Communication in instant messengers has long become the norm for most of the world's inhabitants. But not all elderly people have mastered modern technologies. To facilitate communication with his 96-year-old grandmother, Spaniard Manuel Lucio Dallo created a mechanical machine. Her communication with her grandchildren was severely limited during the pandemic, which inspired the Spaniard to develop the device. The device can receive text and send voice messages. The flow chart of the process resembles the use of an old telephone switch.
Yayagram for grandma
Spaniard source named thedevice Yayagram. In the Castilian dialect, "yaya" is a variant of a warm address to a grandmother.
The two main functions of Yayagram are:
- Sending voice messages.
- Reception of messages printed on thermal paper.
How does it work? To send a message, you need to connect a physical cable next to the recipient's name. While speaking the message, press and hold the button - the built-in microphone will record the sound. A standard voice memo will be sent to the recipient's phone. When a text message arrives at the device, it is printed using the built-in thermal printer.
DIY device creation
Dallo's source works for the software company Plastic SCM. He used a Raspberry Pi 4 and several third-party software libraries to build his grandma's machine. The code was written in Python. The microphone is the most common one. The built-in printer is similar to those used in cash registers. In addition, the device employs several LEDs, connectors, cables and buttons. According to Dallo, he decided to synchronize the device with Telegram due to the greater openness of the service compared to other messengers. He also doesn't like Facebook.
Granny Dallo lives in the Spanish city of Burgos, far from most of her grandchildren. During the pandemic, they could not visit her. His grandmother is also hard of hearing, so talking to her on the phone or using video calls is sometimes problematic. Now, with the help of Yayagram, she can send and receive messages on her own.
The device costDallo 76 euros. He is not going to patent the device. The developer plans to publish the source code and details of the project in order to make it available to everyone and help establish communication between generations.
