OpenClaw OLED Display Tutorial

Before starting, please complete the [01-Hardware Configuration], [02-openclaw API-KEY Configuration], [03-openclaw Model Switching], [04-AI Voice Interaction Configuration], [05-Three Dialogue Solution Configuration Tests] under the Prerequisites directory. If you are currently only using TUI / whatsapp, you can skip 04 for now. This article assumes the basic environment has been prepared and only expands on OLED-related content.

1. Tutorial Objectives

This article demonstrates OpenClaw's natural language control capabilities through OLED peripherals. After completing this tutorial, readers can:

• Understand the basic approach to controlling OLED display with OpenClaw

• Communicate with OpenClaw through three methods: whatsapp, TUI, and voice code

• Complete four OLED cases: text display, indicator display, weather card, animation display

• Understand the complete chain from "user input" to "screen display"

2. Hardware Preparation

• OpenClaw mainboard

• OLED display [Default SSD1306 128x32 / I2C address 0x3C]

• [Optional] Microphone module

• Wiring diagram

  

3. Software Preparation

Code entry points that will be used in the tutorial

• Low-level driver code: /home/jetson/hardware_hal_demo/

• OLED control command: /home/jetson/hardware_hal_demo/oled

• Temperature and humidity linked display: /home/jetson/hardware_hal_demo/dht_oled

• Voice entry: /home/jetson/voice_to_openclaw/src/main.py

The oled tool already supports the following capabilities:

• Display text text

• Display image image

• Display animation animation

• Display weather card weather

• Clear screen clear

If you just want to quickly display temperature and humidity readings on OLED, you can also directly use dht_oled.

dht_oled  #Display temperature and humidity data to OLED
oled text --text 'Hello, World' #Display text
oled weather --location 'Shenzhen' --condition 'Sunny' --temperature '26°C' --humidity '57%' #Weather card
oled image --path ~/hardware_hal_demo/assets/oled/mountain_photo_128x32.png #Display image
oled animation --path  ~/hardware_hal_demo/assets/oled/sunrise_anim_128x32.gif #Display GIF animation
oled clear   # Clear screen

Note: For GIF and image display, you can ask AI to generate 128x32 resolution images, then place them in this path: ~/hardware_hal_demo/assets/oled/

More commands can be found in the md document in this folder,

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/home/jetson/hardware_hal_demo/README.md

If underlying commands can execute normally, it indicates hardware and Jetson mainboard connection is normal and communication is normal.

4. Test OLED Display

Before starting this tutorial, please complete one openclaw tui basic dialogue self-check; if you haven't done it yet, see [05-Three Dialogue Solution Configuration Tests]. After confirming OpenClaw can respond normally, enter OLED-specific testing.

Terminal input to enter TUI:

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openclaw tui

You can try inputting the following content in the terminal:

• Display "Hello, OpenClaw" on OLED

• Display "Today we start learning OLED " on screen

• Clear OLED screen

• Display current status "System OK" on OLED

5. Three Solutions for Communicating with OpenClaw

If optional AI voice module + speaker are selected, whatsapp dialogue, tui, whatsapp dialogue need to broadcast OpenClaw's reply content. You can run the following program in terminal. AI voice module dialogue does not need to run repeatedly

• Modify whether to enable broadcast parameter

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/home/jetson/voice_to_openclaw/.env

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ENABLE_TTS=true  #This parameter controls whether to broadcast. After modification and saving, run the following program in terminal

• Terminal input

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cd ~/voice_to_openclaw
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m src.openclaw_session_tts

5.1 whatsapp Solution

For whatsapp connection steps, please directly refer to [05-Three Dialogue Solution Configuration Tests]. This section only retains dialogue examples suitable for the OLED tutorial.

After creation, you can directly dialogue, for example:

• Display "Welcome to OpenClaw" on OLED

• Help me display current temperature and humidity data on OLED

• Clear OLED screen

5.2 TUI Solution

If you have completed the TUI self-check in Chapter 0, directly enter the following command in the terminal to continue the dialogue:

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openclaw tui

5.3 Voice Code Solution

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Requires optional AI voice interaction module + speaker

For voice module installation, environment configuration, and basic wake-up process, please directly refer to [04-AI Voice Interaction Configuration]. After waking up, you can directly say control content, for example:

• Display hello on OLED

• Change screen content to "Welcome to OpenClaw"

• Clear the screen

6. Comprehensive Cases

Note: The following are all dialogue demonstrations using openclaw tui method. You can also choose whatsapp or voice method to complete.

6.1 Case One: Text Display

Experimental Objective

Make OLED display a fixed text to complete the most basic screen control.

Effect Description

After receiving commands, OpenClaw will render the specified text on the OLED screen. This case is suitable for verifying whether text rendering, line breaks, and screen refresh are normal.

Example Instructions

• Display "Hello, OpenClaw" on OLED

• Display "Today's task is testing OLED"

• Change screen content to "System Ready"

6.2 Case Two: Indicator Display

Experimental Objective

Make OLED display single-line status indicators in a more compact way.

Effect Description

This mode is suitable for compressing short information like temperature, humidity, battery level, status values into one line for display, more like a simple dashboard reading.

Example Instructions

• Display "Temp 26C Hum 57%" on OLED

• Write current status as a single line of short information

• Change screen content to "CPU OK RAM OK"

6.3 Case Three: Weather Card

Experimental Objective

Make OLED display a more complete weather information card.

Effect Description

The screen can display information like location, weather, temperature, and humidity. This case is suitable for making weather stations, environmental monitoring, or information panels.

Example Instructions

• Display "Shenzhen Sunny 26°C Humidity 57%" on OLED

• Make a concise weather card

• Format current temperature and humidity into card style display

6.4 Case Four: Animation Display

Experimental Objective

Make OLED play images or animations to display richer visual effects.

Effect Description

Besides static text, OLED can also display bitmaps, GIF animations, or simple self-check animations. This case is very suitable for making boot pages, expression animations, or classroom demonstrations (you can prepare photos or GIF animations to display in the path /home/jetson/hardware_hal_demo/assets/oled).

Example Instructions

• Play a simple animation on OLED

• Display an icon image

• Make a boot welcome animation