Personal project · 3 iterations
Autonomous Blinds System
A smart window blind system I have iterated on since first year to track my how my skills have progressed. I have gone from a rough first prototype to custom ESP32 PCBs with wireless multi-window control. Here is how it evolved.
- ESP32
- FreeRTOS
- ESP-NOW
- Fusion 360
How it evolved
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Iteration 1 · (First year)Proof of concept
A basic motorised blind driven by an Arduino and a breadboard, with only electric operation. My goal was simply to prove the mechanism could raise and lower my shutters reliably. The system was extremely glitchy, opening and closing randomly. I did not even know the servo motors and Arduino needed a common ground
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Iteration 2 · (Second Year)Less glitches and smarter
By second year, I'd added daylight sensing via a photoresistor, a sunrise alarm mode, and manual override controls. But one frustration remained: you still couldn't just reach up and move the blinds by hand
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Iteration 3 · (Fourth Year)Custom PCBs & Dual functioning mechanism
Currently replacing the breadboards with a custom ESP32 PCB to improve reliability and simplify wiring. I also designed a removable mechanism in Fusion 360 that drives standard shutters and folds away when not needed, restoring full manual operation. Multithreading allows each blind to operate independently, while WiFi networking enables universal control through smart home integrations. The entire codebase has been refactored into a scalable OOP architecture to support it all.