Show HN: ClawBox – Always-on AI assistant box (Jetson, 15W, 67 TOPS, €399)
openclawhardware.devHey HN, maker here. I built ClawBox because I got tired of paying $40+/mo for cloud VPS setups that still couldn't do browser automation reliably.
ClawBox is a dedicated hardware box (NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super) running OpenClaw (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw), an open-source AI assistant framework. You plug it in, connect Telegram/WhatsApp/Discord, and it just runs - 24/7, on your desk, drawing 15W.
What it actually does: - Controls a real Chrome instance (fills forms, monitors sites, scrapes data) - On-device voice pipeline (Whisper STT + Kokoro TTS, no cloud) - Connects to any AI model (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini via API, or Llama 3 locally) - Reads your email, manages calendar, sends messages
The hardware: 67 TOPS AI performance, 8GB LPDDR5, 512GB NVMe, dual-band WiFi + BT 5.0, carbon fiber case. Setup takes ~5 minutes, no terminal needed.
I chose Jetson over Raspberry Pi because the GPU makes a real difference for browser automation + speech processing simultaneously. A Pi just can't keep up.
Cost comparison: ClawBox is EUR399 one-time. A comparable cloud VPS runs $30-50/mo. It pays for itself in under a year, and you own the hardware.
We've shipped 3 units so far (just launched last week). Happy to answer any questions about the hardware, software stack, or business side.
How have you found performance with chrome in 8gB? Is the ram shared with the GPU?
about power usage: sure there exists a light bulb such that this draws less power, but the vast majority of light bulbs are far less than 15W. Also the mac mini sips power when idle at only 2-4W. This isn't a criticism of the product, only the marketing material.
The other thing is that moltbot/openclaw or what ever it's name is today is massively hyped AI slop that will be replaced by the next over hyped AI thing in a matter of weeks.
Fair point on the light bulb comparison - you're right that most household bulbs are well under 15W now with LEDs. I've updated the marketing to be more specific: 15W is comparable to a phone charger, which is more accurate.
On the Mac Mini comparison: the M4 Mini is great hardware, but it idles at 2-4W because it's not doing anything. Once you're running Chrome + Whisper STT + an LLM simultaneously (which is what ClawBox does 24/7), you're looking at 30-60W on a Mini. The Jetson's GPU handles all three workloads concurrently at 15W because it was designed for exactly this kind of edge AI inference.
Re: OpenClaw being "AI slop" - it's open source (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw), MIT licensed, 78K+ Discord members. Been around for a while and actively maintained. But I get the skepticism - the AI hardware space is noisy. Happy to answer specific technical questions if you're curious about the actual architecture.
I had a look and it does look like a great deal for the price. It would probably be good for running home assistant. If you marketed a version with HA preloaded you could beat the Nexus1 AI base station [0] to market.
The thing Home Assistant needs, or any AI assistant like Openclaw, is an affordable smart speaker with a good microphone array and open firmware. I think there would be a good market for that combination, even with people who would be put off by the security and privacy concerns of Openclaw.