a 16x2 LCD screen to display the story in segments.

  • 3. Button-controlled interface for refreshing content.

  • 4. Intended to foster creativity and early literacy in children.

Technical Stack

  • Microcontrollers: Arduino UNO and ESP32
  • Display: Display: 16x2 Character LCD with I2C communication
  • Language: C++

Reflection

This project was a great opportunity to explore how physical computing can interface with AI in meaningful, kid-friendly ways. It was built with simplicity in mind, but still required careful orchestration of hardware and software components. The outcome is a playful, creative device that turns abstract code into something tangible and fun — a small screen that tells big stories.