Documents

Episode 734: Fundamentals of Electronics: Understanding Electricity, Voltage, and Current

Episode 733: Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

Episode 732: Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Episode 731: Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

Episode 730: Building a True Power-On Multiturn Position Sensor with the ADMT4000 and MicroPython

Episode 729: Building a Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

Episode 728: Building a DIY PLC with PocketBeagle 2: Finding Out Why Industrial Controllers Cost So Much

Episode 727: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Differential Drive, PID Control and Wireless Mapping

Episode 725: Clem's Workbench Upgrade to Automated Lab with Programmable Instruments and Python

Episode 724: Building and Programming a SCARA Industrial Robot Arm – An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 723: Building a Privacy-First Workshop Security Camera with PocketBeagle 2

Episode 722: PID Control, Motion Profiles and ROS Explained - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 721: Designing a Smarter Workbench: Inside Mark’s 8-Channel Power Monitoring System

Episode 720: Building the Foundations of Your First Robot - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 719: Turning a Broken Robot Vacuum into a Network-Controlled Raspberry Pi 5 Rover

Episode 718: Creating a Multi-Function ESP32 Desk Pet with Custom PCB and Audio Processing

Episode 717: Simulating Prey Vision with Raspberry Pi 5: A Dual Camera Perception Experiment

Episode 716: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Inverse Kinematics and Wireless Control

Episode 715: How to Build a Reaction-Based Catch Game Using Arduino and Relays

Episode 714: Find EMI Fast with a Low‑Cost, Automated Way to See Where Your PCB Radiates

Episode 713: How to Make an LED Sculpture React to Sound with micro:bit

Episode 712: Designing a More Capable Dual Motor Driver Beyond the L298N (What worked and what didn't)

Episode 711: Modern Edge AI on Raspberry Pi 5 for an Animatronic Tracker: Vision Acceleration with AI Hat+ and AI Camera

Episode 710: Your First Real PCB in KiCad : An Arduino Compatible Board Designed from Scratch

Episode 709: Was that my Number!? Fixing Café Order Chaos with a Raspberry Pi Announcer

Episode 708: Reviving a Vintage LED Sign with Arduino and PS/2 Control

Episode 707: Building a Circuit Sculpture with LED Filament

Episode 706: ESP32 + RFID = Smart Access Control in a Simple DIY Build

Episode 705: Building a Super Smooth Z-Scale Train Controller with Arduino

Episode 704: Hacking an IKEA Desk into a Programmable Electric Workstation

Episode 703: How to Set Up the Raspberry Pi 5: Complete Beginner Step-by-Step Guide

Episode 702: Build Your Own USB Looper for Serial Debugging and File Transfer

Episode 701: From Snooze to Launch: The Arduino-Powered LEGO Alarm Clock Inspired by Artemis 2

Episode 700: How Voice Recognition Works on Raspberry Pi (and Why It’s Easy to Break)

Episode 699: GimmeGPIO: A Simple Way to Get GPIO on Laptops and Desktops

Episode 698: Building a Practical Electronics Workbench for Makers and Engineers

Episode 697: A Smart, Safe 3D Printer Cabinet Using Raspberry Pi and Node-RED

Episode 696: How a Pulse Metal Detector Works, and How to Build One

Episode 695: A DIY Test and Programming Rig Built for Small-Batch Electronics Production

Episode 694: Earn Your Fitness Reward with a Smart Cookie Jar Using Strava and ESP32

Episode 693: Open-Source Multicolour 3D Printing Upgrade: Clem’s 3D Chameleon Remix

Episode 692: Build Your own ESP32 Fitness Heart Rate Monitor / Tracker

Episode 691: How Accurate Is Bluetooth Channel Sounding? A Deep Dive with the nRF54L15

Episode 690: Meet the PlatypusBot: Now Powered by Raspberry Pi & ROS

Episode 689: How Clem Built a Handheld Sci-Fi Communicator That Really Works

Episode 688: Building the Cylon Pumpkin: Combining a Larson Scanner and Vocoder for Halloween

Episode 687: Turning a $10 Air Fryer into an Arduino powered Filament Dryer

Episode 686: Creepy Motion-Activated Painting You Can Build Yourself

Episode 685: When Your Body Becomes the Instrument: Clem Builds the “Dröne” Synth

Episode 684: Building an Audio Reactive LED Matrix with a micro:bit and NeoPixels

Episode 683: How to Make a Portable Emergency Radio with an Arduino Nano in a Mint TinT

Episode 682: DIY RF Modulator + Raspberry Pi Pico = Gaming on a Sony Watchman FD-10A CRT

Episode 681: Turn anything into an Arduino Module: Reusing Everyday Electronics

Episode 680: From Kit to Custom Design: Building a Tube-Based FM Radio

Episode 679: ESP32 Duolingo Owl Project: Never Miss a Lesson Again

Episode 678: Open Source ATtiny3226 Arduino Calculator – Hardware, Case & Code Build

Episode 677: Make Your Own Vocoder with Teensy 4.0 - Voice of a Cylon?!

Episode 676: I Tried Building 16 ATtiny Robots with Vibration Motors – It Was a Disaster

Episode 675:Avoid Conflict with this ESP32 Defcon Task Tracker

Episode 674: Building an Open Source Blood Pressure & Heart Signal Monitor

Episode 673: Building an ESP32 Powered Warhammer 40k Rhino with Dynamic LED Effects!

Episode 672: Building an Autonomous LEGO Train with CircuitPython and LIDAR

Episode 671: PlatypusBot - Scavenging for Robotics Parts

Episode 669: Creating an ESD (Or Lightning!) Detector!

Episode 668: Designing an Arduino PID Controlled Micro Drone

Episode 667: Emulating a Speech Synthesis Chip with an ESP32

Episode 665: Raspberry Pi AI Tracking Eye of Sauron - AI AL Barad Dur

Episode 664: Learn how to Make a Photo Booth with the ESP32 and Telegram Automation!

Episode 663: Upcycling a Vintage Microphone into an Emergency Radio System

Episode 662: Making a Stronger Affordable DIY Robot Arm with 3D Printing with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 659: DIY Single Board Computer with ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 658: A Smart Youtube Counter With An Audio Analyzer

Episode 657: How to Control a LEGO Mindstorms kit with AI and Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 656: DIY Jig for your Laser Cutter with Custom Arduino Automation

Episode 655: DIY Hot Plate for SMD Soldering Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 654: How Do BattleBots Work? In the Pit with HyperShock

Episode 653: Edge-lit 7-Segment Display Clock Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 652: Smart Windows and Blinds with Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 651: Design for Manufacturing - Project to Product by Modifying Off-the-Shelf Cases

Episode 650: Using Nordic's nRF7002, My Dehumidifier Tells Me When It's Full!

Episode 649: Giant Retro Gaming Magic Mirror with a Raspberry Pi 5!

Episode 648: Home AI Image Generation Server with LattePanda and Stable Diffusion

Episode 647: Building an Open-Source Tool for Cave Surveying

Episode 646: Creating a Digital Roulette Table with an ESP32 DevKit

Episode 645: Practical DIY Pi Pico Current Load Circuits

Episode 644: Turning a Raspberry Pi Pico into a GPU!

Episode 643: Making a Tribble that Detects Klingons

Episode 642: Making a Time-lapse Camera with a Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 641: Moon Phase Display with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 640: Tinkering vs Engineering: Can You Build a Laptop from Scratch?

Episode 638: RP2040 PCB: Design, Turn-On, and Debug - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 637: Making Music with a Lego Guitar and Capacitive Touch

Episode 636: Creating an IMU based 3D Mouse with an ESP32-S3

Episode 635: Vintage Electronics Exploration with a Bally Cypress Gardens Bingo Machine

Episode 634: Craft a Festive LED Christmas Sweater Featuring the ATtiny416

Episode 633: Spying Under the Christmas Tree with an Arduino-powered Ornament

Episode 632: Revamping Old School Pinball with an ESP32

Episode 631: All-Purpose Debugging: A Practical Universal Screen with LCD Displays

Episode 630: Mega IIe: First Fully Functional Computer built around the Apple Mega-II Chip

Episode 629: Backpack Splash: Mark's Water Gun Upgrade for Epic Outdoor Water Wars!

Episode 628: Affordable DIY Robot Arm - A Deep Dive into 3D Printing and Servo Motors

Episode 627: Creating sudostick - From Prototype to Product

Episode 626: Catching you Up on Bonesnapper Ridge - Off-Grid Maker Shop

Episode 625: Interactive Magic - Creating an Enchanted Cauldron

Episode 624: Modding A Smoke Machine to Add Motion Detection

Episode 622: Building Spooky Fun: Halloween Sound Pranks with nRF 5340 BLE Audio

Episode 621: Color Sensor-Based Water Quality Tracker: DIY Environmental Monitoring

Episode 620: Stey-by-Step Guide to Creating your own Speaking Animatronic Hat

Episode 619: How to Build an Open Source Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard

Episode 618: Upgrading My Racing Sim with a Force-Sensitive Keyboard

Episode 617: Simplify Network Monitoring: Building an ESP32-Powered Solution

Episode 616: Mastering Oven Control: Precision Resin Curing with DIY Modifications - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 615: Building a Unique USB Card Reader: From Idea to Prototype

Episode 614: Using PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) in Robotics - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 613: Building a Magic Wand Talking Sound Board

Episode 612: Handheld BASIC computer in Badge Format with the Arduino Uno

Episode 611: How to Run the Distance to the Moon with Strava Data and a Pico W Board

Episode 610: How to Embroider with Circuits and Conductive Thread

Episode 609: Updating a Fujitsu N860-2500-T111 Keyboard to Work with a PS2 Standard

Episode 608: Making the Simplest DIY Wind Energy Generator - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 607: From Strava to Motion: Creating an Arduino-Powered Arcade Game with Running Data

Episode 606: How to Use LoRaWAN to Launch Model Rockets Wirelessly

Episode 605: Arduino and LEDs Make Solitaire Easier to Solve

Episode 604: Charlieplexing Buttons and LEDs at the Same Time - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 603: Create Your Own Air Hockey Table with Arduino Scoring

Episode 602: DIY AC Dimmer Circuit: Control Your Lights with a Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 601: How to Reverse Engineer Electronics: Building a Developer Board for a Coding Class

Episode 600: Building My Dream Digital Clock: DIY 7 Segment Display with a Cute Robot Twist!

Episode 599: How to Build a Spectrum Analyzer with Lego Bricks & Discrete Electronics

Episode 598: How To Build a Portable, Solar-Charged Off-Grid Power Station

Episode 597: How to Build a Robot that Celebrates Good Grades with Arduino

Episode 596: How to Build Your Own Voice Assistant with MyCroft AI - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 595: Member Challenge Accepted - Universal LANC Controller for DSLR cameras

Episode 594: Repairing a Neewer 660 Studio light - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 593: Playing 3D Famicom Games Wirelessly on the NES - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 591: Building A Bluetooth Speaker in 5 Minutes - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 590: Seven Kingdoms Open Source Bartop Arcade

Episode 588: Highlights from element14 presents 2022

Episode 587: Create Your Own Talking Stress Indicator

Episode 585: Enhancing a Magnifying Headband with Auto Sensing Light

Episode 584: Going Beyond Periodic Wakes: Using WiFi to Revive a Sleeping Device

Episode 582: Smart Christmas Decoration with Raspberry Pi Pico and MQTT

Episode 580: DIY Low Cost Capacitance Meter Using a 555 Timer

Episode 579: How to Make a Basketball Auto Score Keeper Using Colour Sensing

Episode 578: Build your Own Bat Detector with Analog Parts

Episode 577: The Game Guy Mini, Upgrading the Unportable Game Boy!

Episode 576: Build your own Underwater Drone with 3D Printed Parts

Episode 575: How to Make a Secured Parcel Pickup Box with Arduino

Episode 573: Using a Pi Pico to Convert Keyboard Input to Morse Code

Episode 572: How to Use an ESP32 & Camera to Know You've Got Mail!

Episode 571: Using Dead Batteries to Test for Dead Batteries

Episode 570: Making a WiFi Connected Audio Spectrum Analyzer with ESP32

Episode 569: Multi-Spectrum UV Resin Curing Station with Würth LEDs

Episode 568: How to Make a Custom Soundboard with the STM32F4 using FreeCAD

Episode 566: How to Automate Industrial Welding Positioners with Arduino

Episode 565: Measuring Destructive Testing Force with a 20 Ton Hydraulic Press

Episode 564: Build a VU Meter with LED Pixelated Nixie Tubes

Episode 563: Creating Augmented Reality Circuits with Meta Quest 2 and Unity

Episode 561: WiFi to Parallel Port Ascii Art Dot-Matrix Printer

Episode 560: Raspberry Pi Controlled Lego Train with Build HAT

Episode 559: Create a Magic Makeup Mirror with Pose Detection

Episode 557: Create your own Handheld Serial Monitor for Project Debugging

Episode 556: Hacking a Hotel POS Tablet - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 555: Dance Central Pose Estimation Game with Tensorflow and Raspberry Pi

Episode 554: Arduino Uno Mini Limited Edition LED Necklace

Episode 553: Adding a Parallel Printer Port to an Android Phone

Episode 551: Can We Rebuild a 1930s Accounting Machine?

Episode 550: DIY Electronic Controlled Motorized Wheelchair

Episode 549: Using a Teletype Machine as a USB Printer with Arduino

Episode 548: Electronic Fidget Cube, Building Your Ideas!

Episode 547: Creating a “Mummy” Wake Word Detector with Raspberry Pi and Edge Impulse

Episode 546: Mapping the Outputs of a 1960s Teletype Machine - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 545: Designing a Custom PCB for Microsoft Jacdac

Episode 544: Reviving the 1984 IBM 5155 - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 543: Lego Spike Prime Weather Station with Raspberry Pi

Episode 542: A Noise-Free DIY Switching Power Supply - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 541: Vintage Laptop Battery Replaced with USB Power - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 539: Training a Machine to Recognize Objects - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 538: How to Build a Quadruped Robot - NO MATH!

Episode 537: Build a Phonograph Preamplifier - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 536: Interactive Light-Up Window with Pose Detection using a Raspberry Pi and micro:bit

Episode 535: Repair a Sega Game Gear - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 534: Open Source Inventory Warehousing System

Episode 532: World’s First Single-Chip Apple II Boots!

Episode 530: MQTT controlled LED Christmas Baubles with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 528: Let's Build an Electronic Fidget Cube!

Episode 527: Interactive Light Up Window using a Raspberry Pi and micro:bit

Episode 523: Make your Own Auto-Sensing Solder Fume Extractor

Episode 520: Adding Android Auto as Non-Permanent Add-On with Raspberry Pi

Episode 519: Make Your Own Ye Olde Book Nook Diorama with Arduino

Episode 517: Emulate an EPROM - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 516: Modding a Wireless Doorbell with Raspberry Pi and ESP8266

Episode 515: Upcycling a Lenovo PC into a Raspberry Pi WiFi Access Point

Episode 514: Making a 3D Graphics Card for the Atari 800 XL

Episode 512: You Cannot Buy This Vacuum Tube Tester. You Build It!

Episode 511: Raspberry Pi Powered Cheeseball Launcher

Episode 509: DIY Discrete Logic LED Countdown Timer

Episode 508: Raspberry Pi FPV Rover Easy Robot Arm Upgrade

Episode 506: DIY Star Trek Tricorder from Build Inside the Box

Episode 503: Meet Cheesoid - The Robot That Smells!

