Raspberry Pi Blog

Maker Manu (@mrcatacroquer) is one inventive grandson, and he has warmed the cold hearts of Twitter with his Raspberry Pi-powered creation Yayagram. Manu’s mission was to help older family members keep in contact with their grandchildren.

It’s a portmanteau, a mashup between the words “Yaya” and “telegram.” Yaya means “Granny” in Castilian Spanish – it’s a warm and affectionate way to refer to your grandmother. And Manu’s project uses the Telegram messaging platform, so he added “gram” onto the end to make “Yayagram”.

Manu’s Yaya has trouble hearing, so phone calls don’t really go well. Technology-wise, many older people rely on others to set up video calls, whereas Yayagram allows them to be more independent and start conversations on their own, whenever they like.

A Raspberry Pi 4 powers the whole thing, running third-party Python libraries. Hardware-wise, it’s all jack connectors, LEDs, cables, a receipt printer, a mic, and buttons. Manu’s Twitter thread details all of this.

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