Articles Tagged “Maker Project”
76 articles found
Q8botOne Robot Dog: A Palm-Sized Open ESP32-C3 Quadruped
Q8botOne is a palm-sized open-source robot dog with an ESP32-C3 brain and 8 DYNAMIXEL actuators, from $199 as a kit or $599 assembled on Crowd Supply.
DSPi Firmware Turns a Raspberry Pi Pico Into a USB DSP Card
DSPi firmware turns a Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico 2 into a USB sound card with up to 110 EQ bands, active crossovers and room correction. Open source.
Meta Muse Gadgets SDK: Build Your Own AI Agent Hardware
Meta's open-source Muse Gadgets SDKs bring its Muse agent to Raspberry Pi and ESP32 builds, and 5,000 free Home Link dongles are going to subscribers.
MaTouch ESP32-S3 E Ink Board: A $60 Voice-Ready Dashboard
Makerfabs' MaTouch ESP32-S3 pairs a 7.5-inch four-color E Ink screen with a four-mic array for $59.80. Here are the specs and what you can build.
A Solar Raspberry Pi 5 Counts Traffic on Just 5.6 Watts
A student-built Raspberry Pi 5 runs YOLOv8 Nano on solar power, averaging 5.6W and counting vehicles with 96.6% accuracy. No AI accelerator required.
Gearotons M17: A $20 Open-Source Servo for Pi Robots
The Gearotons M17 packs a motor, driver, controller and encoder into one NEMA 17 body from $20, with Python libraries for Raspberry Pi and Arduino.
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W Hits 1080p HDMI Without a Framebuffer
A Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W now outputs 1080p30 HDMI in 24-bit color by building each scanline on the fly, beating the old 720p record for Pico-class chips.
OpenMote Is a $99 ESP32-S3 Universal Remote You Can Hack
OpenMote packs an ESP32-S3, a learning IR transceiver, a 6-axis IMU and ESPHome into a Wiimote-shaped remote, with a $59 kit and a $99 assembled unit.
WLV-01 Puts Swappable Sensors on a Raspberry Pi 5
The WLV-01 is a hackable Raspberry Pi 5 camera with swappable color and mono sensors up to Micro Four Thirds, with kits starting around $259.
Raspberry Pi Pico Powers a DIY Blood Lab Centrifuge
A Raspberry Pi Pico, a drone motor and roughly $50 in parts drive an open-source centrifuge built to spin blood at 400 g for cancer research.
TICKEY Puts 48-Color E-Paper on an ESP32-S3 Badge
ENIAC's TICKEY is a 3.8mm clip-on badge with a 3.7-inch 720x480 48-colour e-paper panel and an ESP32-S3, starting near $50 with open firmware.
OpenMANET Runs Video Over Wi-Fi HaLow Mesh Networks
OpenMANET pushes 1-15 Mbps over 802.11ah mesh on a Raspberry Pi 4, adding voice, RTSP video and full IP where Meshtastic sends only short text.
Tomb Raider Runs on an ESP32-P4 at 30 FPS With OpenLara
A new OpenLara port runs the original Tomb Raider on Espressif's ESP32-P4 microcontroller at about 30 FPS, rendering at 320x240 and scaling to 1024x600.
Arduino UNO Media Carrier Adds Two Cameras for $19.25
Arduino's $19.25 UNO Media Carrier adds two MIPI CSI camera ports, a MIPI DSI display connector and three audio jacks to the UNO Q and VENTUNO Q.
FREE-WILi 2 Packs Two RP2350s and an FPGA in One Tool
The $400 FREE-WILi 2 open hardware multitool pairs two RP2350 chips, an ESP32-C5, an iCE40 FPGA and a Raspberry Pi CM0 running 64-bit Linux.
YuzukiNeko Runs Linux on a Pi Pico-Sized RISC-V Board
The YuzukiNeko squeezes a Linux-capable Allwinner F101 RISC-V chip into a Raspberry Pi Pico footprint, with 16MB PSRAM and open hardware files.
XIAO Plus Boards Add 16 GPIOs and Battery Charging
Seeed's XIAO SAMD21 Plus and RP2040 Plus keep the same thumbnail footprint but add up to 16 GPIOs and onboard Li-ion battery charging, from $4.90.
OpenTrailPaper Turns a $90 E-Paper Devkit Into Bike GPS
OpenTrailPaper is open-source firmware turning a $90 LILYGO ESP32-S3 devkit into a 4.7-inch offline GPS bike computer with LoRa and .FIT recording.
Petoi Quaddle Is a $99 ESP32 Robot Dog for Physical AI
The Petoi Quaddle packs an ESP32-S3 motion core, four servos and full ROS support into a 170g robot dog starting at $99, shipping December 2026.
ESP32-P4 Weather Station Adds LoRa Air Quality Nodes
A DIY ESP32-P4 weather station drives a 10.1-inch touchscreen, LoRa sensor nodes and a SEN66 air quality sensor for roughly $185 in main-unit parts.
Circuit Valley CHC5 Hits 2000 FPS on an FPGA Camera
The CHC5 modular camera pairs a Zynq-7020 FPGA with swappable sensors and lens mounts, reaching 2000 FPS at 640x480 with a $684 base configuration.
Offline Wikipedia Now Runs on a Cheap ESP32 Display
Alun Morris reformatted Kiwix offline Wikipedia builds for the ESP32 Cheap Yellow Display, putting Simple English articles and images on an SD card.
Orange Pi Zero 4 Packs 3 TOPS and 16GB Into 21 Grams
The Orange Pi Zero 4 pairs an octa-core Allwinner A733 with a 3 TOPS NPU, Wi-Fi 6 and PCIe 3.0 on a 50 x 55 mm board weighing just 21 grams.
USB-C Deskradar Turns an ESP32-C3 Into Flight Radar
A 1.28-inch round display and an ESP32-C3 make a live ADS-B flight tracker for about $27 — or under $10 if you build it from parts yourself.
Firehat HAT Brings FireWire DV Capture to Raspberry Pi
The $79 Firehat is an open-source FireWire HAT that digitizes MiniDV, Digital8 and HDV tapes straight from a Raspberry Pi 5, with no laptop needed.
PwrBlock 323 Is a $230 Programmable USB-C PD Supply
The open-hardware PwrBlock 323 turns a 100W USB-C PD charger into a scriptable 1-32V bench supply for test fixtures, at $230 on Crowd Supply.
LILYGO T-Echo Lite Kit Adds a Keyboard for LoRa
LILYGO's T-Echo Lite Kit pairs an nRF52840 LoRa and GPS board with a backlit keyboard shield and speaker for off-grid messaging, from $65.34.
Pi-Ener-lite: A $35 18650 UPS for Raspberry Pi Zero
The Pi-Ener-lite adds an 18650 battery backup, real-time clock, and fuel gauge to a Raspberry Pi Zero for $35 while leaving the GPIO header free.
Raspberry Pi Power Guide: PSU, PoE, and UPS Options
A practical Raspberry Pi power guide covering the 27W USB-C PD supply, the 600mA USB limit, PoE+ HATs, battery UPS boards, and solar deployments.
Wi-Fi Sensing Turns an ESP32 and Pi Into a Motion Radar
WifiSense-Pi pairs an ESP32-S3 sampling 100 times a second with a Raspberry Pi 4 to detect people through walls — and the code is now open source.
ESP32-S3 Music Sequencer Doubles as a Slap Bracelet
Maker 3DSage built a wearable ESP32-S3 sequencer with brass-rod note input, a translucent PETG case, and a measuring-tape slap bracelet band.
Which ESP32 Variant to Choose: A 2026 Buyer's Guide
Nine ESP32 variants, one decision. Compare S3, C3, C5, C6, H2, and P4 by cores, RAM, radios, and price to pick the right chip for your project.
EITWatch Reads Hand Gestures With an ESP32-S3 Watch
Northwestern's open-source EITWatch fits eight electrodes on a watch back and hits 92.5% macro-gesture accuracy from a XIAO ESP32-S3 at 48 Hz.
RISC-V MCU Adds Built-In Ethernet PHY and 8MB PSRAM
WCH's CH32V467 packs a 200 MHz RISC-V core, built-in Fast Ethernet PHY, 480 Mbps USB, and up to 8MB PSRAM at roughly $2.40 to $2.90 per chip.
PewCB One Etches Circuit Boards With a Desktop Laser
PewCB One is a 20W laser PCB fab that ablates 0.1mm traces in under an hour with no chemicals, priced at $5,000 with production from September 1.
PiShot Makes a Pocket Camera From a Raspberry Pi Zero
PiShot is an open-source 3D-printed camera built on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, Camera Module 3, an ST7789 rear display, and a single 18650 cell.
ESPHome Starter Kit Puts Four Sensors on One $40 Board
The official $40 ESPHome Starter Kit pairs an ESP32-C6 board with four snap-on FPC sensor modules and needs no YAML editing to get an automation running.
Comu Is a $6 RISC-V Board That Hides in a USB Port
Icy Electronics' Comu packs a 144MHz CH32V203 RISC-V MCU, four touch buttons, and six GPIOs into a 13 x 9.4mm open-source board costing $5.99.
Raspberry Pi Bird Logger Identifies 11,000 Species
A Raspberry Pi and a USB microphone run BirdNET to identify over 11,000 bird species by sound, then render the day's visitors as an e-ink collage.
ChronoWatch X2040 Is a DIY RP2040 Round-Screen Watch
The ChronoWatch X2040 turns a $23 Waveshare RP2040 board into a DIY wearable with a 1.28-inch round touchscreen, a 3D-printed case, and a 950mAh battery.
Octopus 16 Puts 16-Channel EEG on a $250 Open Board
The $250 Octopus 16 packs 16 EEG channels into a 26mm board and turns brain signals into BLE gamepad input, with fully open Arduino and Python code.
Stream32 Builds an Open-Source Stream Deck on ESP32
Stream32 pairs an ESP32 with a 4-inch or 10.1-inch touchscreen to make a fully customizable open-source Stream Deck alternative you can reflash yourself.
ESP32-S3 Runs a 28.9M-Parameter LLM at 9 Tokens/s
A developer got a 28.9M-parameter language model generating 9 tokens per second on an $8 ESP32-S3, using 4-bit weights and per-layer embeddings in flash.
TongDou Desktop Robot Sees You Coming With 24GHz Radar
TongDou is an open-source desktop companion robot built on an ESP32-S3 with a brass chassis, OLED face, IMU and 24 GHz radar for presence detection.
NightRun Boots a Local LLM on a Pi 5 With No OS
NightRun is a Rust UEFI application that boots straight into a local LLM on Raspberry Pi 5 and x86 PCs, skipping the operating system entirely.
ESP-KVM Turns an ESP32-P4 Board Into a $45 IP KVM
ESP-KVM is an open-source IP KVM built from a $20 ESP32-P4 board and an HDMI capture adapter, delivering 20 fps MJPEG remote control for about $45.
ESP32 Web Browser Loads Real Web Pages in Text Mode
Alun Morris built babe32, an open-source text-mode web browser that fetches and renders real web pages on an inexpensive ESP32 display board.
Waveshare RP2350 Board Adds Ethernet and PoE for $14
Waveshare's RP2350-POE-ETH puts hardwired Ethernet and optional 802.3af PoE on a 63mm Raspberry Pi RP2350 board with 20 GPIO, starting at $13.99.
LILYGO T-Display C5 Adds Wi-Fi 6 and Battery for $12
LILYGO's T-Display C5 pairs an ESP32-C5 with dual-band Wi-Fi 6, a 1.9-inch IPS screen, lithium battery management and two Qwiic ports from $11.83.
Raspberry Pi Storage Guide: microSD vs eMMC vs NVMe
A practical 2026 guide to SBC storage: NVMe hits 800+ MB/s random reads versus 42 MB/s on microSD. Pick the right one for your Raspberry Pi build.
Open RC Spotter Logs RC Car Telemetry at 100 Hz on ESP32
An open-source ESP32 data logger fuses GPS and IMU with a 10-state Kalman filter, logging RC car telemetry at 100 Hz to microSD. $169 assembled.
Orange Pi 5B Ubuntu Images Fix an 8-Year Bluetooth Bug
New Pi Desktop and Pi Studio images for the Orange Pi 5B finally land the AP6275P Bluetooth fix Cypress published back in 2018, plus 4K 120Hz.
Low-Power Wireless MCU Guide: nRF54L, ESP32, RP2350
Compare nRF54L15, ESP32-C6, and RP2350 for battery-powered projects: radios, sleep current, memory, price, and which to pick for each build.
CirkitScape Top HAT Combines Four Pi Add-Ons in One
The $45 CirkitScape Top HAT adds 16 GPIOs, a 3-channel ADC, RS-485, and four USB ports to a Raspberry Pi using only standard Python libraries.
Arduino UNO Q Arcade Bundle Builds a $90 Retro Console
Arduino's UNO Q Arcade bundle pairs the 4GB UNO Q SBC with snap-together Modulino controls to build a DIY RetroArch console for about $90 at launch.
Raspberry Pi AI Projects Book Covers Local LLMs for £9
Raspberry Pi Press's new AI Projects book covers local LLMs, vision and speech across Pi 5, Pi Zero 2 W and Pico, at an intro price of £8.99.
moddo Pinch Is the Smallest Arduino Board Yet at 11mm
The moddo Pinch is a 10.9 x 10.5 mm Arduino-compatible board that fits inside a USB-C shell, with 12 GPIO, 11 PWM channels, and pre-orders open at $15.90.
M5Stack Core2 Firmware Clones a $230 Codex Macro Pad
Open-source firmware turns a roughly $50 M5Stack Core2 into a working equivalent of OpenAI's $230 Codex Micro control pad, using its touchscreen.
Pico W Becomes a Driverless USB Wi-Fi Adapter for $6
An open-source firmware turns the $6 Raspberry Pi Pico W into a USB Wi-Fi adapter that needs no drivers on Linux, macOS, Windows, or mobile.
Forgix Board Pairs an RP2354 MCU With an FPGA for $50
The $50 Forgix board pairs a Raspberry Pi RP2354 MCU with an Efinix Trion T8 FPGA in a 36x18mm Teensy footprint, with open KiCad design files.
Moddo Pinch Is the Smallest 32-Bit Arduino Board Yet
The Moddo Pinch fits a 32-bit SAMD11 Arm chip into a 10.9x10.5mm body — the smallest Arduino-compatible board, with pre-orders open at $15.90.
PocketMage Is a Fully Open-Source ESP32-S3 E-Ink PDA
PocketMage is a $185 open-source ESP32-S3 PDA with dual E-Ink and OLED displays, a physical QWERTY keyboard, and a ~7-day battery per charge.
ELM11-Feather Makes FPGAs Lua-Simple for $39
The $39 ELM11-Feather puts a Gowin FPGA and a 75 MHz soft-core into a Feather board you program in Lua, with MIT-licensed firmware coming.
Open Book Touch Is a Hackable Open-Source E-Reader
The Open Book Touch is a DRM-free ESP32-S3 e-reader with a 4.26-inch touch e-paper screen, open firmware, and a replaceable battery, from \$149.
Raspberry Pi 5 Becomes an 8-Channel USB Sound Card With Optical Out
A clever open-source project turns a Raspberry Pi 5 into an 8-channel USB sound card with real TOSLINK optical output generated from a single blinking GPIO pin.
This E-Ink Handheld Runs a Game Boy Emulator at 60 Hz on ESP32-S3
A maker coaxed an e-ink panel into 60 Hz gaming, running a Game Boy emulator on a touch-driven ESP32-S3 board by exploiting its parallel refresh interface.
Inkterface Adds a Wireless E-Ink Faceplate to Valve's Steam Machine
A maker built Inkterface, a magnetic battery-powered e-ink faceplate for Valve's Steam Machine, driven by an ESP32 and fully open-sourced with STEP and STL files.
Arduino's New Modulino Modules Make I2C Builds Bigger and Stress-Free
Arduino launched three Modulino modules in late June 2026 — a Hub for up to 64 I2C devices, a 30-meter Extender, and a Motors driver — starting at $8.85.
Makerfabs' $80 ESP32-P4 Touch Panel Adds 4G, Ethernet, and a Camera
Makerfabs' MaTouch ESP32-P4 is an $80 10.1-inch HMI dev board with 4G LTE, Ethernet, a 2MP camera, and RISC-V power — an all-in-one maker panel shown June 26, 2026.
OpenC6 Brings PC-Style BIOS Firmware to the Tiny ESP32-C6
OpenC6, detailed June 25, 2026, is an open-source firmware that gives the sub-$10 ESP32-C6 microcontroller PC-like network boot, OTA updates, and a web setup UI.
QuadRF Turns a Raspberry Pi 5 Into a Real-Time RF Signal Visualizer
QuadRF is a 4x4 MIMO software-defined radio tile for the Raspberry Pi 5 that renders invisible radio signals as a live augmented-reality overlay — a remarkable maker tool launched June 24, 2026.
Optocam Zero Turns a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Into a Joyful DIY Camera
The Optocam Zero is an open-source DIY digital camera built on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, with autofocus, eight filters, GIF capture, and 3D-printed parts — a delightful weekend maker build.
CrankGPT Runs Offline AI on a Raspberry Pi 5 You Power by Hand
A maker project called CrankGPT runs a fully offline AI voice assistant on a Raspberry Pi 5 powered entirely by a hand crank, with the crank getting harder as the model thinks.
ESP32 Walkie-Talkie: G.722 HD Voice Rides ESP-NOW Packets
PCMFlowG722 turns ESP32 boards into an HD-voice walkie-talkie over ESP-NOW, fitting a 160-byte G.722 frame into one packet. No router needed.
Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2 Opens the Door to Generative AI at the Maker Workbench
The Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2 packs 40 TOPS of on-device AI acceleration into the Pi 5 ecosystem, enabling local LLMs, vision models, and generative micro-apps.
Jeff Geerling Builds a Working Macintosh for $20 Using a Raspberry Pi Pico
A Raspberry Pi Pico running Pico Micro Mac firmware delivers 63% more RAM than the original 128K Macintosh — all for about twenty dollars in parts.