Episode 501: Raspberry Pi NFC Button-Free Music Player

Episode 496: Compute Module 4 Powered 3D Printer Board

Episode 495: Magic GIF Ball Powered By Raspberry Pi

Episode 494: Keyboard Shortcuts Keypad with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 493: NeoPixel 7 Segment Display Clock Update

Episode 492: Arduino vs 555 Timer - Tiny Slot Car Racers

Episode 490: DIY Raspberry Pi Pico Fizz Buzz Multiplication Game

Episode 486: Make The Ultimate Phone Charging Camping Flashlight

Episode 485: How To Make A Custom PCB From Design To Assembly

Episode 482: Gigantic 3D Printed 7 Segment Display Clock

Episode 481: DIY LOST Swan Station Split Flap Display Timer

Episode 479: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 2

Episode 477: Metal Plate Your 3D Prints with a DIY Galvanizing Machine

Episode 476: IoT Arduino NTP World Clock with SPI Display

Episode 473: Mendel 3D Printer Upgrade and Maintenance

Episode 469: Nintendo Super Scope Modded For Modern Televisions

Episode 468: Socially Distanced Halloween Candy Dispenser

Episode 467: Repairing the World's First Laptop! (Epson HX-20)

Episode 466: Arduino-powered Hexadecimal Color Code Clock

Episode 464: Particle Voice Recognition for Home Appliances

Episode 463: Raspberry Pi Speech to Text LED Face Mask

Episode 462: Joycon Controlled Electronic Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots

Episode 461: Portal 2 Security Camera with Raspberry Pi 2

Episode 460: Trinamic Open Source Ventilator (TOSV) Teardown

Episode 459: Raspberry Pi 4 VR Conference Call Assistant

Episode 458: DIY Arduino Automated Metal Bending Machine

Episode 457: Raspberry Pi 4 Animatronic Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons

Episode 454: Soldering Up the rc2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer Kit

Episode 453: Build an Anti-Troll Bot Using TensorFlow and Arduino

Episode 452: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer Updated!

Episode 451: Build an Off Grid Wikipedia with Raspberry Pi

Episode 446: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 1

Episode 445: Raspberry Pi 4 Animatronic BD-1 Companion Robot

Episode 443: Arduino Uno RC Remote - Can It Be Done?

Episode 441: Raspberry Pi 4 International Space Station Tracker

Episode 440: DIY Arduino Helicopter Collective Joystick Control

Episode 439 - Mechanical Arcade Game with Barebones Arduino

Episode 438: Smartphone Controlled DIY Rover Using Websockets

Episode 436: Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

Episode 435: Raspberry Pi 4 Music Player w/Analog Controls

Episode 432: Super FX Sword using the BBC micro:bit

Episode 431: Room-Sized Studio Light Speakers Combo

Episode 429: YouTuber "On Air" Light with Particle Mesh Network

Episode 427: DIY Retro Gaming Portable on a Budget!

Episode 425: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi 4 Photobooth!

Episode 423: Programmable Arduino Synthesizer Watch

Episode 421: Raspberry Pi 4 Commodore SX-64 Inspired Portable Computer

Episode 418: Animatronic Terminator Skull with BeagleBone® AI

Episode 414: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer

Episode 412: Get to Know Your ADC with a DIY Temperature Probe

Episode 411: Animatronic Claptrap Computer Case - Part 1

Episode 410: MacPro G5 Cheese Grater with Raspberry Pi 4

Episode 404: Arduino Powered Close Encounters Midi Light Board

Episode 402: PiPhone++ The Giant Raspberry Pi Flip Phone

Episode 398: Let Me Out Hooman! Bluetooth Dog Doorbell

Episode 394: Animatronic GLaDOS Head with Raspberry Pi

Episode 391: First Person View RC Car with PS2 Steering Wheel

Episode 390: Retro Texting Smart Watch of the Future!

Episode 389: PlayStation Classic Portable Prototype

Episode 387: Rotocell - The Rotary Cell Phone of the Future!

Episode 382: Modding a Super 8 Camera into a Digital

Episode 375: Hacked Fetal Detector Music Synthesizer

Episode 374: Raspberry Pi Donkey Kong Holiday Ornament

Episode 368: Arduino Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper

Episode 364: Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality Arcade #VR

Episode 363 - Add a Motor to your Bike with Arduino

Episode 359: Make Your Own CNC Pyrography Wood Burner

Tags: episode releases, friday_release_archive, element14 presents, project videos, episodes, friday releases, episode release archive, episode archive, friday release archive, project_videos

Project Video Release Archive

e14sbhargav — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:10:38 GMT

Revision 230 posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/24/2026 2:10:38 PM

Project Video Releases

Episode 733: Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

Episode 732: Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Episode 731: Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

Episode 730: Building a True Power-On Multiturn Position Sensor with the ADMT4000 and MicroPython

Episode 729: Building a Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

Episode 728: Building a DIY PLC with PocketBeagle 2: Finding Out Why Industrial Controllers Cost So Much

Episode 727: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Differential Drive, PID Control and Wireless Mapping

Episode 725: Clem's Workbench Upgrade to Automated Lab with Programmable Instruments and Python

Episode 724: Building and Programming a SCARA Industrial Robot Arm – An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 723: Building a Privacy-First Workshop Security Camera with PocketBeagle 2

Episode 722: PID Control, Motion Profiles and ROS Explained - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 721: Designing a Smarter Workbench: Inside Mark’s 8-Channel Power Monitoring System

Episode 720: Building the Foundations of Your First Robot - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 719: Turning a Broken Robot Vacuum into a Network-Controlled Raspberry Pi 5 Rover

Episode 718: Creating a Multi-Function ESP32 Desk Pet with Custom PCB and Audio Processing

Episode 717: Simulating Prey Vision with Raspberry Pi 5: A Dual Camera Perception Experiment

Episode 716: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Inverse Kinematics and Wireless Control

Episode 715: How to Build a Reaction-Based Catch Game Using Arduino and Relays

Episode 714: Find EMI Fast with a Low‑Cost, Automated Way to See Where Your PCB Radiates

Episode 713: How to Make an LED Sculpture React to Sound with micro:bit

Episode 712: Designing a More Capable Dual Motor Driver Beyond the L298N (What worked and what didn't)

Episode 711: Modern Edge AI on Raspberry Pi 5 for an Animatronic Tracker: Vision Acceleration with AI Hat+ and AI Camera

Episode 710: Your First Real PCB in KiCad : An Arduino Compatible Board Designed from Scratch

Episode 709: Was that my Number!? Fixing Café Order Chaos with a Raspberry Pi Announcer

Episode 708: Reviving a Vintage LED Sign with Arduino and PS/2 Control

Episode 707: Building a Circuit Sculpture with LED Filament

Episode 706: ESP32 + RFID = Smart Access Control in a Simple DIY Build

Episode 705: Building a Super Smooth Z-Scale Train Controller with Arduino

Episode 704: Hacking an IKEA Desk into a Programmable Electric Workstation

Episode 703: How to Set Up the Raspberry Pi 5: Complete Beginner Step-by-Step Guide

Episode 702: Build Your Own USB Looper for Serial Debugging and File Transfer

Episode 701: From Snooze to Launch: The Arduino-Powered LEGO Alarm Clock Inspired by Artemis 2

Episode 700: How Voice Recognition Works on Raspberry Pi (and Why It’s Easy to Break)

Episode 699: GimmeGPIO: A Simple Way to Get GPIO on Laptops and Desktops

Episode 698: Building a Practical Electronics Workbench for Makers and Engineers

Episode 697: A Smart, Safe 3D Printer Cabinet Using Raspberry Pi and Node-RED

Episode 696: How a Pulse Metal Detector Works, and How to Build One

Episode 695: A DIY Test and Programming Rig Built for Small-Batch Electronics Production

Episode 694: Earn Your Fitness Reward with a Smart Cookie Jar Using Strava and ESP32

Episode 693: Open-Source Multicolour 3D Printing Upgrade: Clem’s 3D Chameleon Remix

Episode 692: Build Your own ESP32 Fitness Heart Rate Monitor / Tracker

Episode 691: How Accurate Is Bluetooth Channel Sounding? A Deep Dive with the nRF54L15

Episode 690: Meet the PlatypusBot: Now Powered by Raspberry Pi & ROS

Episode 689: How Clem Built a Handheld Sci-Fi Communicator That Really Works

Episode 688: Building the Cylon Pumpkin: Combining a Larson Scanner and Vocoder for Halloween

Episode 687: Turning a $10 Air Fryer into an Arduino powered Filament Dryer

Episode 686: Creepy Motion-Activated Painting You Can Build Yourself

Episode 685: When Your Body Becomes the Instrument: Clem Builds the “Dröne” Synth

Episode 684: Building an Audio Reactive LED Matrix with a micro:bit and NeoPixels

Episode 683: How to Make a Portable Emergency Radio with an Arduino Nano in a Mint TinT

Episode 682: DIY RF Modulator + Raspberry Pi Pico = Gaming on a Sony Watchman FD-10A CRT

Episode 681: Turn anything into an Arduino Module: Reusing Everyday Electronics

Episode 680: From Kit to Custom Design: Building a Tube-Based FM Radio

Episode 679: ESP32 Duolingo Owl Project: Never Miss a Lesson Again

Episode 678: Open Source ATtiny3226 Arduino Calculator – Hardware, Case & Code Build

Episode 677: Make Your Own Vocoder with Teensy 4.0 - Voice of a Cylon?!

Episode 676: I Tried Building 16 ATtiny Robots with Vibration Motors – It Was a Disaster

Episode 675:Avoid Conflict with this ESP32 Defcon Task Tracker

Episode 674: Building an Open Source Blood Pressure & Heart Signal Monitor

Episode 673: Building an ESP32 Powered Warhammer 40k Rhino with Dynamic LED Effects!

Episode 672: Building an Autonomous LEGO Train with CircuitPython and LIDAR

Episode 671: PlatypusBot - Scavenging for Robotics Parts

Episode 669: Creating an ESD (Or Lightning!) Detector!

Episode 668: Designing an Arduino PID Controlled Micro Drone

Episode 667: Emulating a Speech Synthesis Chip with an ESP32

Episode 665: Raspberry Pi AI Tracking Eye of Sauron - AI AL Barad Dur

Episode 664: Learn how to Make a Photo Booth with the ESP32 and Telegram Automation!

Episode 663: Upcycling a Vintage Microphone into an Emergency Radio System

Episode 662: Making a Stronger Affordable DIY Robot Arm with 3D Printing with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 659: DIY Single Board Computer with ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 658: A Smart Youtube Counter With An Audio Analyzer

Episode 657: How to Control a LEGO Mindstorms kit with AI and Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 656: DIY Jig for your Laser Cutter with Custom Arduino Automation

Episode 655: DIY Hot Plate for SMD Soldering Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 654: How Do BattleBots Work? In the Pit with HyperShock

Episode 653: Edge-lit 7-Segment Display Clock Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 652: Smart Windows and Blinds with Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 651: Design for Manufacturing - Project to Product by Modifying Off-the-Shelf Cases

Episode 650: Using Nordic's nRF7002, My Dehumidifier Tells Me When It's Full!

Episode 649: Giant Retro Gaming Magic Mirror with a Raspberry Pi 5!

Episode 648: Home AI Image Generation Server with LattePanda and Stable Diffusion

Episode 647: Building an Open-Source Tool for Cave Surveying

Episode 646: Creating a Digital Roulette Table with an ESP32 DevKit

Episode 645: Practical DIY Pi Pico Current Load Circuits

Episode 644: Turning a Raspberry Pi Pico into a GPU!

Episode 643: Making a Tribble that Detects Klingons

Episode 642: Making a Time-lapse Camera with a Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 641: Moon Phase Display with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 640: Tinkering vs Engineering: Can You Build a Laptop from Scratch?

Episode 638: RP2040 PCB: Design, Turn-On, and Debug - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 637: Making Music with a Lego Guitar and Capacitive Touch

Episode 636: Creating an IMU based 3D Mouse with an ESP32-S3

Episode 635: Vintage Electronics Exploration with a Bally Cypress Gardens Bingo Machine

Episode 634: Craft a Festive LED Christmas Sweater Featuring the ATtiny416

Episode 633: Spying Under the Christmas Tree with an Arduino-powered Ornament

Episode 632: Revamping Old School Pinball with an ESP32

Episode 631: All-Purpose Debugging: A Practical Universal Screen with LCD Displays

Episode 630: Mega IIe: First Fully Functional Computer built around the Apple Mega-II Chip

Episode 629: Backpack Splash: Mark's Water Gun Upgrade for Epic Outdoor Water Wars!

Episode 628: Affordable DIY Robot Arm - A Deep Dive into 3D Printing and Servo Motors

Episode 627: Creating sudostick - From Prototype to Product

Episode 626: Catching you Up on Bonesnapper Ridge - Off-Grid Maker Shop

Episode 625: Interactive Magic - Creating an Enchanted Cauldron

Episode 624: Modding A Smoke Machine to Add Motion Detection

Episode 622: Building Spooky Fun: Halloween Sound Pranks with nRF 5340 BLE Audio

Episode 621: Color Sensor-Based Water Quality Tracker: DIY Environmental Monitoring

Episode 620: Stey-by-Step Guide to Creating your own Speaking Animatronic Hat

Episode 619: How to Build an Open Source Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard

Episode 618: Upgrading My Racing Sim with a Force-Sensitive Keyboard

Episode 617: Simplify Network Monitoring: Building an ESP32-Powered Solution

Episode 616: Mastering Oven Control: Precision Resin Curing with DIY Modifications - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 615: Building a Unique USB Card Reader: From Idea to Prototype

Episode 614: Using PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) in Robotics - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 613: Building a Magic Wand Talking Sound Board

Episode 612: Handheld BASIC computer in Badge Format with the Arduino Uno

Episode 611: How to Run the Distance to the Moon with Strava Data and a Pico W Board

Episode 610: How to Embroider with Circuits and Conductive Thread

Episode 609: Updating a Fujitsu N860-2500-T111 Keyboard to Work with a PS2 Standard

Episode 608: Making the Simplest DIY Wind Energy Generator - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 607: From Strava to Motion: Creating an Arduino-Powered Arcade Game with Running Data

Episode 606: How to Use LoRaWAN to Launch Model Rockets Wirelessly

Episode 605: Arduino and LEDs Make Solitaire Easier to Solve

Episode 604: Charlieplexing Buttons and LEDs at the Same Time - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 603: Create Your Own Air Hockey Table with Arduino Scoring

Episode 602: DIY AC Dimmer Circuit: Control Your Lights with a Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 601: How to Reverse Engineer Electronics: Building a Developer Board for a Coding Class

Episode 600: Building My Dream Digital Clock: DIY 7 Segment Display with a Cute Robot Twist!

Episode 599: How to Build a Spectrum Analyzer with Lego Bricks & Discrete Electronics

Episode 598: How To Build a Portable, Solar-Charged Off-Grid Power Station

Episode 597: How to Build a Robot that Celebrates Good Grades with Arduino

Episode 596: How to Build Your Own Voice Assistant with MyCroft AI - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 595: Member Challenge Accepted - Universal LANC Controller for DSLR cameras

Episode 594: Repairing a Neewer 660 Studio light - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 593: Playing 3D Famicom Games Wirelessly on the NES - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 591: Building A Bluetooth Speaker in 5 Minutes - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 590: Seven Kingdoms Open Source Bartop Arcade

Episode 588: Highlights from element14 presents 2022

Episode 587: Create Your Own Talking Stress Indicator

Episode 585: Enhancing a Magnifying Headband with Auto Sensing Light

Episode 584: Going Beyond Periodic Wakes: Using WiFi to Revive a Sleeping Device

Episode 582: Smart Christmas Decoration with Raspberry Pi Pico and MQTT

Episode 580: DIY Low Cost Capacitance Meter Using a 555 Timer

Episode 579: How to Make a Basketball Auto Score Keeper Using Colour Sensing

Episode 578: Build your Own Bat Detector with Analog Parts

Episode 577: The Game Guy Mini, Upgrading the Unportable Game Boy!

Episode 576: Build your own Underwater Drone with 3D Printed Parts

Episode 575: How to Make a Secured Parcel Pickup Box with Arduino

Episode 573: Using a Pi Pico to Convert Keyboard Input to Morse Code

Episode 572: How to Use an ESP32 & Camera to Know You've Got Mail!

Episode 571: Using Dead Batteries to Test for Dead Batteries

Episode 570: Making a WiFi Connected Audio Spectrum Analyzer with ESP32

Episode 569: Multi-Spectrum UV Resin Curing Station with Würth LEDs

Episode 568: How to Make a Custom Soundboard with the STM32F4 using FreeCAD

Episode 566: How to Automate Industrial Welding Positioners with Arduino

Episode 565: Measuring Destructive Testing Force with a 20 Ton Hydraulic Press

Episode 564: Build a VU Meter with LED Pixelated Nixie Tubes

Episode 563: Creating Augmented Reality Circuits with Meta Quest 2 and Unity

Episode 561: WiFi to Parallel Port Ascii Art Dot-Matrix Printer

Episode 560: Raspberry Pi Controlled Lego Train with Build HAT

Episode 559: Create a Magic Makeup Mirror with Pose Detection

Episode 557: Create your own Handheld Serial Monitor for Project Debugging

Episode 556: Hacking a Hotel POS Tablet - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 555: Dance Central Pose Estimation Game with Tensorflow and Raspberry Pi

Episode 554: Arduino Uno Mini Limited Edition LED Necklace

Episode 553: Adding a Parallel Printer Port to an Android Phone

Episode 551: Can We Rebuild a 1930s Accounting Machine?

Episode 550: DIY Electronic Controlled Motorized Wheelchair

Episode 549: Using a Teletype Machine as a USB Printer with Arduino

Episode 548: Electronic Fidget Cube, Building Your Ideas!

Episode 547: Creating a “Mummy” Wake Word Detector with Raspberry Pi and Edge Impulse

Episode 546: Mapping the Outputs of a 1960s Teletype Machine - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 545: Designing a Custom PCB for Microsoft Jacdac

Episode 544: Reviving the 1984 IBM 5155 - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 543: Lego Spike Prime Weather Station with Raspberry Pi

Episode 542: A Noise-Free DIY Switching Power Supply - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 541: Vintage Laptop Battery Replaced with USB Power - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 539: Training a Machine to Recognize Objects - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 538: How to Build a Quadruped Robot - NO MATH!

Episode 537: Build a Phonograph Preamplifier - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 536: Interactive Light-Up Window with Pose Detection using a Raspberry Pi and micro:bit

Episode 535: Repair a Sega Game Gear - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 534: Open Source Inventory Warehousing System

Episode 532: World’s First Single-Chip Apple II Boots!

Episode 530: MQTT controlled LED Christmas Baubles with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 528: Let's Build an Electronic Fidget Cube!

Episode 527: Interactive Light Up Window using a Raspberry Pi and micro:bit

Episode 523: Make your Own Auto-Sensing Solder Fume Extractor

Episode 520: Adding Android Auto as Non-Permanent Add-On with Raspberry Pi

Episode 519: Make Your Own Ye Olde Book Nook Diorama with Arduino

Episode 517: Emulate an EPROM - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 516: Modding a Wireless Doorbell with Raspberry Pi and ESP8266

Episode 515: Upcycling a Lenovo PC into a Raspberry Pi WiFi Access Point

Episode 514: Making a 3D Graphics Card for the Atari 800 XL

Episode 512: You Cannot Buy This Vacuum Tube Tester. You Build It!

Episode 511: Raspberry Pi Powered Cheeseball Launcher

Episode 509: DIY Discrete Logic LED Countdown Timer

Episode 508: Raspberry Pi FPV Rover Easy Robot Arm Upgrade

Episode 506: DIY Star Trek Tricorder from Build Inside the Box

Episode 503: Meet Cheesoid - The Robot That Smells!

Episode 501: Raspberry Pi NFC Button-Free Music Player

Episode 496: Compute Module 4 Powered 3D Printer Board

Episode 495: Magic GIF Ball Powered By Raspberry Pi

Episode 494: Keyboard Shortcuts Keypad with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 493: NeoPixel 7 Segment Display Clock Update

Episode 492: Arduino vs 555 Timer - Tiny Slot Car Racers

Episode 490: DIY Raspberry Pi Pico Fizz Buzz Multiplication Game

Episode 486: Make The Ultimate Phone Charging Camping Flashlight

Episode 485: How To Make A Custom PCB From Design To Assembly

Episode 482: Gigantic 3D Printed 7 Segment Display Clock

Episode 481: DIY LOST Swan Station Split Flap Display Timer

Episode 479: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 2

Episode 477: Metal Plate Your 3D Prints with a DIY Galvanizing Machine

Episode 476: IoT Arduino NTP World Clock with SPI Display

Episode 473: Mendel 3D Printer Upgrade and Maintenance

Episode 469: Nintendo Super Scope Modded For Modern Televisions

Episode 468: Socially Distanced Halloween Candy Dispenser

Episode 467: Repairing the World's First Laptop! (Epson HX-20)

Episode 466: Arduino-powered Hexadecimal Color Code Clock

Episode 464: Particle Voice Recognition for Home Appliances

Episode 463: Raspberry Pi Speech to Text LED Face Mask

Episode 462: Joycon Controlled Electronic Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots

Episode 461: Portal 2 Security Camera with Raspberry Pi 2

Episode 460: Trinamic Open Source Ventilator (TOSV) Teardown

Episode 459: Raspberry Pi 4 VR Conference Call Assistant

Episode 458: DIY Arduino Automated Metal Bending Machine

Episode 457: Raspberry Pi 4 Animatronic Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons

Episode 454: Soldering Up the rc2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer Kit

Episode 453: Build an Anti-Troll Bot Using TensorFlow and Arduino

Episode 452: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer Updated!

Episode 451: Build an Off Grid Wikipedia with Raspberry Pi

Episode 446: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 1

Episode 445: Raspberry Pi 4 Animatronic BD-1 Companion Robot

Episode 443: Arduino Uno RC Remote - Can It Be Done?

Episode 441: Raspberry Pi 4 International Space Station Tracker

Episode 440: DIY Arduino Helicopter Collective Joystick Control

Episode 439 - Mechanical Arcade Game with Barebones Arduino

Episode 438: Smartphone Controlled DIY Rover Using Websockets

Episode 436: Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

Episode 435: Raspberry Pi 4 Music Player w/Analog Controls

Episode 432: Super FX Sword using the BBC micro:bit

Episode 431: Room-Sized Studio Light Speakers Combo

Episode 429: YouTuber "On Air" Light with Particle Mesh Network

Episode 427: DIY Retro Gaming Portable on a Budget!

Episode 425: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi 4 Photobooth!

Episode 423: Programmable Arduino Synthesizer Watch

Episode 421: Raspberry Pi 4 Commodore SX-64 Inspired Portable Computer

Episode 418: Animatronic Terminator Skull with BeagleBone® AI

Episode 414: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer

Episode 412: Get to Know Your ADC with a DIY Temperature Probe

Episode 411: Animatronic Claptrap Computer Case - Part 1

Episode 410: MacPro G5 Cheese Grater with Raspberry Pi 4

Episode 404: Arduino Powered Close Encounters Midi Light Board

Episode 402: PiPhone++ The Giant Raspberry Pi Flip Phone

Episode 398: Let Me Out Hooman! Bluetooth Dog Doorbell

Episode 394: Animatronic GLaDOS Head with Raspberry Pi

Episode 391: First Person View RC Car with PS2 Steering Wheel

Episode 390: Retro Texting Smart Watch of the Future!

Episode 389: PlayStation Classic Portable Prototype

Episode 387: Rotocell - The Rotary Cell Phone of the Future!

Episode 382: Modding a Super 8 Camera into a Digital

Episode 375: Hacked Fetal Detector Music Synthesizer

Episode 374: Raspberry Pi Donkey Kong Holiday Ornament

Episode 368: Arduino Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper

Episode 364: Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality Arcade #VR

Episode 363 - Add a Motor to your Bike with Arduino

Episode 359: Make Your Own CNC Pyrography Wood Burner

Tags: episode releases, friday_release_archive, element14 presents, project videos, episodes, friday releases, episode release archive, episode archive, friday release archive, project_videos

Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

e14sbhargav — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:19:45 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/24/2026 12:19:45 PM

Milos takes AI notifications into the physical world with the Claude Notifier, a monitor-mounted companion powered by an ESP32-S3 touchscreen that reacts to activity with animated expressions, touchscreen interactions and even a real mechanical bell. Using Claude Code hooks, custom firmware, 3D-printed enclosures and a servo-driven bell mechanism, the project makes sure important prompts and alerts never get missed, even during the most determined doom-scrolling sessions.

Follow along as he designs the hardware, develops the notification system, creates custom faces and puts the notifier through its paces.

- Episode 733 Resources - Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

If you've spent any time working with AI-assisted development tools, you'll know the pattern. You kick off a task, wait for a response, then drift off to check messages, social media, a video, or three. Before long, the AI has been waiting for your input for half an hour. Rather than changing that habit, Milos decided to solve it with hardware.

The result is a delightfully over-engineered desktop companion called the Claude Notifier, a small ESP32-powered mascot that sits on top of a monitor, watches what Claude Code is doing and reacts with animated expressions, status updates and, when necessary, an actual mechanical bell.

"The obvious reason is not to stop doom scrolling, of course, is to make an overall complicated device that will actually alert you when Claude needs an input."

What started as a humorous idea quickly evolved into a surprisingly capable system that combines Claude Code hooks, custom firmware, a touchscreen user interface, a mechanical notification system and a carefully designed character that feels alive on the desktop.

Turning Claude Code Into a Physical Companion

The foundation of the project came from digging into Claude Code's hook system. By creating a custom settings.json configuration, Claude Code can execute commands whenever specific events occur, such as a prompt being submitted, a response completing, an error occurring or the system requesting additional user input.

Instead of creating a complicated desktop integration, Milos used simple HTTP requests sent from Claude Code directly to an ESP32 on the local network. These hooks allow the notifier to react immediately whenever Claude changes state.

"You don't really need to install anything. You need this settings file, and Claude will just automatically keep calling all of these curl commands as soon as something happens."

One particularly elegant aspect of the implementation is how the firmware separates raw events from emotional responses. Rather than Claude deciding what expression should appear, the device receives simple events and runs its own mood engine. This means boredom, sleeping and attention-seeking behaviour continue even when the host machine stops communicating.

Looking through the firmware reveals a surprisingly sophisticated state model. Events such as PromptSubmitted, TurnFinished, NeedsInput, Error and LimitReached trigger transitions between moods including:

Chill
Working
Excited
Confused
Angry
Bored
Sleeping
Usage Limit

This allows the notifier to behave more like a desktop pet than a simple status indicator.

A Claude Mascot Designed for the Monitor

The physical design deliberately mirrors the small crab-like mascot used by Claude Code. The body is fully 3D printed, with the display fitting neatly into the centre of the enclosure and hooks built into the legs allowing it to hang directly from the monitor.

To keep the hardware as compact as possible, Milos used a Waveshare ESP32-S3 Touch LCD board with a 1.69-inch touchscreen. The module combines Wi-Fi connectivity, a colour display, touch input and a built-in buzzer, giving the project almost everything required on a single board.

"It's a great all-in-one board that also has a piezo buzzer inside. It also has Wi-Fi, so it will cover all of the functionality that we need."

The finished design routes everything through a single connector and includes a dedicated opening for USB programming access, allowing firmware updates without removing the electronics from the enclosure.

Four M2 fasteners secure the shell together, while internal mounting points ensure the ESP32 board slots neatly into position. STEP files are also provided with the project, allowing builders to customise the design for different monitors and mechanical preferences.

When a Buzzer Isn't Annoying Enough

Initially, the notifier was going to use only the onboard buzzer. That idea lasted right up until Milos decided that a tiny piezo alert wasn't sufficiently capable of breaking the spell of endless scrolling.

His answer was refreshingly excessive.

A separate bell-striking mechanism was designed using a continuous rotation servo, a custom printed cam and an actual mechanical bicycle bell.

"We need something a bit more diabolical, something a bit more loud, something that will actually stop you from doom scrolling."

The bell mechanism works by using a spiral-shaped cam attached to the continuous rotation servo. As the servo rotates, the cam gradually builds tension on the bell striker before suddenly releasing it. This creates a clean, satisfying ring using the bell's original striking mechanism rather than a solenoid or linear actuator.

Describing the design, Milos explains:

"As the servo motor rotates, it gradually builds up tension, and in the end it releases all of that tension."

The hardware uses a microswitch to detect the striker position, allowing the firmware to count completed bell strikes accurately and stop at the correct location rather than relying entirely on timed movement.

The final bell assembly also contains USB breakout boards that allow power to be daisy-chained, making cable management much easier when mounted on top of a monitor.

Firmware Written by Claude, for Claude

Perhaps fittingly, much of the firmware was developed using Claude itself. Rather than generating code in a single conversation, Milos describes a structured workflow involving multiple Claude models working together on individual tasks.

"I take Opus 5 and tell it to use that as the orchestrator and to spawn sub agents for different things."

Those agents are assigned coding, testing and validation responsibilities before their outputs are compared and reviewed.

"That's how you get code that's pretty stable and pretty well tested."

The resulting firmware is extensive. Beyond handling notifications, it includes:

Wi-Fi configuration and diagnostics
A hosted web interface
Custom face creation and storage
Touchscreen gesture support
Usage tracking
Bell and buzzer configuration
Mood management
Real-time status reporting

One particularly thoughtful feature is the handling of Claude's usage limits. The project not only processes hook events but also incorporates a supplementary Python-based status monitoring system.

As noted during development:

"The only two things that we can't do from here are the five-hour limit and weekly usage, which needs to go through a Python script that's polling."

Looking at the supporting code reveals dedicated tooling for generating Claude hook configurations automatically. The firmware also tracks usage windows, reset times and percentage consumption, presenting them directly on the notifier's display.

Custom Faces, Moods and Interactions

The most charming aspect of the project is how much personality has been built into the device. The touchscreen allows users to change faces and interact directly with the mascot. Different expressions appear when Claude is working, sleeping, confused, excited or waiting for input. The facial system is considerably more advanced than a few static images. The firmware animates eye movement, blinking, sleeping behaviour, boredom, excitement and even annoyance.

If the mascot is tapped repeatedly, it eventually loses patience.

"If you try annoying it a bit... you can see that it gets pissed off and it rings the bell at you."

The web interface allows virtually every aspect of the experience to be customised, including:

Buzzer frequencies
Bell behaviour
Servo configuration
Face styles
Mood testing
Brightness levels
Network settings
Custom artwork

One standout feature is the built-in face editor. Users can design entirely new expressions using a pixel-art interface and save them directly to the ESP32's non-volatile storage.

The implementation supports multiple user-created face slots, custom blink frames and persistent storage that survives power cycles.

The firmware comments neatly summarise the philosophy:

"A drawn face gets the same mood vocabulary as a built-in one without the user drawing a single extra frame."

Putting the Notifier to Work

Once configured, the notifier operates automatically. When Claude finishes a task, the mascot becomes visibly excited. When an error occurs, it looks confused. If rate limits are reached, the display switches to a dedicated warning state. Most importantly, when Claude requires user input, the notifier demands attention with both visual and audible alerts.

"This will for sure stop the doom scrolling."

Whether it's the animated expressions, the touchscreen interaction or the mechanical bell that sounds suspiciously like fresh cookies emerging from the oven, the device succeeds at grabbing attention without requiring another browser tab or desktop notification. The finished Claude Notifier is a wonderful combination of software engineering, embedded systems, CAD design and a healthy sense of humour. It transforms a very modern problem into an excuse to build expressive hardware, and in doing so turns an AI coding assistant into a desktop companion that feels oddly alive.

If you'd like to build your own version, all design files, firmware and supporting resources are linked below, along with the complete project resources and downloadable models.

Supporting Files and Links

Parts Used

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
Continous Servo	ADAFRUIT	1	Buy Now
Microswitch	MULTICOMP PRO	1	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
ESP32 S3 Touchscreen 1.69	waveshare	1
Mechanical Bell
3D Printing Filament
M3 and M2 Screws
Wires and Perfboard

Tags: custom firmware development, desktop productivity gadget, touchscreen desktop pet, esp32 notifier, custom esp32 project, maker electronics project, monitor mounted gadget, servo bell mechanism, ai workflow notifier, waveshare esp32-s3 touch lcd, embeddedf systems project, 3d printed electronics project, mechanical bell alert, friday_release, diy monitor companion

Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

cstanton — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:19:45 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/24/2026 12:19:45 PM

Follow along as he designs the hardware, develops the notification system, creates custom faces and puts the notifier through its paces.

- Episode 733 Resources - Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

"The obvious reason is not to stop doom scrolling, of course, is to make an overall complicated device that will actually alert you when Claude needs an input."

Turning Claude Code Into a Physical Companion

"You don't really need to install anything. You need this settings file, and Claude will just automatically keep calling all of these curl commands as soon as something happens."

Chill
Working
Excited
Confused
Angry
Bored
Sleeping
Usage Limit

This allows the notifier to behave more like a desktop pet than a simple status indicator.

A Claude Mascot Designed for the Monitor

"It's a great all-in-one board that also has a piezo buzzer inside. It also has Wi-Fi, so it will cover all of the functionality that we need."

When a Buzzer Isn't Annoying Enough

His answer was refreshingly excessive.

A separate bell-striking mechanism was designed using a continuous rotation servo, a custom printed cam and an actual mechanical bicycle bell.

"We need something a bit more diabolical, something a bit more loud, something that will actually stop you from doom scrolling."

Describing the design, Milos explains:

"As the servo motor rotates, it gradually builds up tension, and in the end it releases all of that tension."

The final bell assembly also contains USB breakout boards that allow power to be daisy-chained, making cable management much easier when mounted on top of a monitor.

Firmware Written by Claude, for Claude

"I take Opus 5 and tell it to use that as the orchestrator and to spawn sub agents for different things."

Those agents are assigned coding, testing and validation responsibilities before their outputs are compared and reviewed.

"That's how you get code that's pretty stable and pretty well tested."

The resulting firmware is extensive. Beyond handling notifications, it includes:

Wi-Fi configuration and diagnostics
A hosted web interface
Custom face creation and storage
Touchscreen gesture support
Usage tracking
Bell and buzzer configuration
Mood management
Real-time status reporting

One particularly thoughtful feature is the handling of Claude's usage limits. The project not only processes hook events but also incorporates a supplementary Python-based status monitoring system.

As noted during development:

"The only two things that we can't do from here are the five-hour limit and weekly usage, which needs to go through a Python script that's polling."

Custom Faces, Moods and Interactions

If the mascot is tapped repeatedly, it eventually loses patience.

"If you try annoying it a bit... you can see that it gets pissed off and it rings the bell at you."

The web interface allows virtually every aspect of the experience to be customised, including:

Buzzer frequencies
Bell behaviour
Servo configuration
Face styles
Mood testing
Brightness levels
Network settings
Custom artwork

One standout feature is the built-in face editor. Users can design entirely new expressions using a pixel-art interface and save them directly to the ESP32's non-volatile storage.

The implementation supports multiple user-created face slots, custom blink frames and persistent storage that survives power cycles.

The firmware comments neatly summarise the philosophy:

"A drawn face gets the same mood vocabulary as a built-in one without the user drawing a single extra frame."

Putting the Notifier to Work

"This will for sure stop the doom scrolling."

If you'd like to build your own version, all design files, firmware and supporting resources are linked below, along with the complete project resources and downloadable models.

Supporting Files and Links

Parts Used

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
Continous Servo	ADAFRUIT	1	Buy Now
Microswitch	MULTICOMP PRO	1	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
ESP32 S3 Touchscreen 1.69	waveshare	1
Mechanical Bell
3D Printing Filament
M3 and M2 Screws
Wires and Perfboard

Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

cstanton — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:08:54 GMT

Revision 3 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/24/2026 12:08:54 PM

Follow along as he designs the hardware, develops the notification system, creates custom faces and puts the notifier through its paces.

community.element14.com/.../MR26-_2D00_-Claude-Notifier_5F00_V4.mp4

The result is a delightfully over-engineered desktop companion called the Claude Notifier, a small ESP32-powered mascot that sits on top of a monitor, watches what Claude Code is doing and reacts with animated expressions, status updates and, when necessary, an actual mechanical bell.

"The obvious reason is not to stop doom scrolling, of course, is to make an overall complicated device that will actually alert you when Claude needs an input."

Turning Claude Code Into a Physical Companion

"You don't really need to install anything. You need this settings file, and Claude will just automatically keep calling all of these curl commands as soon as something happens."

Chill
Working
Excited
Confused
Angry
Bored
Sleeping
Usage Limit

This allows the notifier to behave more like a desktop pet than a simple status indicator.

A Claude Mascot Designed for the Monitor

"It's a great all-in-one board that also has a piezo buzzer inside. It also has Wi-Fi, so it will cover all of the functionality that we need."

When a Buzzer Isn't Annoying Enough

His answer was refreshingly excessive.

A separate bell-striking mechanism was designed using a continuous rotation servo, a custom printed cam and an actual mechanical bicycle bell.

"We need something a bit more diabolical, something a bit more loud, something that will actually stop you from doom scrolling."

Describing the design, Milos explains:

"As the servo motor rotates, it gradually builds up tension, and in the end it releases all of that tension."

The final bell assembly also contains USB breakout boards that allow power to be daisy-chained, making cable management much easier when mounted on top of a monitor.

Firmware Written by Claude, for Claude

Perhaps fittingly, much of the firmware was developed using Claude itself.

Rather than generating code in a single conversation, Milos describes a structured workflow involving multiple Claude models working together on individual tasks.

"I take Opus 5 and tell it to use that as the orchestrator and to spawn sub agents for different things."

Those agents are assigned coding, testing and validation responsibilities before their outputs are compared and reviewed.

"That's how you get code that's pretty stable and pretty well tested."

The resulting firmware is extensive. Beyond handling notifications, it includes:

Wi-Fi configuration and diagnostics
A hosted web interface
Custom face creation and storage
Touchscreen gesture support
Usage tracking
Bell and buzzer configuration
Mood management
Real-time status reporting

One particularly thoughtful feature is the handling of Claude's usage limits. The project not only processes hook events but also incorporates a supplementary Python-based status monitoring system.

As noted during development:

"The only two things that we can't do from here are the five-hour limit and weekly usage, which needs to go through a Python script that's polling."

Custom Faces, Moods and Interactions

The most charming aspect of the project is how much personality has been built into the device.

The touchscreen allows users to change faces and interact directly with the mascot. Different expressions appear when Claude is working, sleeping, confused, excited or waiting for input.

The facial system is considerably more advanced than a few static images. The firmware animates eye movement, blinking, sleeping behaviour, boredom, excitement and even annoyance.

If the mascot is tapped repeatedly, it eventually loses patience.

"If you try annoying it a bit... you can see that it gets pissed off and it rings the bell at you."

The web interface allows virtually every aspect of the experience to be customised, including:

Buzzer frequencies
Bell behaviour
Servo configuration
Face styles
Mood testing
Brightness levels
Network settings
Custom artwork

One standout feature is the built-in face editor. Users can design entirely new expressions using a pixel-art interface and save them directly to the ESP32's non-volatile storage.

The implementation supports multiple user-created face slots, custom blink frames and persistent storage that survives power cycles.

The firmware comments neatly summarise the philosophy:

"A drawn face gets the same mood vocabulary as a built-in one without the user drawing a single extra frame."

Putting the Notifier to Work

Once configured, the notifier operates automatically.

When Claude finishes a task, the mascot becomes visibly excited. When an error occurs, it looks confused. If rate limits are reached, the display switches to a dedicated warning state.

Most importantly, when Claude requires user input, the notifier demands attention with both visual and audible alerts.

"This will for sure stop the doom scrolling."

The finished Claude Notifier is a wonderful combination of software engineering, embedded systems, CAD design and a healthy sense of humour. It transforms a very modern problem into an excuse to build expressive hardware, and in doing so turns an AI coding assistant into a desktop companion that feels oddly alive.

If you'd like to build your own version, all design files, firmware and supporting resources are linked below, along with the complete project resources and downloadable models.

Supporting Files and Links

Parts Used

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
Continous Servo	ADAFRUIT	1	Buy Now
Microswitch	MULTICOMP PRO	1	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
ESP32 S3 Touchscreen 1.69	waveshare	1
Mechanical Bell
3D Printing Filament
M3 and M2 Screws
Wires and Perfboard

Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

cstanton — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:45:04 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/24/2026 10:45:04 AM

"The obvious reason is not to stop doom scrolling, of course, is to make an overall complicated device that will actually alert you when Claude needs an input."

Turning Claude Code Into a Physical Companion

"You don't really need to install anything. You need this settings file, and Claude will just automatically keep calling all of these curl commands as soon as something happens."

Chill
Working
Excited
Confused
Angry
Bored
Sleeping
Usage Limit

This allows the notifier to behave more like a desktop pet than a simple status indicator.

A Claude Mascot Designed for the Monitor

"It's a great all-in-one board that also has a piezo buzzer inside. It also has Wi-Fi, so it will cover all of the functionality that we need."

When a Buzzer Isn't Annoying Enough

His answer was refreshingly excessive.

A separate bell-striking mechanism was designed using a continuous rotation servo, a custom printed cam and an actual mechanical bicycle bell.

"We need something a bit more diabolical, something a bit more loud, something that will actually stop you from doom scrolling."

Describing the design, Milos explains:

"As the servo motor rotates, it gradually builds up tension, and in the end it releases all of that tension."

The final bell assembly also contains USB breakout boards that allow power to be daisy-chained, making cable management much easier when mounted on top of a monitor.

Firmware Written by Claude, for Claude

Perhaps fittingly, much of the firmware was developed using Claude itself.

Rather than generating code in a single conversation, Milos describes a structured workflow involving multiple Claude models working together on individual tasks.

"I take Opus 5 and tell it to use that as the orchestrator and to spawn sub agents for different things."

Those agents are assigned coding, testing and validation responsibilities before their outputs are compared and reviewed.

"That's how you get code that's pretty stable and pretty well tested."

The resulting firmware is extensive. Beyond handling notifications, it includes:

Wi-Fi configuration and diagnostics
A hosted web interface
Custom face creation and storage
Touchscreen gesture support
Usage tracking
Bell and buzzer configuration
Mood management
Real-time status reporting

One particularly thoughtful feature is the handling of Claude's usage limits. The project not only processes hook events but also incorporates a supplementary Python-based status monitoring system.

As noted during development:

"The only two things that we can't do from here are the five-hour limit and weekly usage, which needs to go through a Python script that's polling."

Custom Faces, Moods and Interactions

The most charming aspect of the project is how much personality has been built into the device.

The touchscreen allows users to change faces and interact directly with the mascot. Different expressions appear when Claude is working, sleeping, confused, excited or waiting for input.

The facial system is considerably more advanced than a few static images. The firmware animates eye movement, blinking, sleeping behaviour, boredom, excitement and even annoyance.

If the mascot is tapped repeatedly, it eventually loses patience.

"If you try annoying it a bit... you can see that it gets pissed off and it rings the bell at you."

The web interface allows virtually every aspect of the experience to be customised, including:

Buzzer frequencies
Bell behaviour
Servo configuration
Face styles
Mood testing
Brightness levels
Network settings
Custom artwork

One standout feature is the built-in face editor. Users can design entirely new expressions using a pixel-art interface and save them directly to the ESP32's non-volatile storage.

The implementation supports multiple user-created face slots, custom blink frames and persistent storage that survives power cycles.

The firmware comments neatly summarise the philosophy:

"A drawn face gets the same mood vocabulary as a built-in one without the user drawing a single extra frame."

Putting the Notifier to Work

Once configured, the notifier operates automatically.

When Claude finishes a task, the mascot becomes visibly excited. When an error occurs, it looks confused. If rate limits are reached, the display switches to a dedicated warning state.

Most importantly, when Claude requires user input, the notifier demands attention with both visual and audible alerts.

"This will for sure stop the doom scrolling."

If you'd like to build your own version, all design files, firmware and supporting resources are linked below, along with the complete project resources and downloadable models.

Building a Claude-Inspired Monitor Companion with an ESP32 and Mechanical Bell

cstanton — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:26:21 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/22/2026 4:26:21 PM

"The obvious reason is not to stop doom scrolling, of course, is to make an overall complicated device that will actually alert you when Claude needs an input."

Turning Claude Code Into a Physical Companion

"You don't really need to install anything. You need this settings file, and Claude will just automatically keep calling all of these curl commands as soon as something happens."

Chill
Working
Excited
Confused
Angry
Bored
Sleeping
Usage Limit

This allows the notifier to behave more like a desktop pet than a simple status indicator.

A Claude Mascot Designed for the Monitor

"It's a great all-in-one board that also has a piezo buzzer inside. It also has Wi-Fi, so it will cover all of the functionality that we need."

When a Buzzer Isn't Annoying Enough

His answer was refreshingly excessive.

A separate bell-striking mechanism was designed using a continuous rotation servo, a custom printed cam and an actual mechanical bicycle bell.

"We need something a bit more diabolical, something a bit more loud, something that will actually stop you from doom scrolling."

Describing the design, Milos explains:

"As the servo motor rotates, it gradually builds up tension, and in the end it releases all of that tension."

The final bell assembly also contains USB breakout boards that allow power to be daisy-chained, making cable management much easier when mounted on top of a monitor.

Firmware Written by Claude, for Claude

Perhaps fittingly, much of the firmware was developed using Claude itself.

Rather than generating code in a single conversation, Milos describes a structured workflow involving multiple Claude models working together on individual tasks.

"I take Opus 5 and tell it to use that as the orchestrator and to spawn sub agents for different things."

Those agents are assigned coding, testing and validation responsibilities before their outputs are compared and reviewed.

"That's how you get code that's pretty stable and pretty well tested."

The resulting firmware is extensive. Beyond handling notifications, it includes:

Wi-Fi configuration and diagnostics
A hosted web interface
Custom face creation and storage
Touchscreen gesture support
Usage tracking
Bell and buzzer configuration
Mood management
Real-time status reporting

One particularly thoughtful feature is the handling of Claude's usage limits. The project not only processes hook events but also incorporates a supplementary Python-based status monitoring system.

As noted during development:

"The only two things that we can't do from here are the five-hour limit and weekly usage, which needs to go through a Python script that's polling."

Custom Faces, Moods and Interactions

The most charming aspect of the project is how much personality has been built into the device.

The touchscreen allows users to change faces and interact directly with the mascot. Different expressions appear when Claude is working, sleeping, confused, excited or waiting for input.

The facial system is considerably more advanced than a few static images. The firmware animates eye movement, blinking, sleeping behaviour, boredom, excitement and even annoyance.

If the mascot is tapped repeatedly, it eventually loses patience.

"If you try annoying it a bit... you can see that it gets pissed off and it rings the bell at you."

The web interface allows virtually every aspect of the experience to be customised, including:

Buzzer frequencies
Bell behaviour
Servo configuration
Face styles
Mood testing
Brightness levels
Network settings
Custom artwork

One standout feature is the built-in face editor. Users can design entirely new expressions using a pixel-art interface and save them directly to the ESP32's non-volatile storage.

The implementation supports multiple user-created face slots, custom blink frames and persistent storage that survives power cycles.

The firmware comments neatly summarise the philosophy:

"A drawn face gets the same mood vocabulary as a built-in one without the user drawing a single extra frame."

Putting the Notifier to Work

Once configured, the notifier operates automatically.

When Claude finishes a task, the mascot becomes visibly excited. When an error occurs, it looks confused. If rate limits are reached, the display switches to a dedicated warning state.

Most importantly, when Claude requires user input, the notifier demands attention with both visual and audible alerts.

"This will for sure stop the doom scrolling."

If you'd like to build your own version, all design files, firmware and supporting resources are linked below, along with the complete project resources and downloadable models.

Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

cstanton — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:53:03 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/21/2026 12:53:03 PM

There are some things in electronics that Clem simply does not like.

Bright LEDs are one of them. Bright LEDs that blink are worse. Bright LEDs cycling endlessly through rainbow effects while illuminating the inside of a computer case rank somewhere near the bottom of his personal list. Unfortunately, colourful LEDs remain overwhelmingly popular, which left only one option: build an LED project anyway.

Rather than following the well-trodden path of addressable LEDs, ESP32 modules and pre-packaged firmware ecosystems, Clem took a completely different approach. Instead of building another Wi-Fi connected lighting project, he designed an Ethernet-controlled RGB LED strip controller from scratch, combining a Microchip ENC28J60 Ethernet controller with an ATtiny3226 microcontroller and exposing the entire system through a lightweight network API.

The result is not just a decorative lighting controller. It's a general-purpose network-controlled visualisation platform capable of acting as a notification system, a network activity monitor, a status indicator and potentially much more.

Hack the Visual Planet!

- Episode 732 Resources - Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Starting With Ordinary RGB Strips

One of the more unusual aspects of the build is what Clem chose not to use.

Rather than selecting modern addressable LED strips, the design uses inexpensive analogue RGB strips. These strips operate by independently driving red, green and blue channels and can typically be found in voltage variants ranging from roughly 12 V to 24 V. They lack per-pixel control but offer simplicity, low cost and broad availability.

As Clem explains:

"These are the cheapest ones that you can get. It's not any fancy NEOpixel stuff. These are just power on one end and you pull down the colour that you want to activate."

This decision dramatically simplifies the hardware while still providing all the functionality required for network-controlled status indication and ambient lighting.

Designing Around Ethernet

The heart of the project consists of an ATtiny3226 paired with an ENC28J60 Ethernet controller. The choice is interesting because neither component is especially new or fashionable.

The ENC28J60 communicates over SPI, making it ideal for small 8-bit microcontrollers. While newer Ethernet devices are available, the chip benefits from years of community support, mature software libraries and a well-understood design process.

The firmware itself deliberately avoids complexity. Rather than embedding application-specific logic into the controller, the device simply accepts colour commands over the network.

This architectural decision is perhaps the most interesting engineering aspect of the build.

Instead of forcing integrations into individual applications, services or cloud ecosystems, the controller becomes a generic endpoint. Any application capable of sending a simple HTTP request can change the colour of the LEDs. The intelligence remains elsewhere while the hardware remains simple, reusable and easy to maintain.

Why an LDO Won the Design Review

Another notable design decision concerns power regulation.

Most modern projects would default to a switching power supply for efficiency reasons. Clem chose a linear regulator instead.

At first glance this appears inefficient, but his reasoning is grounded firmly in practical engineering considerations.

The controller must operate across the voltage range commonly found on RGB strips, reaching up to approximately 24 V input. Using an LDO allowed him to reduce this voltage to the 3.3 V required by both the microcontroller and Ethernet hardware with minimal design complexity.

More importantly, it eliminates another potential source of debugging headaches.

As Clem notes:

"It avoids having to debug any interference issues between the switching and my Ethernet lines. So those could couple in and I'm not ready to debug that yet."

For a prototype that isn't intended to run continuously, the additional efficiency of a switching supply simply wasn't worth the additional cost, complexity or potential EMI concerns.

Ethernet Is More Than Just An RJ45 Socket

One of the lessons reinforced throughout the project is that Ethernet hardware demands attention to detail.

Connecting an Ethernet controller directly to an RJ45 connector is not sufficient. Ethernet requires isolation transformers, termination networks and supporting circuitry to meet signalling requirements and maintain reliability.

To reduce complexity, Clem selected a BEL MagJack, integrating the Ethernet magnetics directly into the connector assembly. This significantly reduced component count and simplified PCB layout. The MagJack used in the design appears in the BOM as part number P01-0002-01.

During the PCB routing stage, the differential Ethernet pairs required careful handling:

"You have to route them as pairs in KiCad and tune their length to each other so the signals take the same time to travel the distance."

Although the trace lengths on this design were relatively short, the project serves as a useful demonstration of real-world differential pair routing practices.

Community Review Prevents A PCB Mistake

Before manufacturing the final PCB revision, Clem shared the design publicly for review. What followed demonstrates exactly why community feedback is important. A community member noticed that one of the Ethernet transmit pair connections had been reversed. Clem had been preparing to point out his missing ESD protection circuitry when another engineer spotted the far more serious wiring issue.

The boards were reordered before assembly, preventing what could otherwise have become a costly debugging exercise.

Turning LEDs Into Debugging Tools

One particularly elegant feature of the project is the diagnostic system.

Without a dedicated serial interface available, the LEDs themselves became the debugger.

The controller communicates its status entirely through colours:

Red indicates communication failure with the Ethernet controller.
Blue indicates Ethernet hardware is present but has not connected successfully to the network.
Green indicates successful operation and network connectivity.

When the board stubbornly remained blue, considerable effort went into investigating software, networking and protocol issues before the real problem emerged.

A bad solder joint.

After extensive experimentation, reheating and reflowing the board solved the issue completely.

The experience serves as a familiar reminder that sophisticated faults often have surprisingly simple causes.

Software That Lives Outside The Device

A particularly clever architectural decision was keeping application logic away from the firmware. The project downloads listed in the support files include:

color_control.py
network_monitor.py
notification_blink.py

The browser-based colour controller provides a lightweight web interface for selecting colours and sending them directly to one or more EtheRGB devices.

Beyond that, Clem created two more practical demonstrations.

The first monitors network traffic and visualises network activity through colour changes.

The second watches Ubuntu desktop notifications and causes the strip to blink whenever a notification appears.

"You don't have to log into your applications or have to use their weird API. You can just use a little function in Ubuntu itself."

Because all application logic exists externally, additional uses become straightforward to develop. CPU utilisation, GPU activity, build completion alerts, server monitoring and workflow notifications become simple software exercises rather than firmware modifications.

More Than Decorative Lighting

What begins as a reluctant LED project ultimately becomes an interesting lesson in embedded networking, PCB design and system architecture.

The hardware itself is intentionally simple. An ATtiny3226, an ENC28J60, a MagJack and a handful of supporting components create a network-connected endpoint capable of accepting colour commands and storing persistent settings.

The real intelligence lives elsewhere.

That separation allows a single controller design to support an unlimited number of applications without requiring firmware changes. Whether displaying network traffic, signalling incoming messages, highlighting completed builds or simply providing ambient lighting, the same hardware serves every purpose.

In the end, Clem may still not like RGB lighting quite as much as the Internet does.

But he did build a surprisingly capable Ethernet-controlled RGB LED platform, and along the way delivered a practical lesson in Ethernet hardware design, community-driven debugging and the value of keeping embedded systems simple.

Supporting Files and Links

Project Parts and Bill of Materials

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
P01-0002-01 Magjack	BEL	1	Buy Now
ENC28J60-I/SO	Microchip	1	Buy Now
ATTINY3226-SU	Microchip	1	Buy Now
UA78M33CKVURG3	TI	1	Buy Now
MCSJK-7E-25.00-8-10-60-B-10	multicomp pro	1	Buy Now
MMZ1608Y152BTA00	TDK	1	Buy Now
MCT06030D4999BP500	vishay	1	Buy Now
C0603C104K3RACTU	kemet	4	Buy Now
ERJ3EKF2321V	panasonic	1	Buy Now
GRM188R60J106ME47D	murata	2	Buy Now
MC0603N8R0D500CT	multicomp pro	2	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
LED strip (RGB non adressable)		1

Tags: differential pair routing, ethernet led controller, ubuntu notifications, DIY electronics project, network controlled lighting, e14presents_mayermakes, network activity monitor, magjack, attiny 3226, rgb led controller, embedded ethernet project, microchip ethernet controller, pcb design, friday_release, ethernet rgb led strip, enc28j60, local network api

Project Video Release Archive

e14sbhargav — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:04:54 GMT

Revision 229 posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/17/2026 2:04:54 PM

Project Video Releases

Episode 732: Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Episode 731: Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

Episode 730: Building a True Power-On Multiturn Position Sensor with the ADMT4000 and MicroPython

Episode 729: Building a Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

Episode 728: Building a DIY PLC with PocketBeagle 2: Finding Out Why Industrial Controllers Cost So Much

Episode 727: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Differential Drive, PID Control and Wireless Mapping

Episode 725: Clem's Workbench Upgrade to Automated Lab with Programmable Instruments and Python

Episode 724: Building and Programming a SCARA Industrial Robot Arm – An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 723: Building a Privacy-First Workshop Security Camera with PocketBeagle 2

Episode 722: PID Control, Motion Profiles and ROS Explained - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 721: Designing a Smarter Workbench: Inside Mark’s 8-Channel Power Monitoring System

Episode 720: Building the Foundations of Your First Robot - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 719: Turning a Broken Robot Vacuum into a Network-Controlled Raspberry Pi 5 Rover

Episode 718: Creating a Multi-Function ESP32 Desk Pet with Custom PCB and Audio Processing

Episode 717: Simulating Prey Vision with Raspberry Pi 5: A Dual Camera Perception Experiment

Episode 716: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Inverse Kinematics and Wireless Control

Episode 715: How to Build a Reaction-Based Catch Game Using Arduino and Relays

Episode 714: Find EMI Fast with a Low‑Cost, Automated Way to See Where Your PCB Radiates

Episode 713: How to Make an LED Sculpture React to Sound with micro:bit

Episode 712: Designing a More Capable Dual Motor Driver Beyond the L298N (What worked and what didn't)

Episode 711: Modern Edge AI on Raspberry Pi 5 for an Animatronic Tracker: Vision Acceleration with AI Hat+ and AI Camera

Episode 710: Your First Real PCB in KiCad : An Arduino Compatible Board Designed from Scratch

Episode 709: Was that my Number!? Fixing Café Order Chaos with a Raspberry Pi Announcer

Episode 708: Reviving a Vintage LED Sign with Arduino and PS/2 Control

Episode 707: Building a Circuit Sculpture with LED Filament

Episode 706: ESP32 + RFID = Smart Access Control in a Simple DIY Build

Episode 705: Building a Super Smooth Z-Scale Train Controller with Arduino

Episode 704: Hacking an IKEA Desk into a Programmable Electric Workstation

Episode 703: How to Set Up the Raspberry Pi 5: Complete Beginner Step-by-Step Guide

Episode 702: Build Your Own USB Looper for Serial Debugging and File Transfer

Episode 701: From Snooze to Launch: The Arduino-Powered LEGO Alarm Clock Inspired by Artemis 2

Episode 700: How Voice Recognition Works on Raspberry Pi (and Why It’s Easy to Break)

Episode 699: GimmeGPIO: A Simple Way to Get GPIO on Laptops and Desktops

Episode 698: Building a Practical Electronics Workbench for Makers and Engineers

Episode 697: A Smart, Safe 3D Printer Cabinet Using Raspberry Pi and Node-RED

Episode 696: How a Pulse Metal Detector Works, and How to Build One

Episode 695: A DIY Test and Programming Rig Built for Small-Batch Electronics Production

Episode 694: Earn Your Fitness Reward with a Smart Cookie Jar Using Strava and ESP32

Episode 693: Open-Source Multicolour 3D Printing Upgrade: Clem’s 3D Chameleon Remix

Episode 692: Build Your own ESP32 Fitness Heart Rate Monitor / Tracker

Episode 691: How Accurate Is Bluetooth Channel Sounding? A Deep Dive with the nRF54L15

Episode 690: Meet the PlatypusBot: Now Powered by Raspberry Pi & ROS

Episode 689: How Clem Built a Handheld Sci-Fi Communicator That Really Works

Episode 688: Building the Cylon Pumpkin: Combining a Larson Scanner and Vocoder for Halloween

Episode 687: Turning a $10 Air Fryer into an Arduino powered Filament Dryer

Episode 686: Creepy Motion-Activated Painting You Can Build Yourself

Episode 685: When Your Body Becomes the Instrument: Clem Builds the “Dröne” Synth

Episode 684: Building an Audio Reactive LED Matrix with a micro:bit and NeoPixels

Episode 683: How to Make a Portable Emergency Radio with an Arduino Nano in a Mint TinT

Episode 682: DIY RF Modulator + Raspberry Pi Pico = Gaming on a Sony Watchman FD-10A CRT

Episode 681: Turn anything into an Arduino Module: Reusing Everyday Electronics

Episode 680: From Kit to Custom Design: Building a Tube-Based FM Radio

Episode 679: ESP32 Duolingo Owl Project: Never Miss a Lesson Again

Episode 678: Open Source ATtiny3226 Arduino Calculator – Hardware, Case & Code Build

Episode 677: Make Your Own Vocoder with Teensy 4.0 - Voice of a Cylon?!

Episode 676: I Tried Building 16 ATtiny Robots with Vibration Motors – It Was a Disaster

Episode 675:Avoid Conflict with this ESP32 Defcon Task Tracker

Episode 674: Building an Open Source Blood Pressure & Heart Signal Monitor

Episode 673: Building an ESP32 Powered Warhammer 40k Rhino with Dynamic LED Effects!

Episode 672: Building an Autonomous LEGO Train with CircuitPython and LIDAR

Episode 671: PlatypusBot - Scavenging for Robotics Parts

Episode 669: Creating an ESD (Or Lightning!) Detector!

Episode 668: Designing an Arduino PID Controlled Micro Drone

Episode 667: Emulating a Speech Synthesis Chip with an ESP32

Episode 665: Raspberry Pi AI Tracking Eye of Sauron - AI AL Barad Dur

Episode 664: Learn how to Make a Photo Booth with the ESP32 and Telegram Automation!

Episode 663: Upcycling a Vintage Microphone into an Emergency Radio System

Episode 662: Making a Stronger Affordable DIY Robot Arm with 3D Printing with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 659: DIY Single Board Computer with ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 658: A Smart Youtube Counter With An Audio Analyzer

Episode 657: How to Control a LEGO Mindstorms kit with AI and Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 656: DIY Jig for your Laser Cutter with Custom Arduino Automation

Episode 655: DIY Hot Plate for SMD Soldering Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 654: How Do BattleBots Work? In the Pit with HyperShock

Episode 653: Edge-lit 7-Segment Display Clock Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 652: Smart Windows and Blinds with Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 651: Design for Manufacturing - Project to Product by Modifying Off-the-Shelf Cases

Episode 650: Using Nordic's nRF7002, My Dehumidifier Tells Me When It's Full!

Episode 649: Giant Retro Gaming Magic Mirror with a Raspberry Pi 5!

Episode 648: Home AI Image Generation Server with LattePanda and Stable Diffusion

Episode 647: Building an Open-Source Tool for Cave Surveying

Episode 646: Creating a Digital Roulette Table with an ESP32 DevKit

Episode 645: Practical DIY Pi Pico Current Load Circuits

Episode 644: Turning a Raspberry Pi Pico into a GPU!

Episode 643: Making a Tribble that Detects Klingons

Episode 642: Making a Time-lapse Camera with a Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 641: Moon Phase Display with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 640: Tinkering vs Engineering: Can You Build a Laptop from Scratch?

Episode 638: RP2040 PCB: Design, Turn-On, and Debug - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 637: Making Music with a Lego Guitar and Capacitive Touch

Episode 636: Creating an IMU based 3D Mouse with an ESP32-S3

Episode 635: Vintage Electronics Exploration with a Bally Cypress Gardens Bingo Machine

Episode 634: Craft a Festive LED Christmas Sweater Featuring the ATtiny416

Episode 633: Spying Under the Christmas Tree with an Arduino-powered Ornament

Episode 632: Revamping Old School Pinball with an ESP32

Episode 631: All-Purpose Debugging: A Practical Universal Screen with LCD Displays

Episode 630: Mega IIe: First Fully Functional Computer built around the Apple Mega-II Chip

Episode 629: Backpack Splash: Mark's Water Gun Upgrade for Epic Outdoor Water Wars!

Episode 628: Affordable DIY Robot Arm - A Deep Dive into 3D Printing and Servo Motors

Episode 627: Creating sudostick - From Prototype to Product

Episode 626: Catching you Up on Bonesnapper Ridge - Off-Grid Maker Shop

Episode 625: Interactive Magic - Creating an Enchanted Cauldron

Episode 624: Modding A Smoke Machine to Add Motion Detection

Episode 622: Building Spooky Fun: Halloween Sound Pranks with nRF 5340 BLE Audio

Episode 621: Color Sensor-Based Water Quality Tracker: DIY Environmental Monitoring

Episode 620: Stey-by-Step Guide to Creating your own Speaking Animatronic Hat

Episode 619: How to Build an Open Source Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard

Episode 618: Upgrading My Racing Sim with a Force-Sensitive Keyboard

Episode 617: Simplify Network Monitoring: Building an ESP32-Powered Solution

Episode 616: Mastering Oven Control: Precision Resin Curing with DIY Modifications - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 615: Building a Unique USB Card Reader: From Idea to Prototype

Episode 614: Using PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) in Robotics - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 613: Building a Magic Wand Talking Sound Board

Episode 612: Handheld BASIC computer in Badge Format with the Arduino Uno

Episode 611: How to Run the Distance to the Moon with Strava Data and a Pico W Board

Episode 610: How to Embroider with Circuits and Conductive Thread

Episode 609: Updating a Fujitsu N860-2500-T111 Keyboard to Work with a PS2 Standard

Episode 608: Making the Simplest DIY Wind Energy Generator - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 607: From Strava to Motion: Creating an Arduino-Powered Arcade Game with Running Data

Episode 606: How to Use LoRaWAN to Launch Model Rockets Wirelessly

Episode 605: Arduino and LEDs Make Solitaire Easier to Solve

Episode 604: Charlieplexing Buttons and LEDs at the Same Time - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 603: Create Your Own Air Hockey Table with Arduino Scoring

Episode 602: DIY AC Dimmer Circuit: Control Your Lights with a Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 601: How to Reverse Engineer Electronics: Building a Developer Board for a Coding Class

Episode 600: Building My Dream Digital Clock: DIY 7 Segment Display with a Cute Robot Twist!

Episode 599: How to Build a Spectrum Analyzer with Lego Bricks & Discrete Electronics

Episode 598: How To Build a Portable, Solar-Charged Off-Grid Power Station

Episode 597: How to Build a Robot that Celebrates Good Grades with Arduino

Episode 596: How to Build Your Own Voice Assistant with MyCroft AI - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 595: Member Challenge Accepted - Universal LANC Controller for DSLR cameras

Episode 594: Repairing a Neewer 660 Studio light - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 593: Playing 3D Famicom Games Wirelessly on the NES - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 591: Building A Bluetooth Speaker in 5 Minutes - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 590: Seven Kingdoms Open Source Bartop Arcade

Episode 588: Highlights from element14 presents 2022

Episode 587: Create Your Own Talking Stress Indicator

Episode 585: Enhancing a Magnifying Headband with Auto Sensing Light

Episode 584: Going Beyond Periodic Wakes: Using WiFi to Revive a Sleeping Device

Episode 582: Smart Christmas Decoration with Raspberry Pi Pico and MQTT

Episode 580: DIY Low Cost Capacitance Meter Using a 555 Timer

Episode 579: How to Make a Basketball Auto Score Keeper Using Colour Sensing

Episode 578: Build your Own Bat Detector with Analog Parts

Episode 577: The Game Guy Mini, Upgrading the Unportable Game Boy!

Episode 576: Build your own Underwater Drone with 3D Printed Parts

Episode 575: How to Make a Secured Parcel Pickup Box with Arduino

Episode 573: Using a Pi Pico to Convert Keyboard Input to Morse Code

Episode 572: How to Use an ESP32 & Camera to Know You've Got Mail!

Episode 571: Using Dead Batteries to Test for Dead Batteries

Episode 570: Making a WiFi Connected Audio Spectrum Analyzer with ESP32

Episode 569: Multi-Spectrum UV Resin Curing Station with Würth LEDs

Episode 568: How to Make a Custom Soundboard with the STM32F4 using FreeCAD

Episode 566: How to Automate Industrial Welding Positioners with Arduino

Episode 565: Measuring Destructive Testing Force with a 20 Ton Hydraulic Press

Episode 564: Build a VU Meter with LED Pixelated Nixie Tubes

Episode 563: Creating Augmented Reality Circuits with Meta Quest 2 and Unity

Episode 561: WiFi to Parallel Port Ascii Art Dot-Matrix Printer

Episode 560: Raspberry Pi Controlled Lego Train with Build HAT

Episode 559: Create a Magic Makeup Mirror with Pose Detection

Episode 557: Create your own Handheld Serial Monitor for Project Debugging

Episode 556: Hacking a Hotel POS Tablet - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 555: Dance Central Pose Estimation Game with Tensorflow and Raspberry Pi

Episode 554: Arduino Uno Mini Limited Edition LED Necklace

Episode 553: Adding a Parallel Printer Port to an Android Phone

Episode 551: Can We Rebuild a 1930s Accounting Machine?

Episode 550: DIY Electronic Controlled Motorized Wheelchair

Episode 549: Using a Teletype Machine as a USB Printer with Arduino

Episode 548: Electronic Fidget Cube, Building Your Ideas!

Episode 547: Creating a “Mummy” Wake Word Detector with Raspberry Pi and Edge Impulse

Episode 546: Mapping the Outputs of a 1960s Teletype Machine - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 545: Designing a Custom PCB for Microsoft Jacdac

Episode 544: Reviving the 1984 IBM 5155 - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 543: Lego Spike Prime Weather Station with Raspberry Pi

Episode 542: A Noise-Free DIY Switching Power Supply - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 541: Vintage Laptop Battery Replaced with USB Power - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 539: Training a Machine to Recognize Objects - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 538: How to Build a Quadruped Robot - NO MATH!

Episode 537: Build a Phonograph Preamplifier - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 536: Interactive Light-Up Window with Pose Detection using a Raspberry Pi and micro:bit

Episode 535: Repair a Sega Game Gear - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 534: Open Source Inventory Warehousing System

Episode 532: World’s First Single-Chip Apple II Boots!

Episode 530: MQTT controlled LED Christmas Baubles with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 528: Let's Build an Electronic Fidget Cube!

Episode 527: Interactive Light Up Window using a Raspberry Pi and micro:bit

Episode 523: Make your Own Auto-Sensing Solder Fume Extractor

Episode 520: Adding Android Auto as Non-Permanent Add-On with Raspberry Pi

Episode 519: Make Your Own Ye Olde Book Nook Diorama with Arduino

Episode 517: Emulate an EPROM - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 516: Modding a Wireless Doorbell with Raspberry Pi and ESP8266

Episode 515: Upcycling a Lenovo PC into a Raspberry Pi WiFi Access Point

Episode 514: Making a 3D Graphics Card for the Atari 800 XL

Episode 512: You Cannot Buy This Vacuum Tube Tester. You Build It!

Episode 511: Raspberry Pi Powered Cheeseball Launcher

Episode 509: DIY Discrete Logic LED Countdown Timer

Episode 508: Raspberry Pi FPV Rover Easy Robot Arm Upgrade

Episode 506: DIY Star Trek Tricorder from Build Inside the Box

Episode 503: Meet Cheesoid - The Robot That Smells!

Episode 501: Raspberry Pi NFC Button-Free Music Player

Episode 496: Compute Module 4 Powered 3D Printer Board

Episode 495: Magic GIF Ball Powered By Raspberry Pi

Episode 494: Keyboard Shortcuts Keypad with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 493: NeoPixel 7 Segment Display Clock Update

Episode 492: Arduino vs 555 Timer - Tiny Slot Car Racers

Episode 490: DIY Raspberry Pi Pico Fizz Buzz Multiplication Game

Episode 486: Make The Ultimate Phone Charging Camping Flashlight

Episode 485: How To Make A Custom PCB From Design To Assembly

Episode 482: Gigantic 3D Printed 7 Segment Display Clock

Episode 481: DIY LOST Swan Station Split Flap Display Timer

Episode 479: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 2

Episode 477: Metal Plate Your 3D Prints with a DIY Galvanizing Machine

Episode 476: IoT Arduino NTP World Clock with SPI Display

Episode 473: Mendel 3D Printer Upgrade and Maintenance

Episode 469: Nintendo Super Scope Modded For Modern Televisions

Episode 468: Socially Distanced Halloween Candy Dispenser

Episode 467: Repairing the World's First Laptop! (Epson HX-20)

Episode 466: Arduino-powered Hexadecimal Color Code Clock

Episode 464: Particle Voice Recognition for Home Appliances

Episode 463: Raspberry Pi Speech to Text LED Face Mask

Episode 462: Joycon Controlled Electronic Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots

Episode 461: Portal 2 Security Camera with Raspberry Pi 2

Episode 460: Trinamic Open Source Ventilator (TOSV) Teardown

Episode 459: Raspberry Pi 4 VR Conference Call Assistant

Episode 458: DIY Arduino Automated Metal Bending Machine

Episode 457: Raspberry Pi 4 Animatronic Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons

Episode 454: Soldering Up the rc2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer Kit

Episode 453: Build an Anti-Troll Bot Using TensorFlow and Arduino

Episode 452: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer Updated!

Episode 451: Build an Off Grid Wikipedia with Raspberry Pi

Episode 446: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 1

Episode 445: Raspberry Pi 4 Animatronic BD-1 Companion Robot

Episode 443: Arduino Uno RC Remote - Can It Be Done?

Episode 441: Raspberry Pi 4 International Space Station Tracker

Episode 440: DIY Arduino Helicopter Collective Joystick Control

Episode 439 - Mechanical Arcade Game with Barebones Arduino

Episode 438: Smartphone Controlled DIY Rover Using Websockets

Episode 436: Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

Episode 435: Raspberry Pi 4 Music Player w/Analog Controls

Episode 432: Super FX Sword using the BBC micro:bit

Episode 431: Room-Sized Studio Light Speakers Combo

Episode 429: YouTuber "On Air" Light with Particle Mesh Network

Episode 427: DIY Retro Gaming Portable on a Budget!

Episode 425: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi 4 Photobooth!

Episode 423: Programmable Arduino Synthesizer Watch

Episode 421: Raspberry Pi 4 Commodore SX-64 Inspired Portable Computer

Episode 418: Animatronic Terminator Skull with BeagleBone® AI

Episode 414: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer

Episode 412: Get to Know Your ADC with a DIY Temperature Probe

Episode 411: Animatronic Claptrap Computer Case - Part 1

Episode 410: MacPro G5 Cheese Grater with Raspberry Pi 4

Episode 404: Arduino Powered Close Encounters Midi Light Board

Episode 402: PiPhone++ The Giant Raspberry Pi Flip Phone

Episode 398: Let Me Out Hooman! Bluetooth Dog Doorbell

Episode 394: Animatronic GLaDOS Head with Raspberry Pi

Episode 391: First Person View RC Car with PS2 Steering Wheel

Episode 390: Retro Texting Smart Watch of the Future!

Episode 389: PlayStation Classic Portable Prototype

Episode 387: Rotocell - The Rotary Cell Phone of the Future!

Episode 382: Modding a Super 8 Camera into a Digital

Episode 375: Hacked Fetal Detector Music Synthesizer

Episode 374: Raspberry Pi Donkey Kong Holiday Ornament

Episode 368: Arduino Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper

Episode 364: Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality Arcade #VR

Episode 363 - Add a Motor to your Bike with Arduino

Episode 359: Make Your Own CNC Pyrography Wood Burner

Tags: episode releases, friday_release_archive, element14 presents, project videos, episodes, friday releases, episode release archive, episode archive, friday release archive, project_videos

Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

e14sbhargav — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:56:21 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/17/2026 11:56:21 AM

There are some things in electronics that Clem simply does not like.

Hack the Visual Planet!

- Episode 732 Resources - Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Starting With Ordinary RGB Strips

One of the more unusual aspects of the build is what Clem chose not to use.

As Clem explains:

"These are the cheapest ones that you can get. It's not any fancy new pixel stuff. These are just power on one end and you pull down the colour that you want to activate."

This decision dramatically simplifies the hardware while still providing all the functionality required for network-controlled status indication and ambient lighting.

Designing Around Ethernet

The heart of the project consists of an ATtiny3226 paired with an ENC28J60 Ethernet controller. The choice is interesting because neither component is especially new or fashionable.

The firmware itself deliberately avoids complexity. Rather than embedding application-specific logic into the controller, the device simply accepts colour commands over the network.

This architectural decision is perhaps the most interesting engineering aspect of the build.

Why an LDO Won the Design Review

Another notable design decision concerns power regulation.

Most modern projects would default to a switching power supply for efficiency reasons. Clem chose a linear regulator instead.

At first glance this appears inefficient, but his reasoning is grounded firmly in practical engineering considerations.

More importantly, it eliminates another potential source of debugging headaches.

As Clem notes:

"It avoids having to debug any interference issues between the switching and my Ethernet lines. So those could couple in and I'm not ready to debug that yet."

For a prototype that isn't intended to run continuously, the additional efficiency of a switching supply simply wasn't worth the additional cost, complexity or potential EMI concerns.

Ethernet Is More Than Just An RJ45 Socket

One of the lessons reinforced throughout the project is that Ethernet hardware demands attention to detail.

During the PCB routing stage, the differential Ethernet pairs required careful handling:

"You have to route them as pairs in KiCad and tune their length to each other so the signals take the same time to travel the distance."

Although the trace lengths on this design were relatively short, the project serves as a useful demonstration of real-world differential pair routing practices.

Community Review Prevents A PCB Mistake

Before manufacturing the final PCB revision, Clem shared the design publicly for review. What followed demonstrates exactly why community feedback is important.

A community member noticed that one of the Ethernet transmit pair connections had been reversed. Clem had been preparing to point out his missing ESD protection circuitry when another engineer spotted the far more serious wiring issue.

As Clem explains:

"The viewer pointed out that I connected TPR and TPR backwards to my MagJack. I didn't realise until then."

The boards were reordered before assembly, preventing what could otherwise have become a costly debugging exercise.

Turning LEDs Into Debugging Tools

One particularly elegant feature of the project is the diagnostic system.

Without a dedicated serial interface available, the LEDs themselves became the debugger.

The controller communicates its status entirely through colours:

Red indicates communication failure with the Ethernet controller.
Blue indicates Ethernet hardware is present but has not connected successfully to the network.
Green indicates successful operation and network connectivity.

When the board stubbornly remained blue, considerable effort went into investigating software, networking and protocol issues before the real problem emerged.

A bad solder joint.

After extensive experimentation, reheating and reflowing the board solved the issue completely.

The experience serves as a familiar reminder that sophisticated faults often have surprisingly simple causes.

Software That Lives Outside The Device

A particularly clever architectural decision was keeping application logic away from the firmware. The project downloads listed in the support files include:

color_control.py
network_monitor.py
notification_blink.py

The browser-based colour controller provides a lightweight web interface for selecting colours and sending them directly to one or more EtheRGB devices.

Beyond that, Clem created two more practical demonstrations.

The first monitors network traffic and visualises network activity through colour changes.

The second watches Ubuntu desktop notifications and causes the strip to blink whenever a notification appears.

"You don't have to log into your applications or have to use their weird API. You can just use a little function in Ubuntu itself."

More Than Decorative Lighting

What begins as a reluctant LED project ultimately becomes an interesting lesson in embedded networking, PCB design and system architecture.

The real intelligence lives elsewhere.

In the end, Clem may still not like RGB lighting quite as much as the Internet does.

Supporting Files and Links

Project Parts and Bill of Materials

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
P01-0002-01 Magjack	BEL	1	Buy Now
ENC28J60-I/SO	Microchip	1	Buy Now
ATTINY3226-SU	Microchip	1	Buy Now
UA78M33CKVURG3	TI	1	Buy Now
MCSJK-7E-25.00-8-10-60-B-10	multicomp pro	1	Buy Now
MMZ1608Y152BTA00	TDK	1	Buy Now
MCT06030D4999BP500	vishay	1	Buy Now
C0603C104K3RACTU	kemet	4	Buy Now
ERJ3EKF2321V	panasonic	1	Buy Now
GRM188R60J106ME47D	murata	2	Buy Now
MC0603N8R0D500CT	multicomp pro	2	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
LED strip (RGB non adressable)		1

Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

cstanton — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:56:21 GMT

Revision 3 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/17/2026 11:56:21 AM

There are some things in electronics that Clem simply does not like.

Hack the Visual Planet!

- Episode 732 Resources - Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Starting With Ordinary RGB Strips

One of the more unusual aspects of the build is what Clem chose not to use.

As Clem explains:

"These are the cheapest ones that you can get. It's not any fancy new pixel stuff. These are just power on one end and you pull down the colour that you want to activate."

This decision dramatically simplifies the hardware while still providing all the functionality required for network-controlled status indication and ambient lighting.

Designing Around Ethernet

The heart of the project consists of an ATtiny3226 paired with an ENC28J60 Ethernet controller. The choice is interesting because neither component is especially new or fashionable.

The firmware itself deliberately avoids complexity. Rather than embedding application-specific logic into the controller, the device simply accepts colour commands over the network.

This architectural decision is perhaps the most interesting engineering aspect of the build.

Why an LDO Won the Design Review

Another notable design decision concerns power regulation.

Most modern projects would default to a switching power supply for efficiency reasons. Clem chose a linear regulator instead.

At first glance this appears inefficient, but his reasoning is grounded firmly in practical engineering considerations.

More importantly, it eliminates another potential source of debugging headaches.

As Clem notes:

"It avoids having to debug any interference issues between the switching and my Ethernet lines. So those could couple in and I'm not ready to debug that yet."

For a prototype that isn't intended to run continuously, the additional efficiency of a switching supply simply wasn't worth the additional cost, complexity or potential EMI concerns.

Ethernet Is More Than Just An RJ45 Socket

One of the lessons reinforced throughout the project is that Ethernet hardware demands attention to detail.

During the PCB routing stage, the differential Ethernet pairs required careful handling:

"You have to route them as pairs in KiCad and tune their length to each other so the signals take the same time to travel the distance."

Although the trace lengths on this design were relatively short, the project serves as a useful demonstration of real-world differential pair routing practices.

Community Review Prevents A PCB Mistake

Before manufacturing the final PCB revision, Clem shared the design publicly for review. What followed demonstrates exactly why community feedback is important.

As Clem explains:

"The viewer pointed out that I connected TPR and TPR backwards to my MagJack. I didn't realise until then."

The boards were reordered before assembly, preventing what could otherwise have become a costly debugging exercise.

Turning LEDs Into Debugging Tools

One particularly elegant feature of the project is the diagnostic system.

Without a dedicated serial interface available, the LEDs themselves became the debugger.

The controller communicates its status entirely through colours:

Red indicates communication failure with the Ethernet controller.
Blue indicates Ethernet hardware is present but has not connected successfully to the network.
Green indicates successful operation and network connectivity.

When the board stubbornly remained blue, considerable effort went into investigating software, networking and protocol issues before the real problem emerged.

A bad solder joint.

After extensive experimentation, reheating and reflowing the board solved the issue completely.

The experience serves as a familiar reminder that sophisticated faults often have surprisingly simple causes.

Software That Lives Outside The Device

A particularly clever architectural decision was keeping application logic away from the firmware. The project downloads listed in the support files include:

color_control.py
network_monitor.py
notification_blink.py

The browser-based colour controller provides a lightweight web interface for selecting colours and sending them directly to one or more EtheRGB devices.

Beyond that, Clem created two more practical demonstrations.

The first monitors network traffic and visualises network activity through colour changes.

The second watches Ubuntu desktop notifications and causes the strip to blink whenever a notification appears.

"You don't have to log into your applications or have to use their weird API. You can just use a little function in Ubuntu itself."

More Than Decorative Lighting

What begins as a reluctant LED project ultimately becomes an interesting lesson in embedded networking, PCB design and system architecture.

The real intelligence lives elsewhere.

In the end, Clem may still not like RGB lighting quite as much as the Internet does.

Supporting Files and Links

Project Parts and Bill of Materials

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
P01-0002-01 Magjack	BEL	1	Buy Now
ENC28J60-I/SO	Microchip	1	Buy Now
ATTINY3226-SU	Microchip	1	Buy Now
UA78M33CKVURG3	TI	1	Buy Now
MCSJK-7E-25.00-8-10-60-B-10	multicomp pro	1	Buy Now
MMZ1608Y152BTA00	TDK	1	Buy Now
MCT06030D4999BP500	vishay	1	Buy Now
C0603C104K3RACTU	kemet	4	Buy Now
ERJ3EKF2321V	panasonic	1	Buy Now
GRM188R60J106ME47D	murata	2	Buy Now
MC0603N8R0D500CT	multicomp pro	2	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
LED strip (RGB non adressable)		1

Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

cstanton — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:41:06 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/17/2026 11:41:06 AM

There are some things in electronics that Clem simply does not like.

Hack the Visual Planet!

community.element14.com/.../Building-a-Network_2D00_Aware-RGB-LED-Strip-with-Open-Hardware-and-Python.mp4

Starting With Ordinary RGB Strips

One of the more unusual aspects of the build is what Clem chose not to use.

As Clem explains:

"These are the cheapest ones that you can get. It's not any fancy new pixel stuff. These are just power on one end and you pull down the colour that you want to activate."

This decision dramatically simplifies the hardware while still providing all the functionality required for network-controlled status indication and ambient lighting.

Designing Around Ethernet

The heart of the project consists of an ATtiny3226 paired with an ENC28J60 Ethernet controller. The choice is interesting because neither component is especially new or fashionable.

The firmware itself deliberately avoids complexity. Rather than embedding application-specific logic into the controller, the device simply accepts colour commands over the network.

This architectural decision is perhaps the most interesting engineering aspect of the build.

Why an LDO Won the Design Review

Another notable design decision concerns power regulation.

Most modern projects would default to a switching power supply for efficiency reasons. Clem chose a linear regulator instead.

At first glance this appears inefficient, but his reasoning is grounded firmly in practical engineering considerations.

More importantly, it eliminates another potential source of debugging headaches.

As Clem notes:

"It avoids having to debug any interference issues between the switching and my Ethernet lines. So those could couple in and I'm not ready to debug that yet."

For a prototype that isn't intended to run continuously, the additional efficiency of a switching supply simply wasn't worth the additional cost, complexity or potential EMI concerns.

Ethernet Is More Than Just An RJ45 Socket

One of the lessons reinforced throughout the project is that Ethernet hardware demands attention to detail.

During the PCB routing stage, the differential Ethernet pairs required careful handling:

"You have to route them as pairs in KiCad and tune their length to each other so the signals take the same time to travel the distance."

Although the trace lengths on this design were relatively short, the project serves as a useful demonstration of real-world differential pair routing practices.

Community Review Prevents A PCB Mistake

Before manufacturing the final PCB revision, Clem shared the design publicly for review.

What followed demonstrates exactly why community feedback matters.

As Clem explains:

"The viewer pointed out that I connected TPR and TPR backwards to my MagJack. I didn't realise until then."

The boards were reordered before assembly, preventing what could otherwise have become a costly debugging exercise.

Turning LEDs Into Debugging Tools

One particularly elegant feature of the project is the diagnostic system.

Without a dedicated serial interface available, the LEDs themselves became the debugger.

The controller communicates its status entirely through colours:

Red indicates communication failure with the Ethernet controller.
Blue indicates Ethernet hardware is present but has not connected successfully to the network.
Green indicates successful operation and network connectivity.

When the board stubbornly remained blue, considerable effort went into investigating software, networking and protocol issues before the real problem emerged.

A bad solder joint.

After extensive experimentation, reheating and reflowing the board solved the issue completely.

The experience serves as a familiar reminder that sophisticated faults often have surprisingly simple causes.

Software That Lives Outside The Device

A particularly clever architectural decision was keeping application logic away from the firmware. The project downloads listed in the support files include:

color_control.py
network_monitor.py
notification_blink.py

The browser-based colour controller provides a lightweight web interface for selecting colours and sending them directly to one or more EtheRGB devices.

Beyond that, Clem created two more practical demonstrations.

The first monitors network traffic and visualises network activity through colour changes.

The second watches Ubuntu desktop notifications and causes the strip to blink whenever a notification appears.

"You don't have to log into your applications or have to use their weird API. You can just use a little function in Ubuntu itself."

More Than Decorative Lighting

What begins as a reluctant LED project ultimately becomes an interesting lesson in embedded networking, PCB design and system architecture.

The real intelligence lives elsewhere.

In the end, Clem may still not like RGB lighting quite as much as the Internet does.

Supporting Files and Links

- Episode 732 Resources - Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

Project Parts and Bill of Materials

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
P01-0002-01 Magjack	BEL	1	Buy Now
ENC28J60-I/SO	Microchip	1	Buy Now
ATTINY3226-SU	Microchip	1	Buy Now
UA78M33CKVURG3	TI	1	Buy Now
MCSJK-7E-25.00-8-10-60-B-10	multicomp pro	1	Buy Now
MMZ1608Y152BTA00	TDK	1	Buy Now
MCT06030D4999BP500	vishay	1	Buy Now
C0603C104K3RACTU	kemet	4	Buy Now
ERJ3EKF2321V	panasonic	1	Buy Now
GRM188R60J106ME47D	murata	2	Buy Now
MC0603N8R0D500CT	multicomp pro	2	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
LED strip (RGB non adressable)		1

Building a Network-Aware RGB LED Strip with Open Hardware and Python

cstanton — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 09:12:06 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/17/2026 9:12:06 AM

Placeholder

Project Video Release Archive

e14sbhargav — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:03:55 GMT

Revision 228 posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/10/2026 2:03:55 PM

Project Video Releases

Episode 731: Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

Episode 730: Building a True Power-On Multiturn Position Sensor with the ADMT4000 and MicroPython

Episode 729: Building a Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

Episode 728: Building a DIY PLC with PocketBeagle 2: Finding Out Why Industrial Controllers Cost So Much

Episode 727: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Differential Drive, PID Control and Wireless Mapping

Episode 725: Clem's Workbench Upgrade to Automated Lab with Programmable Instruments and Python

Episode 724: Building and Programming a SCARA Industrial Robot Arm – An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 723: Building a Privacy-First Workshop Security Camera with PocketBeagle 2

Episode 722: PID Control, Motion Profiles and ROS Explained - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 721: Designing a Smarter Workbench: Inside Mark’s 8-Channel Power Monitoring System

Episode 720: Building the Foundations of Your First Robot - An Introduction to Robotics

Episode 719: Turning a Broken Robot Vacuum into a Network-Controlled Raspberry Pi 5 Rover

Episode 718: Creating a Multi-Function ESP32 Desk Pet with Custom PCB and Audio Processing

Episode 717: Simulating Prey Vision with Raspberry Pi 5: A Dual Camera Perception Experiment

Episode 716: Designing a Mobile Robot Platform with Inverse Kinematics and Wireless Control

Episode 715: How to Build a Reaction-Based Catch Game Using Arduino and Relays

Episode 714: Find EMI Fast with a Low‑Cost, Automated Way to See Where Your PCB Radiates

Episode 713: How to Make an LED Sculpture React to Sound with micro:bit

Episode 712: Designing a More Capable Dual Motor Driver Beyond the L298N (What worked and what didn't)

Episode 711: Modern Edge AI on Raspberry Pi 5 for an Animatronic Tracker: Vision Acceleration with AI Hat+ and AI Camera

Episode 710: Your First Real PCB in KiCad : An Arduino Compatible Board Designed from Scratch

Episode 709: Was that my Number!? Fixing Café Order Chaos with a Raspberry Pi Announcer

Episode 708: Reviving a Vintage LED Sign with Arduino and PS/2 Control

Episode 707: Building a Circuit Sculpture with LED Filament

Episode 706: ESP32 + RFID = Smart Access Control in a Simple DIY Build

Episode 705: Building a Super Smooth Z-Scale Train Controller with Arduino

Episode 704: Hacking an IKEA Desk into a Programmable Electric Workstation

Episode 703: How to Set Up the Raspberry Pi 5: Complete Beginner Step-by-Step Guide

Episode 702: Build Your Own USB Looper for Serial Debugging and File Transfer

Episode 701: From Snooze to Launch: The Arduino-Powered LEGO Alarm Clock Inspired by Artemis 2

Episode 700: How Voice Recognition Works on Raspberry Pi (and Why It’s Easy to Break)

Episode 699: GimmeGPIO: A Simple Way to Get GPIO on Laptops and Desktops

Episode 698: Building a Practical Electronics Workbench for Makers and Engineers

Episode 697: A Smart, Safe 3D Printer Cabinet Using Raspberry Pi and Node-RED

Episode 696: How a Pulse Metal Detector Works, and How to Build One

Episode 695: A DIY Test and Programming Rig Built for Small-Batch Electronics Production

Episode 694: Earn Your Fitness Reward with a Smart Cookie Jar Using Strava and ESP32

Episode 693: Open-Source Multicolour 3D Printing Upgrade: Clem’s 3D Chameleon Remix

Episode 692: Build Your own ESP32 Fitness Heart Rate Monitor / Tracker

Episode 691: How Accurate Is Bluetooth Channel Sounding? A Deep Dive with the nRF54L15

Episode 690: Meet the PlatypusBot: Now Powered by Raspberry Pi & ROS

Episode 689: How Clem Built a Handheld Sci-Fi Communicator That Really Works

Episode 688: Building the Cylon Pumpkin: Combining a Larson Scanner and Vocoder for Halloween

Episode 687: Turning a $10 Air Fryer into an Arduino powered Filament Dryer

Episode 686: Creepy Motion-Activated Painting You Can Build Yourself

Episode 685: When Your Body Becomes the Instrument: Clem Builds the “Dröne” Synth

Episode 684: Building an Audio Reactive LED Matrix with a micro:bit and NeoPixels

Episode 683: How to Make a Portable Emergency Radio with an Arduino Nano in a Mint TinT

Episode 682: DIY RF Modulator + Raspberry Pi Pico = Gaming on a Sony Watchman FD-10A CRT

Episode 681: Turn anything into an Arduino Module: Reusing Everyday Electronics

Episode 680: From Kit to Custom Design: Building a Tube-Based FM Radio

Episode 679: ESP32 Duolingo Owl Project: Never Miss a Lesson Again

Episode 678: Open Source ATtiny3226 Arduino Calculator – Hardware, Case & Code Build

Episode 677: Make Your Own Vocoder with Teensy 4.0 - Voice of a Cylon?!

Episode 676: I Tried Building 16 ATtiny Robots with Vibration Motors – It Was a Disaster

Episode 675:Avoid Conflict with this ESP32 Defcon Task Tracker

Episode 674: Building an Open Source Blood Pressure & Heart Signal Monitor

Episode 673: Building an ESP32 Powered Warhammer 40k Rhino with Dynamic LED Effects!

Episode 672: Building an Autonomous LEGO Train with CircuitPython and LIDAR

Episode 671: PlatypusBot - Scavenging for Robotics Parts

Episode 669: Creating an ESD (Or Lightning!) Detector!

Episode 668: Designing an Arduino PID Controlled Micro Drone

Episode 667: Emulating a Speech Synthesis Chip with an ESP32

Episode 665: Raspberry Pi AI Tracking Eye of Sauron - AI AL Barad Dur

Episode 664: Learn how to Make a Photo Booth with the ESP32 and Telegram Automation!

Episode 663: Upcycling a Vintage Microphone into an Emergency Radio System

Episode 662: Making a Stronger Affordable DIY Robot Arm with 3D Printing with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 659: DIY Single Board Computer with ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 658: A Smart Youtube Counter With An Audio Analyzer

Episode 657: How to Control a LEGO Mindstorms kit with AI and Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 656: DIY Jig for your Laser Cutter with Custom Arduino Automation

Episode 655: DIY Hot Plate for SMD Soldering Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 654: How Do BattleBots Work? In the Pit with HyperShock

Episode 653: Edge-lit 7-Segment Display Clock Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 652: Smart Windows and Blinds with Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 651: Design for Manufacturing - Project to Product by Modifying Off-the-Shelf Cases

Episode 650: Using Nordic's nRF7002, My Dehumidifier Tells Me When It's Full!

Episode 649: Giant Retro Gaming Magic Mirror with a Raspberry Pi 5!

Episode 648: Home AI Image Generation Server with LattePanda and Stable Diffusion

Episode 647: Building an Open-Source Tool for Cave Surveying

Episode 646: Creating a Digital Roulette Table with an ESP32 DevKit

Episode 645: Practical DIY Pi Pico Current Load Circuits

Episode 644: Turning a Raspberry Pi Pico into a GPU!

Episode 643: Making a Tribble that Detects Klingons

Episode 642: Making a Time-lapse Camera with a Raspberry Pi 5

Episode 641: Moon Phase Display with Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 640: Tinkering vs Engineering: Can You Build a Laptop from Scratch?

Episode 638: RP2040 PCB: Design, Turn-On, and Debug - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 637: Making Music with a Lego Guitar and Capacitive Touch

Episode 636: Creating an IMU based 3D Mouse with an ESP32-S3

Episode 635: Vintage Electronics Exploration with a Bally Cypress Gardens Bingo Machine

Episode 634: Craft a Festive LED Christmas Sweater Featuring the ATtiny416

Episode 633: Spying Under the Christmas Tree with an Arduino-powered Ornament

Episode 632: Revamping Old School Pinball with an ESP32

Episode 631: All-Purpose Debugging: A Practical Universal Screen with LCD Displays

Episode 630: Mega IIe: First Fully Functional Computer built around the Apple Mega-II Chip

Episode 629: Backpack Splash: Mark's Water Gun Upgrade for Epic Outdoor Water Wars!

Episode 628: Affordable DIY Robot Arm - A Deep Dive into 3D Printing and Servo Motors

Episode 627: Creating sudostick - From Prototype to Product

Episode 626: Catching you Up on Bonesnapper Ridge - Off-Grid Maker Shop

Episode 625: Interactive Magic - Creating an Enchanted Cauldron

Episode 624: Modding A Smoke Machine to Add Motion Detection

Episode 622: Building Spooky Fun: Halloween Sound Pranks with nRF 5340 BLE Audio

Episode 621: Color Sensor-Based Water Quality Tracker: DIY Environmental Monitoring

Episode 620: Stey-by-Step Guide to Creating your own Speaking Animatronic Hat

Episode 619: How to Build an Open Source Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard

Episode 618: Upgrading My Racing Sim with a Force-Sensitive Keyboard

Episode 617: Simplify Network Monitoring: Building an ESP32-Powered Solution

Episode 616: Mastering Oven Control: Precision Resin Curing with DIY Modifications - How Hard Can it Be?

Episode 615: Building a Unique USB Card Reader: From Idea to Prototype

Episode 614: Using PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) in Robotics - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 613: Building a Magic Wand Talking Sound Board

Episode 612: Handheld BASIC computer in Badge Format with the Arduino Uno

Episode 611: How to Run the Distance to the Moon with Strava Data and a Pico W Board

Episode 610: How to Embroider with Circuits and Conductive Thread

Episode 609: Updating a Fujitsu N860-2500-T111 Keyboard to Work with a PS2 Standard

Episode 608: Making the Simplest DIY Wind Energy Generator - How Hard Could it Be?

Episode 607: From Strava to Motion: Creating an Arduino-Powered Arcade Game with Running Data

Episode 606: How to Use LoRaWAN to Launch Model Rockets Wirelessly

Episode 605: Arduino and LEDs Make Solitaire Easier to Solve

Episode 604: Charlieplexing Buttons and LEDs at the Same Time - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 603: Create Your Own Air Hockey Table with Arduino Scoring

Episode 602: DIY AC Dimmer Circuit: Control Your Lights with a Raspberry Pi Pico

Episode 601: How to Reverse Engineer Electronics: Building a Developer Board for a Coding Class

Episode 600: Building My Dream Digital Clock: DIY 7 Segment Display with a Cute Robot Twist!

Episode 599: How to Build a Spectrum Analyzer with Lego Bricks & Discrete Electronics

Episode 598: How To Build a Portable, Solar-Charged Off-Grid Power Station

Episode 597: How to Build a Robot that Celebrates Good Grades with Arduino

Episode 596: How to Build Your Own Voice Assistant with MyCroft AI - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 595: Member Challenge Accepted - Universal LANC Controller for DSLR cameras

Episode 594: Repairing a Neewer 660 Studio light - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 593: Playing 3D Famicom Games Wirelessly on the NES - How Hard Could It Be?

Episode 591: Building A Bluetooth Speaker in 5 Minutes - How Hard Can It Be?

Episode 590: Seven Kingdoms Open Source Bartop Arcade

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Tags: episode releases, friday_release_archive, element14 presents, project videos, episodes, friday releases, episode release archive, episode archive, friday release archive, project_videos

Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

cstanton — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/9/2026 1:22:05 PM

It’s a cyberdeck. It’s a puppet. It’s also a handbag! Natasha Dzurny transforms an Arduino UNO Q into a portable media player and puppetry practice device, complete with a display, keyboard, webcam and gloriously fuzzy orange enclosure, while solving some surprisingly tricky power, cabling and space constraints along the way.

This Cyberdeck is Really, Really Great!

This Cyberdeck is a Puppet

What happens when a single-board computer, a media player, a puppet and a furry handbag all share the same enclosure? Natasha Dzurny’s answer is a bright orange cyberdeck inspired by Avenue Q, built around the Arduino UNO Q and designed to be as useful for puppetry practice as it is for watching a carefully chosen film collection.

The finished machine is deliberately personal. It opens like a clamshell laptop, runs from a battery, carries its keyboard and display inside a working puppet mouth, and can deploy a small webcam on a telescopic rod. Close it up, attach the strap and it becomes a bag. It is playful, but the engineering problems are familiar to anyone who has tried to package electronics into a tight, irregular space: power delivery, connector orientation, thermal clearance, service access and mechanical strength all compete for the same few centimetres.

A cyberdeck is broadly a custom computer made for a particular purpose, with its form and controls chosen by its builder. This one began with a word association between the Arduino UNO Q and Avenue Q, the puppet-led musical comedy that returned to London’s West End in 2026. The orange furball used in the show’s visual identity provided the enclosure concept, while the project’s functions came from Natasha’s own interests: local media, puppetry and wearable technology.

“The current cyberdeck movement is about taking control, designing simplicity into our tools, and making technology that speaks to us, not for us.”

Instead of making a general-purpose laptop, Natasha selected a short list of jobs: play locally stored audio and video, provide a monitor for camera-based puppet practice, remain portable and still function as a hand-operated puppet. That narrow brief kept the build coherent even when the component layout changed repeatedly.

Choosing the electronics and getting the power right

The computing core is the Arduino UNO Q. It combines a Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 application processor, capable of running Debian Linux, with an STM32U585 real-time microcontroller. The arrangement gives the board both a desktop-style Linux environment and Arduino-compatible real-time I/O. Natasha used the Linux side for this build, but the microcontroller leaves scope for later sensors, actuators or interface controls.

The UNO Q is available in 2 GB RAM/16 GB eMMC and 4 GB RAM/32 GB eMMC versions. For standalone computer use with a graphical desktop, Arduino recommends the 4 GB version. The project pairs it with a five-inch HDMI display, selected specifically to fit the puppet’s mouth and provide a 3.5 mm headphone output. HDMI carries audio and video together, avoiding a separate audio interface. A compact wireless keyboard with an integrated trackpad supplies the controls, while removable media holds the hand-picked film and music library.

Because the board has one USB-C connection for power and peripherals, a powered USB-C hub becomes the centre of the system. The selected hub supplies HDMI, USB-A connections and an SD or microSD card reader, while accepting USB Power Delivery. This is not just a convenience item: its port placement and ability to pass adequate power determine whether the complete computer can operate reliably.

“I started with a 5 volt 2.1 amp battery pack for a phone, which did power the project temporarily, but ended up browning out and resetting the board.”

The replacement pack could provide the recommended 5 V at 3 A. Builders should check the output mode of a prospective battery, not simply its capacity in mAh. A high-capacity pack may still have an unsuitable output limit, and some packs shut down at low loads or negotiate USB-PD modes differently. Bench-test the UNO Q, hub, display, keyboard receiver and webcam together before committing to the enclosure. For setup on mains power, we can use Arduino’s 45 W USB-C supply, and 60 W USB-C cable.

Core recommended bill of materials

Arduino UNO Q: 4 GB version preferred for standalone desktop use.
USB-C power supply: Arduino 45 W supply,
USB-C cable: 1 m, 60 W, 5 Gbit/s Arduino cable
USB-C hub: multiport hub with power delivery, HDMI, USB-A and card-reader connections
Display: five-inch HDMI monitor with a headphone socket.
Controls and storage: compact wireless keyboard/trackpad and removable card storage.
Packaging parts: regular-to-mini HDMI ribbon cable, angled USB adapters, 90-degree 3.5 mm extension, USB splitter, compact webcam and USB-PD battery pack.

Turning a spherical mould into a computer chassis

A two-part plastic chocolate mould became the head shell. It was light enough to carry and strong enough to hold its shape, while leaving room for both the electronics and a hand. Heavy-duty foam display board formed the two inner mouth plates. Cut-outs allow the display and keyboard to sit flush, and a second foam-board layer adds stiffness around the openings.

The mechanical layout had to leave a clear hand path behind the display and below the electronics platform. Natasha trimmed the lower hemisphere to make a flat base, then removed part of the circular mouth plates to form the rear hinge. Gaffer tape provides a flexible hinge, while a band of corset boning restores stiffness after material was removed from the upper shell. This lets the mouth rest securely in its open, laptop-like position.

“Trying to find the perfect balance to leave enough room for my hand to fit in the back and the display and keyboard to fit inside the mouth like a clamshell computer.”

The UNO Q was first fixed to a separate piece of foam board rather than glued directly. This protects the PCB, provides a little thermal clearance and makes the subassembly easier to mount. Zip ties secure connections while retaining future access. These small choices turn a craft enclosure into a serviceable electronics chassis.

Cable routing was the real build challenge

The assembly uses no exotic circuit, but its interconnects required repeated prototyping. Standard moulded plugs consume too much space and often point in the wrong direction. A thin HDMI ribbon cable solved the tightest route, but HDMI connector size and cable orientation both needed checking before purchase.

“There are three sizes of HDMI, and when you’re routing it 90 degrees, it also has an up or down, so I had to be extra careful to order the right one.”

The headphone socket was brought to the inside of the mouth with a 90-degree 3.5 mm extension. Although the keyboard is wireless in use, it still needs charging, so an angled USB adapter lines its charging port up with a discreet access hole through the fur. This is a useful enclosure-design lesson: draw every plug with its cable bend radius, not merely the socket outline. Include access for charging, card removal and maintenance before covering the structure.

Linux setup, local media and an offline webcam

Initial setup was performed with the UNO Q powered from a laptop supply. On boot, the system guides the user through passwords and Wi-Fi credentials before opening Arduino App Lab. The cyberdeck does not need App Lab for media playback, so VLC was installed from the terminal:

sudo apt install vlc

Locally stored files can then be selected in the file browser and opened in VLC. Keeping the collection on removable storage supports the original intention: decide what to carry, then use it without relying on a streaming catalogue or permanent network connection.

A tiny USB webcam turned the computer into a portable puppetry monitor. Mounted on a telescopic rod through a hidden opening in the head, the camera can frame the puppet while its operator remains below view. A USB splitter adds the extra connection. An online camera test was useful during development, but offline operation was essential, so Natasha installed Cheese, a simple Linux webcam viewer and recorder.

The result is a self-contained practice setup: extend the camera, open the mouth, monitor the camera feed on the built-in display, then fold everything back into the head. An element14 Community post on getting started with Arduino UNO Q also discusses USB webcam use and the practical need for a USB-C hub.

Fur, zips and knowing when not to add a feature

To create the outer skin, Natasha wrapped the assembled shell in plastic film and tape, marked seam lines, then transferred the resulting pattern pieces to orange faux fur. A double zip provides both a hand opening and a bag closure. Felt strips along the zip reduce the chance of long fibres catching in the teeth, and D-rings provide secure points for the shoulder strap.

The eyes were formed from oversized googly-eye domes, sanded and finished with paint mixed with matt Mod Podge. Moving pupils driven by servos were considered because the UNO Q also provides a microcontroller, but the motion did not suit the visual style. The static version was the more deliberate design.

“Just because technology gives you a capability doesn’t mean using it is the right choice.”

That decision also avoids additional current draw, noise, wiring, weight and mechanical failure points. It is a strong reminder that unused capability is not wasted capability. Good project design is defined by the brief, not by the number of features enabled.

A computer that could only come from its maker

The completed cyberdeck plays a locally curated media library, supports offline camera practice, works as a puppet and carries as a furry shoulder bag. More importantly, its odd combination of functions forced practical solutions that a conventional rectangular enclosure would never demand.

“Create for yourself what nobody could have predicted that you would make.”

For anyone building a compact cyberdeck, the most transferable advice is to prototype the entire power and signal chain first, verify every angled connector, reserve space for hands and cable bends, and keep critical parts removable. Then choose a form that makes the machine unmistakably yours.

Parts Used

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
USB-C Power Supply, 45W, for Arduino UNO Q SBC and Arduino Development Boards	ARDUINO	1	Buy Now
USB-C Cable, 24-Pin, 1M, 60W, 5 Gbps, Black, for Arduino UNO Q SBC and Arduino Development Boards	ARDUINO	1	Buy Now
Single Board Computer, Arduino UNO Q, QRB2210/STM32U585, 2GB, ARM Cortex-A53/M33F	ARDUINO	1	Buy Now
USB-C Hub, 8 in 1, 65W, Black, 5Gbps, Multiport Adapter, 0°C to 50°C	ARDUINO	1	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
Keyboard	Any	1
Mouse	Any	1
Portable USB Power Pack with USB-PD	Any	1
Angled USB Adapter	Any	1
3.5mm Jack Extender	Any	1
HDMI Ribbon Cable (Regular to Mini)	Any	1
5inch HDMI Display with headphone jack	Any	1

Tags: puppet computer, portable media player, puppet making, diy cyberdeck, Single Board Computer, cyberdeck project, hdmi display project, maker project, webcam monitor, arduino uno q, usb-c power delivery, electronics enclosure, linux computer build, friday_release, arduino projects

Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

e14sbhargav — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/9/2026 1:22:05 PM

This Cyberdeck is Really, Really Great!