GlanceGo — A Smart e‑Ink Clock for Bus ETA Display

Chris Wong
Oct 25
4 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

We’re excited to share our competition project GlanceGo, developed by our team across HKIS, SIS, Kellett, and The Pilgrims School (UK) — Sam, Mitchell, Saara, Jamie, and Zachary. Special thanks to Zach who is visiting from the UK and volunteered his time to help with the project.

🌧️ Background Story by Chris

One cold winter night, I saw two elderly people standing at a bus stop. It was raining — the kind of slow, steady rain that sneaks under umbrellas. They looked cold and shaky, wrapped up in thin jackets, softly shivering in the dim streetlight.

I asked them how long they had been waiting. They said, “About thirty minutes.” That surprised me; the next bus wasn’t due for another five. I told them they could check the bus times on their phone, but they smiled politely and said they didn’t have a smartphone — and even if they did, they wouldn’t know how to use it.

That moment stuck with me. Their eyes, like so many elderly people’s, were tired and dim — screens and small text weren’t made for them. And yet, in our rush to design for the latest devices, we had somehow forgotten about them.

So that night, an idea started forming:what if there were a simple, caring display just for people like them?Something that didn’t need touchscreens, apps, or logins — just a gentle, comforting interface.

A small e‑paper display on the wall, always showing the next few bus arrivals, updated automatically. No need to reach for a phone, no tapping, no scrolling — just a quick glance, like checking a clock before leaving the house.

This project isn’t just about technology — it’s about inclusion. It’s a way to remind ourselves that good design should serve everyone: the elderly waiting in the rain, the busy parent rushing in the morning, or anyone who just wants to know, “When is my bus coming?”

A design that’s simple, useful, and full of care.

💡 Project Idea

Many elderly people find smartphones difficult to use or may not have them nearby. GlanceGo solves this by showing live bus arrival times directly on a 7.5‑inch e‑ink display mounted on the wall. The large, crisp digital clock also doubles as elegant home décor — simply glance to know both the time and when the next bus will arrive.

Why It Matters

Glance‑based: Easy to read instantly from across the room.
No learning curve: Ideal for elderly users who don’t use phones.
Good décor: Clean and modern e‑ink display fits any living room.
Accessibility: Saves walking or searching for a phone.
Universal use: Convenient for any household member.

🗓️ Timeline

We aim to complete and test the final prototype by the end of December.

Stay tuned — we’ll share progress updates and demo photos soon.

⚙️ Hardware

Our setup uses:

7.5" Monochrome ePaper Display (800×480 Pixels)

→ a power‑efficient e‑ink screen with sharp black‑and‑white visuals that stays clear even under sunlight.
XIAO ePaper Display Board EE04 | ESP32‑S3 Plus

→ compact controller board supporting 24‑pin / 50‑pin displays, running network code to fetch bus data and update the screen.

Together, these components make the system low‑power, always readable, and simple to maintain.

🗓️ Project Journal — Week 1

Summary:This week, we successfully displayed real‑time bus arrival times on a 2.7‑inch e‑Paper display powered by a Raspberry Pi. The system fetches live data from the Citybus API and updates automatically every minute. The information shown — bus number and estimated arrival time — has proven to be accurate and reliable.

Design & Implementation:The layout is clean, minimal, and easy to read, designed with elderly users in mind.Huge thanks to Mitchell and Zach for creating the user interface layout and overall visual design, and to Sam for writing the code that drives the data fetching, timing logic, and e‑ink rendering.

Current Hardware:We are currently using a 2.7‑inch Waveshare e‑Paper HAT, but the 7‑inch version (intended for the final product) has not yet arrived.The larger size will be critical for the elderly audience — allowing larger fonts, better spacing, and enhanced clarity.

Next‑Step Considerations:At this stage, we’re still running everything on the Raspberry Pi, which works well for prototyping but is relatively costly for deployment. To reduce costs, our plan is to migrate to an ESP32 controller, but we still need to confirm if it is fully compatible with e‑Paper displays and whether it can handle the data updates reliably over Wi‑Fi.

Challenges Ahead:One key challenge is making setup simple for elderly users.The device requires a Wi‑Fi connection and bus route configuration, yet the Raspberry Pi currently operates without a keyboard or mouse. We’ll need to explore an easy network setup process — possibly through a captive portal (like a smartphone Wi‑Fi setup page) or a dedicated companion app — so that users can:

Connect the device to their home Wi‑Fi.
Select which bus routes to monitor.

Next Week’s Goals:

Test compatibility of an ESP32 board with the e‑Paper display.
Develop a simple Wi‑Fi setup interface.
Begin planning the user configuration workflow (bus number and stop selection).
Continue refining the display layout once the 7‑inch e‑Paper arrives.

🗓️ Project Journal — Week 2

We are using Autodesk Fusion to design a custom enclosure for the e‑paper display.

Special thanks to Zachary for taking precise measurements and leading the enclosure design work.

This week’s focus:

Designing and 3D‑printing the first enclosure prototype
Planning a simple configuration interface to let users choose networks and bus routes easily

3D Printing Enclosure

Configuration interface

When we started figuring out how to connect our Raspberry Pi to Wi‑Fi, it seemed simple—until we realized there’s no screen or keyboard. We needed an easy setup for elderly users. We thought about how CCTV cameras and smart devices connect: they create their own hotspot, you join it with your phone, and input your home Wi‑Fi credentials. That idea clicked instantly. We could do the same! So we planned a “GlanceGo_Setup” network that opens a small webpage where users enter their Wi‑Fi and bus stop once. After reboot, the Pi connects automatically—simple, intuitive, and perfect for anyone to use.

For elderly users, our goal is “plug‑and‑forget”:

Setup happens once via phone.
Then the display works permanently as long as Wi‑Fi remains available.

This approach is almost identical to how consumer IoT devices work, but we retain full control and local data privacy. Here is what the flow will be like: