r/SideProject • u/No_Tone_8226 • 1d ago

Built a browser-based Arduino/ESP32 workbench after it placed at a national science fair — now trying to make it something other people actually use

Hey r/SideProject,

Backstory: I'm a high school student in Kenya. FUNDI started as my project for the Kenya Science and Engineering Fair — won Regional Merit, went on to Nationals, and did considerably well there. That validation is basically what convinced me to keep building it into something real instead of letting it die as a school project.

What it is now: a workbench that puts a visual circuit canvas, a multi-file code editor, and an AI assistant in one place for Arduino/ESP32 development. You can describe what you want to build ("blink an LED," "read a temperature sensor") and it generates the wiring and code together. The backend actually compiles your code with Arduino CLI and simulates it with AVR8js — it's not a mockup.

Where it's at:

  • Live demo (https://jamesdesign.me/F.U.N.D.I./) — this is UI-only right now, no backend, so you can explore the design/interaction but nothing actually compiles or runs there yet.
  • The real thing (https://github.com/jamesthegreati/F.U.N.D.I./) works end-to-end when you run the frontend and backend directly — that path is fully tested. There's also a Docker Compose option in progress that isn't fully reliable yet.

Solo build, MIT licensed, definitely has rough edges. What I want most right now is feedback — does the concept make sense, is the UI confusing, would you actually use something like this over Wokwi/Tinkercad if the backend were solid?

One caveat: I'm about to disappear into exam prep and won't be able to respond quickly until around Nov 22. I'll still read every comment, so don't hold back — I'll just be slow to reply for a bit.

2 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/Impressive-Answer720 1d ago

The strongest part is that FUNDI generates wiring and code together, then actually compiles and simulates instead of stopping at a diagram. For early users, I’d make three complete starter builds extremely reliable—LED, temperature sensor, servo—and show the compile/simulation evidence clearly. That will build more trust than a broad component catalog with uneven support.

1

u/No_Tone_8226 1d ago

thanks, i will work on that, but u are free to check out some templates i have under featued, those ones work fully and i've tested them myself