Screens can show information. But when a device starts telling a story, reacting to touch, speaking with a voice, and animating like a living object, the experience changes completely.

This project turns the ELECROW CrowPanel Advance ESP32-P4 into an interactive AI-powered storybook with animated scenes, local voice playback, and touch interaction.

Beyond being a demo application, this project showcases the impressive capabilities of the CrowPanel Advance ESP32-P4 platform for building rich, responsive, and visually immersive standalone embedded experiences with animated graphics, local audio playback, touch interaction, and edge AI processing.

It demonstrates how the CrowPanel Advance ESP32-P4 can transform into a polished interactive device capable of delivering next-generation HMI and immersive storytelling experiences.

Instead of static UI elements, the device itself becomes the experience:It plays animations, speaks, reacts, and guides the user through a story directly on the panel.

Because everything runs locally on the device, the experience feels immediate and self-contained — no cloud delays, no external rendering pipeline, no remote processing.

The project is useful not only as a demo, but also as a starting point for real products and installations:

Hardware

• • ELECROW CrowPanel Advance ESP32-P4 (7", 9", or 10.1")
  • GRC tinyTTS
  • microSD card

CrowPanel

• • high-resolution graphics support
  • smooth LVGL-based interfaces
  • Wi-Fi connectivity
  • local media handling
  • enough performance for large animated UI scenes

GRC AI Add-on

 

The GRC AI Add-on plugs directly into the dedicated expansion slot on the back of the CrowPanel, making the setup clean, compact, and easy to assemble.

Quick Start

• • ESP32-C6 — used for Wi-Fi communication - flash it first
  • ESP32-P4 — runs the main application - flash after C6

• • Insert a microSD card into your computer.
  • Format the microSD card as **FAT32**.
  • Create an `assets` folder in the root of the microSD card.
  • Copy the runtime asset files from the repository into this folder.
  • The resulting microSD card layout should look like this:

After copying the files, safely eject the microSD card and insert it into the CrowPanel TF card slot.

Note: The application requires both the GRC AI Add-on and the microSD card to run. If either of them is missing, the firmware can still be flashed, but the application may not start correctly after boot.

• • Download and extract the archive with ESP32-C6 firmware
  • Connect the panel to your PC via the UART USB Type-C port
  • Open the folder with the extracted firmware files.
  • Run the Flash_tool.exe for the ESP32-C6 firmware.

• • Wait until the flashing process is complete.

• • Download and extract the archive for ESP32-P4
  • Run the flash_from_binaries_p4.exe for the ESP32-P4 application firmware.

Step 3. Initial Setup

The setup process is intentionally simple.The only thing you can configure is the name the panel will use when talking to you.

When the device starts for the first time, the setup screen appears automatically. You can enter your own name or simply keep the default one.

• • The panel creates its own Wi-Fi network
  • Scan the first QR code to connect to the panel Wi-Fi
  • Scan the second QR code to open the setup page(or manually open 192.168.4.1 in your browser)
  • Enter your name and save the settings

You can return to the name setup later at any time through the settings screen — just tap the gear icon in the corner of the panel UI.

That’s it — the panel is ready to use.

Customization

• • add your own GIF/CFA assets
  • change story text
  • build your own storytelling experience

• • a template for interactive devices
  • an HMI demo framework
  • a smart exhibit prototype
  • an educational storytelling platform
  • a starting point for commercial embedded UI concepts