# DuckMail

- **Event:** [Meta Global AI Developer Hackathon](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon)
- **When:** Oct 26, 12:00 PM – Nov 4, 9:00 PM (EST)
- **Where:** Online
- **Team:** [Alberto Zurini](https://cerebralvalley.ai/u/albertoZurini)
- **GitHub:** https://github.com/albertoZurini/meta-ai-hackathon-2026
- **Demo video:** https://youtu.be/chQz68j63Lc
- **Gallery:** https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery
- **Page:** https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3265

My wife and I moved from overseas to the US. Our friends are hours away. Scheduling a video call across time zones never lines up, so I built a little room where friends can drop into whenever they want, with a duck in a submarine 🦆

DuckMail is a desk aquarium on a curved OLED screen. A friend opens a link on their phone, draws anything on the duck (a pizza, a crown, a cat...), writes a message and hits send. Meta's models turn the scribble into a real outfit and write a little dance that fits the message. A bottle floats into the tank and waits.

When I walk up to my desk, the webcam notices me. The submarine pulls up, the duck performs wearing my friend's drawing, holds up their message and counts down "Smile for Marco! 3-2-1". That selfie is my reply and it lands on my friend's page a moment later.

Hold something up to the camera and the duck grabs it: SAM 3.1 cuts the real object out of the webcam frame and the duck plays with it ("Shake shake! Snack time!").

There are no buttons on the tank. It's always on, it reacts when you look at it and it turns "we should call sometime" into small moments that fit whatever time zone you're in.

The hardware is a bare flexible OLED panel, an HDMI-to-MIPI driver board and a Lego stand. The 3D-printed stand assumed a screen angle I hadn't settled on yet and one panel didn't survive the build. 

Built solo, from scratch, during the hackathon. The duck has only been on X since Nov 3rd 🦆

## More from Meta Global AI Developer Hackathon

- [Family Meal Planner](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3262)
- [Cooked Chef](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3263)
- [Accessibile Profiles - Mood, Mode, Agentic](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3264)
- [Minva](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3266)
- [VeritasShield](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3267)
- [DualPrivilege-Airgap](https://cerebralvalley.ai/e/meta-ai-developer-hackathon/hackathon/gallery/3268)

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