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

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

Current Revision 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.

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!

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

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 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 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.

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."

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

- 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

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

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!

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

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

- 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 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

element14 presents | Meet the Hosts

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 670: Build your own Larson Scanner

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 666: How Far Can I2C Go?

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 661: Clem makes his own LED Wristwatch

Episode 660: LoFi Beats to Solder To

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 639: Off-Grid Remote Generator Starter?

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 623: How to Run Linux on an ESP32

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 592: Lamptopus: Spinning LED Desk Lamp

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

Episode 590: Seven Kingdoms Open Source Bartop Arcade

Episode 589: Upgrading the iMac G4 With a NUC

Episode 588: Highlights from element14 presents 2022

Episode 587: Create Your Own Talking Stress Indicator

Episode 586: DIY Open Source Bluetooth Headphones

Episode 585: Enhancing a Magnifying Headband with Auto Sensing Light

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

Episode 583: Epic Neopixel Birthday Cake

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

Episode 581: Bee-Saving Electronics Prototype

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 574: Ghost Rider Halloween Costume

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 567: Synced NeoPixel Mickey Mouse Ears

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 562: Pi Home Temperature Monitoring System

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 558: 3D Object Rendering Using an FPGA

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 552: Magical Potion Bottle Rack

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 540: Object Detection for Smart Recycling

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 533: Jumbo DIY LED

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

Episode 531: Game Guy - The Unportable Game Boy

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

Episode 529: UPDI Program for new ATTiny

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

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

Episode 526: CNC Router Remote Control

Episode 525: DIY Helmholtz Snow Globe

Episode 524: Arduino IoT Cloud Weather Station

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

Episode 522: Siren Head Halloween Wearable Costume

Episode 521: DIY Static Grass Applicator

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 518: Guitar Vacuum Tube Distortion Pedal

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 513: Bike Speedometer with Arduino and GPS

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

Episode 511: Raspberry Pi Powered Cheeseball Launcher

Episode 510: Laser Cutter Command Station

Episode 509: DIY Discrete Logic LED Countdown Timer

Episode 508: Raspberry Pi FPV Rover Easy Robot Arm Upgrade

Episode 507: Massive Raspberry Pi

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

Episode 505: Super 8 Camera Digitizer

Episode 504: DIY Sump Pump Alarm

Episode 503: Meet Cheesoid - The Robot That Smells!

Episode 502: Make Your Bike a Pokebike!

Episode 501: Raspberry Pi NFC Button-Free Music Player

Episode 500: Build Inside The Box Challenge!

Episode 499: DIY Four Channel Arduino Servo Tester

Episode 498: Raspberry Pi Smart Water Dispenser

Episode 497: RFID Pocket Money Keeper

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 491: Arduino Single-Wheel Balancing Robot

Episode 490: DIY Raspberry Pi Pico Fizz Buzz Multiplication Game

Episode 489: Build An FPV Rover with Raspberry Pi

Episode 488: DIY Raspberry Pi Cyberdeck

Episode 487: DIY MagSafe Battery Charger

Episode 486: Make The Ultimate Phone Charging Camping Flashlight

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

Episode 484: Raspberry Pi Bird Watching Camera

Episode 483: DIY Miniature Multimeter

Episode 482: Gigantic 3D Printed 7 Segment Display Clock

Episode 481: DIY LOST Swan Station Split Flap Display Timer

Episode 480: DIY Toothbrush Timer

Episode 479: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 2

Episode 478: Upgrading A Christmas Train

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

Episode 476: IoT Arduino NTP World Clock with SPI Display

Episode 475: DIY Wall Mounted Arduino Barometer

Episode 474: Continuum Robot Tentacle Prototype

Episode 473: Mendel 3D Printer Upgrade and Maintenance

Episode 472: DIY Hydration Reminder System

Episode 471: DIY Dance Dance Revolution Mat

Episode 470: Voice Activated Inspector Gadget Hat

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 465: Lego Raspberry Pi HQ Camera

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 456: Unhackable Arduino Switch Matrix

Episode 455: Arduino Unit Conversion Calculator

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 450: Sega GameGear Rebuild with LEDs

Episode 449: DIY Tamagotchi - Build a Virtual Pet

Episode 448: DIY Raspberry Pi 4 Boxing Game

Episode 447: DIY Stop Motion Rig with LattePanda

Episode 446: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 1

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

Episode 444: Raspberry Pi 4 DVR

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

Episode 442: Make Your Own Giant Servo

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 437: DIY Motorized Zoom for Your DSLR

Episode 436: Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

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

Episode 434: Infineon Smart City Model

Episode 433: Arduino Based Love Tester

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

Episode 431: Room-Sized Studio Light Speakers Combo

Episode 430: Flaming Xylophone Rubens' Tube

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

Episode 428: Raspberry Pi 4 CRT-based VR Headset

Episode 427: DIY Retro Gaming Portable on a Budget!

Episode 426: Retro TV Ads Holiday Ornament

Episode 425: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi 4 Photobooth!

Episode 424: DIY Escape Room Puzzle

Episode 423: Programmable Arduino Synthesizer Watch

Episode 422: Raspberry Pi E-Ink Task Organizer

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

Episode 420: DIY Shapeoko CNC Pendant

Episode 419: Altair 8800 Laptop

Episode 418: Animatronic Terminator Skull with BeagleBone® AI

Episode 417: #Pipboy 2000 Mk II

Episode 416: DIY #3DPrinted Label Spooler

Episode 415: Iron Man Helmet Heads Up Display

Episode 414: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer

Episode 413: Animatronic Claptrap Case Mod Part 2

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 409: Commodore SX-64 Restoration

Episode 408: Hand Soldered LED Oscilloscope

Episode 407: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi 4 Laptop

Episode 406: Automated Robot Artist

Episode 405: RC Ornithopter Concept

Episode 404: Arduino Powered Close Encounters Midi Light Board

Episode 403: Upcycled IoT Coffee Pot Ramen Maker

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

Episode 401: Matrix Voice Controlled Robot

Episode 400: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Stress Test

Episode 399: Candle-Powered Robotl

Episode 398: Let Me Out Hooman! Bluetooth Dog Doorbell

Episode 397: Steam Powered Retropie Console

Episode 396: Arduino Retro LED Matrix Handheld

Episode 395: Raspberry Pi Stop Motion Machine

Episode 394: Animatronic GLaDOS Head with Raspberry Pi

Episode 393: GameBoy Walkman

Episode 392: Multi-Line Telephone Intercom

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 388: FPGA MIDI Music Synthesizer

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

Episode 386: Xybernaut Wearable PC

Episode 385: 20 PCB Design Pitfalls

Episode 384: Retro Gaming Handheld Without a PCB

Episode 383: Gameboy Wireless Link Cable (DMG1)

Episode 382: Modding a Super 8 Camera into a Digital

Episode 381: Reverse Music Box

Episode 380: NES Zapper on RetroPie

Episode 379: Macroscope Soldering Tool

Episode 378: Invader ZIM Animatronic GIR

Episode 377: Altair 8800 Replica

Episode 376: 4D Gaming with the Matrix Creator

Episode 375: Hacked Fetal Detector Music Synthesizer

Episode 374: Raspberry Pi Donkey Kong Holiday Ornament

Episode 373: Raspberry Pi Fallout Terminal PC

Episode 372: Raspberry Pi Auto Etch A Sketch™

Episode 371: FPGA "Game Genie" for Atari 2600

Episode 370: Raspberry Pi NOAA Satellite Receiver

Episode 369: Recreating the Atari Portfolio

Episode 368: Arduino Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper

Episode 367: Most Useless IoT Device Ever - Part 2

Episode 366: Infinity Icosahedron

Episode 365: Twilight Zone Fortune Telling Machine

Episode 364: Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality Arcade #VR

Episode 363 - Add a Motor to your Bike with Arduino

Episode 362: Most Worthless IoT Device Ever Pt. 1

Episode 361: R.O.B Rebuild and Upgrade

Episode 360: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi Cell Phone

Episode 359: Make Your Own CNC Pyrography Wood Burner

Episode 358: The Shrimp of Terror!

Episode 357: Raspberry Pi Asteroid Tracker

Episode 356: Bank to the Future with Arduino & TI

Episode 355: Raspberry Pi Pirate Radio

Episode 354: Tiny Vacuum Forming Machine

Episode 353: Program Your Own FPGA Video Game

Episode 352: Pripyat - DIY Geiger Counter

Episode 349: Raspberry Pi Selfie Rocket

See All Previous Episodes

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

e14sbhargav — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14sbhargav 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!

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

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

cstanton — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/9/2026 1:22:05 PM

This Cyberdeck is Really, Really Great!

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

This Cyberdeck is a Puppet

“The current cyberdeck movement is about taking control, designing simplicity into our tools, and making technology that speaks to us, not for us.”

Choosing the electronics and getting the power right

“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.”

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

“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.”

Cable routing was the real build challenge

“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.”

Linux setup, local media and an offline webcam

sudo apt install vlc

Fur, zips and knowing when not to add a feature

“Just because technology gives you a capability doesn’t mean using it is the right choice.”

A computer that could only come from its maker

“Create for yourself what nobody could have predicted that you would make.”

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

Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

cstanton — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:20:34 GMT

Revision 3 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/9/2026 1:20:34 PM

This Cyberdeck is Really, Really Great!

community.element14.com/.../Building-an-Arduino-UNO-Q-Cyberdeck-Inside-a-Puppet.mp4

This Cyberdeck is a Puppet

“The current cyberdeck movement is about taking control, designing simplicity into our tools, and making technology that speaks to us, not for us.”

Choosing the electronics and getting the power right

“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.”

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

“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.”

Cable routing was the real build challenge

“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.”

Linux setup, local media and an offline webcam

sudo apt install vlc

Fur, zips and knowing when not to add a feature

“Just because technology gives you a capability doesn’t mean using it is the right choice.”

A computer that could only come from its maker

“Create for yourself what nobody could have predicted that you would make.”

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

Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

cstanton — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:59:27 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/9/2026 12:59:27 PM

This Cyberdeck is Really, Really Great!

community.element14.com/.../Building-an-Arduino-UNO-Q-Cyberdeck-Inside-a-Puppet.mp4

This Cyberdeck Is a Puppet

A cyberdeck built for one very particular user

“The current cyberdeck movement is about taking control, designing simplicity into our tools, and making technology that speaks to us, not for us.”

For more custom-computer inspiration, browse element14 presents. The Arduino UNO Q RoadTest page also provides a useful technical introduction to the dual-processor platform.

Choosing the electronics and getting the power right

“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, the BOM includes Arduino’s 45 W USB-C supply, Farnell order code 4909498, and 60 W USB-C cable, order code 4909499.

Core bill of materials

Arduino UNO Q: 4 GB version preferred for standalone desktop use. The supplied BOM lists the 2 GB ABX00162 board under Farnell order code 4808383; check the required memory version before ordering.
USB-C power supply: Arduino 45 W supply, Farnell order code 4909498.
USB-C cable: 1 m, 60 W, 5 Gbit/s Arduino cable, Farnell order code 4909499.
USB-C hub: multiport hub with power delivery, HDMI, USB-A and card-reader connections, Farnell order code 4909497.
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

“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.”

Cable routing was the real build challenge

“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.”

Linux setup, local media and an offline webcam

sudo apt install vlc

Fur, zips and knowing when not to add a feature

“Just because technology gives you a capability doesn’t mean using it is the right choice.”

A computer that could only come from its maker

“Create for yourself what nobody could have predicted that you would make.”

Building an Arduino UNO Q Cyberdeck Inside a Puppet

cstanton — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:58:42 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/9/2026 11:58:42 AM

This Cyberdeck Is a Puppet

A cyberdeck built for one very particular user

“The current cyberdeck movement is about taking control, designing simplicity into our tools, and making technology that speaks to us, not for us.”

For more custom-computer inspiration, browse element14 presents. The Arduino UNO Q RoadTest page also provides a useful technical introduction to the dual-processor platform.

Choosing the electronics and getting the power right

“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, the BOM includes Arduino’s 45 W USB-C supply, Farnell order code 4909498, and 60 W USB-C cable, order code 4909499.

Core bill of materials

Arduino UNO Q: 4 GB version preferred for standalone desktop use. The supplied BOM lists the 2 GB ABX00162 board under Farnell order code 4808383; check the required memory version before ordering.
USB-C power supply: Arduino 45 W supply, Farnell order code 4909498.
USB-C cable: 1 m, 60 W, 5 Gbit/s Arduino cable, Farnell order code 4909499.
USB-C hub: multiport hub with power delivery, HDMI, USB-A and card-reader connections, Farnell order code 4909497.
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

“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.”

Cable routing was the real build challenge

“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.”

Linux setup, local media and an offline webcam

sudo apt install vlc

Fur, zips and knowing when not to add a feature

“Just because technology gives you a capability doesn’t mean using it is the right choice.”

A computer that could only come from its maker

“Create for yourself what nobody could have predicted that you would make.”

Project Video Release Archive

e14sbhargav — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:06:04 GMT

Revision 227 posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/3/2026 2:06:04 PM

Project Video Releases

element14 presents | Meet the Hosts

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 670: Build your own Larson Scanner

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 666: How Far Can I2C Go?

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 661: Clem makes his own LED Wristwatch

Episode 660: LoFi Beats to Solder To

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 639: Off-Grid Remote Generator Starter?

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 623: How to Run Linux on an ESP32

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 592: Lamptopus: Spinning LED Desk Lamp

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

Episode 590: Seven Kingdoms Open Source Bartop Arcade

Episode 589: Upgrading the iMac G4 With a NUC

Episode 588: Highlights from element14 presents 2022

Episode 587: Create Your Own Talking Stress Indicator

Episode 586: DIY Open Source Bluetooth Headphones

Episode 585: Enhancing a Magnifying Headband with Auto Sensing Light

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

Episode 583: Epic Neopixel Birthday Cake

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

Episode 581: Bee-Saving Electronics Prototype

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 574: Ghost Rider Halloween Costume

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 567: Synced NeoPixel Mickey Mouse Ears

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 562: Pi Home Temperature Monitoring System

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 558: 3D Object Rendering Using an FPGA

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 552: Magical Potion Bottle Rack

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 540: Object Detection for Smart Recycling

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 533: Jumbo DIY LED

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

Episode 531: Game Guy - The Unportable Game Boy

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

Episode 529: UPDI Program for new ATTiny

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

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

Episode 526: CNC Router Remote Control

Episode 525: DIY Helmholtz Snow Globe

Episode 524: Arduino IoT Cloud Weather Station

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

Episode 522: Siren Head Halloween Wearable Costume

Episode 521: DIY Static Grass Applicator

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 518: Guitar Vacuum Tube Distortion Pedal

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 513: Bike Speedometer with Arduino and GPS

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

Episode 511: Raspberry Pi Powered Cheeseball Launcher

Episode 510: Laser Cutter Command Station

Episode 509: DIY Discrete Logic LED Countdown Timer

Episode 508: Raspberry Pi FPV Rover Easy Robot Arm Upgrade

Episode 507: Massive Raspberry Pi

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

Episode 505: Super 8 Camera Digitizer

Episode 504: DIY Sump Pump Alarm

Episode 503: Meet Cheesoid - The Robot That Smells!

Episode 502: Make Your Bike a Pokebike!

Episode 501: Raspberry Pi NFC Button-Free Music Player

Episode 500: Build Inside The Box Challenge!

Episode 499: DIY Four Channel Arduino Servo Tester

Episode 498: Raspberry Pi Smart Water Dispenser

Episode 497: RFID Pocket Money Keeper

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 491: Arduino Single-Wheel Balancing Robot

Episode 490: DIY Raspberry Pi Pico Fizz Buzz Multiplication Game

Episode 489: Build An FPV Rover with Raspberry Pi

Episode 488: DIY Raspberry Pi Cyberdeck

Episode 487: DIY MagSafe Battery Charger

Episode 486: Make The Ultimate Phone Charging Camping Flashlight

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

Episode 484: Raspberry Pi Bird Watching Camera

Episode 483: DIY Miniature Multimeter

Episode 482: Gigantic 3D Printed 7 Segment Display Clock

Episode 481: DIY LOST Swan Station Split Flap Display Timer

Episode 480: DIY Toothbrush Timer

Episode 479: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 2

Episode 478: Upgrading A Christmas Train

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

Episode 476: IoT Arduino NTP World Clock with SPI Display

Episode 475: DIY Wall Mounted Arduino Barometer

Episode 474: Continuum Robot Tentacle Prototype

Episode 473: Mendel 3D Printer Upgrade and Maintenance

Episode 472: DIY Hydration Reminder System

Episode 471: DIY Dance Dance Revolution Mat

Episode 470: Voice Activated Inspector Gadget Hat

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 465: Lego Raspberry Pi HQ Camera

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 456: Unhackable Arduino Switch Matrix

Episode 455: Arduino Unit Conversion Calculator

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 450: Sega GameGear Rebuild with LEDs

Episode 449: DIY Tamagotchi - Build a Virtual Pet

Episode 448: DIY Raspberry Pi 4 Boxing Game

Episode 447: DIY Stop Motion Rig with LattePanda

Episode 446: Raspberry Pi 2XL Robot Assistant Part 1

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

Episode 444: Raspberry Pi 4 DVR

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

Episode 442: Make Your Own Giant Servo

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 437: DIY Motorized Zoom for Your DSLR

Episode 436: Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

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

Episode 434: Infineon Smart City Model

Episode 433: Arduino Based Love Tester

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

Episode 431: Room-Sized Studio Light Speakers Combo

Episode 430: Flaming Xylophone Rubens' Tube

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

Episode 428: Raspberry Pi 4 CRT-based VR Headset

Episode 427: DIY Retro Gaming Portable on a Budget!

Episode 426: Retro TV Ads Holiday Ornament

Episode 425: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi 4 Photobooth!

Episode 424: DIY Escape Room Puzzle

Episode 423: Programmable Arduino Synthesizer Watch

Episode 422: Raspberry Pi E-Ink Task Organizer

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

Episode 420: DIY Shapeoko CNC Pendant

Episode 419: Altair 8800 Laptop

Episode 418: Animatronic Terminator Skull with BeagleBone® AI

Episode 417: #Pipboy 2000 Mk II

Episode 416: DIY #3DPrinted Label Spooler

Episode 415: Iron Man Helmet Heads Up Display

Episode 414: Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer

Episode 413: Animatronic Claptrap Case Mod Part 2

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 409: Commodore SX-64 Restoration

Episode 408: Hand Soldered LED Oscilloscope

Episode 407: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi 4 Laptop

Episode 406: Automated Robot Artist

Episode 405: RC Ornithopter Concept

Episode 404: Arduino Powered Close Encounters Midi Light Board

Episode 403: Upcycled IoT Coffee Pot Ramen Maker

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

Episode 401: Matrix Voice Controlled Robot

Episode 400: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Stress Test

Episode 399: Candle-Powered Robotl

Episode 398: Let Me Out Hooman! Bluetooth Dog Doorbell

Episode 397: Steam Powered Retropie Console

Episode 396: Arduino Retro LED Matrix Handheld

Episode 395: Raspberry Pi Stop Motion Machine

Episode 394: Animatronic GLaDOS Head with Raspberry Pi

Episode 393: GameBoy Walkman

Episode 392: Multi-Line Telephone Intercom

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 388: FPGA MIDI Music Synthesizer

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

Episode 386: Xybernaut Wearable PC

Episode 385: 20 PCB Design Pitfalls

Episode 384: Retro Gaming Handheld Without a PCB

Episode 383: Gameboy Wireless Link Cable (DMG1)

Episode 382: Modding a Super 8 Camera into a Digital

Episode 381: Reverse Music Box

Episode 380: NES Zapper on RetroPie

Episode 379: Macroscope Soldering Tool

Episode 378: Invader ZIM Animatronic GIR

Episode 377: Altair 8800 Replica

Episode 376: 4D Gaming with the Matrix Creator

Episode 375: Hacked Fetal Detector Music Synthesizer

Episode 374: Raspberry Pi Donkey Kong Holiday Ornament

Episode 373: Raspberry Pi Fallout Terminal PC

Episode 372: Raspberry Pi Auto Etch A Sketch™

Episode 371: FPGA "Game Genie" for Atari 2600

Episode 370: Raspberry Pi NOAA Satellite Receiver

Episode 369: Recreating the Atari Portfolio

Episode 368: Arduino Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper

Episode 367: Most Useless IoT Device Ever - Part 2

Episode 366: Infinity Icosahedron

Episode 365: Twilight Zone Fortune Telling Machine

Episode 364: Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality Arcade #VR

Episode 363 - Add a Motor to your Bike with Arduino

Episode 362: Most Worthless IoT Device Ever Pt. 1

Episode 361: R.O.B Rebuild and Upgrade

Episode 360: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi Cell Phone

Episode 359: Make Your Own CNC Pyrography Wood Burner

Episode 358: The Shrimp of Terror!

Episode 357: Raspberry Pi Asteroid Tracker

Episode 356: Bank to the Future with Arduino & TI

Episode 355: Raspberry Pi Pirate Radio

Episode 354: Tiny Vacuum Forming Machine

Episode 353: Program Your Own FPGA Video Game

Episode 352: Pripyat - DIY Geiger Counter

Episode 349: Raspberry Pi Selfie Rocket

See All Previous Episodes

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 True Power-On Multiturn Position Sensor with the ADMT4000 and MicroPython

cstanton — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:09:08 GMT

Revision 3 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/3/2026 9:09:08 AM

What if a sensor could keep track of every rotation even when completely powered down? Pat Deegan explores the Analog Devices ADMT4000 multiturn magnetic sensor, building a MicroPython driver from scratch, designing custom 3D-printed mounts, investigating the AMR and GMR physics behind its operation, and overcoming evaluation board quirks to create a precision position-tracking system that remembers exactly where it is after power loss.

Let Pat spin you Right Round

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

Imagine spinning a shaft several turns while an entire system is completely powered down, applying power again, and instantly recovering the exact position. No battery backup. No homing routine. No absolute encoder battery to maintain. Just an immediate and accurate position report.

That is exactly what was demonstrated using the Analog Devices ADMT4000, a magnetic multiturn position sensor capable of tracking both angle and revolution count even while unpowered. To put the device through its paces, the sensor was connected to an RP2350-based Tiny Tapeout demo board running MicroPython, combined with an SSD1306 OLED display and a ballscrew-driven positioning setup.

"It's easy enough to measure the angle on wake, but how does a sensor count complete revolutions with no battery backup? Zero power."

That question sits at the heart of what makes the ADMT4000 such an unusual device.

Why Multiturn Position Tracking Matters and A Look at the ADMT4000 Hardware

Many positioning systems can measure angular displacement while powered, but maintaining accurate position information across power cycles is a different challenge altogether. Systems such as CNC equipment, automated positioning stages, robotic actuators, steering systems and battery-powered industrial instruments often rely on homing procedures after power-up.

Those routines consume time, energy and mechanical life. In applications where equipment may remain switched off for extended periods and then be expected to report its position instantly, traditional approaches become inconvenient or outright impractical.

The demonstration centred on a linear positioning table driven by a ballscrew with a pitch of 5 mm per rotation. A battery-powered deployment was envisioned where equipment could spend most of its life sleeping, yet still wake up and immediately know its location regardless of movement while power was removed.

"No power, but no homing sequence and no constant recalibrating. Just always works, reporting position the instant it's turned on."

The ADMT4000 evaluation kit consists of two board sections. The upper section contains the sensor itself and can be detached from the main evaluation platform, while the lower section provides development and support circuitry.

According to Analog Devices' specifications, the device supports:

True power-on multiturn sensing
Tracking up to 46 complete turns
±0.25° angular accuracy
Up to 100 kSPS update rates
SPI communications
16 mT to 31 mT magnetic operating range
Integrated diagnostic and temperature monitoring features

The sensor uses a paired magnet and magnetic shield assembly. During testing, the supplied ADMAGB3476 magnetic assembly was coupled directly to a ballscrew through a custom printed adapter.

Field strength and alignment proved more important than expected. Measurements with a gauss meter showed that while the magnet produces well over 100 mT close to its surface, the field drops rapidly at typical operating distances.

"The sensor wants between 16 and 31 millitesla."

This narrow operating window explains the emphasis Analog Devices places on mechanical positioning and alignment throughout the evaluation documentation.

The Physics Behind the Magic

The most fascinating part of the project was the investigation into how the ADMT4000 achieves its true power-on behaviour.

In reality, the package contains three magnetic sensing technologies working together. The absolute angle measurement is performed using anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), while the power-off turn counting relies on giant magnetoresistance (GMR).

To better understand AMR, an experiment was created using a section of nickel-based guitar string, a Wheatstone bridge circuit and a collection of strong magnets.

The setup attempted to observe the tiny changes in resistance that occur when magnetic fields alter electron scattering inside ferromagnetic materials.

"We're demonstrating AMR, a quantum effect, in this little piece of guitar string with just a regular DMM."

The measured change was estimated at approximately 0.4%, corresponding to only a fraction of a micro-ohm. Despite the extremely small magnitude, the Wheatstone bridge arrangement successfully revealed the effect.

This experiment provides an accessible demonstration of the same physical phenomenon the ADMT4000 exploits to determine angular position.

From AMR to GMR

While AMR provides angle information, it cannot explain how position survives complete loss of power.

That capability comes from GMR structures fabricated as microscopic magnetic nanowires inside the device.

Rather than storing information electronically, the ADMT4000 physically records rotational history through the movement of magnetic domain walls along a spiral-shaped structure. The resulting magnetic state remains present whether power is applied or not.

"When power is applied, the chip simply reads the resistance state of the spiral and knows the accumulated turn count."

This physical storage mechanism explains the sensor's unusual 46-turn range. The internal spiral can only accommodate a finite number of magnetic state transitions, resulting in the specified count limit.

Building a MicroPython Driver

Although Analog Devices supplies no-OS C drivers and example applications, the test platform was based on MicroPython running on an RP2350 MCU.

Rather than using the supplied SDP controller hardware, a complete MicroPython implementation was developed from the provided reference code.

The resulting driver mirrors the ADMT4000 register map and communication protocol, including CRC validation, ECC configuration, diagnostics and conversion routines.

One particularly useful addition was persistent configuration storage:

data = {
    'zero': self.zero,
    'report_location': self.report_location,
    'report_alternate': self.report_alternate
}

This allows the system to remember calibration and zero-position information between restarts.

The software also converts turn counts into practical linear position measurements for the ballscrew application:

self.distance_per_degree = 5.000 / 360.0

Using the known screw pitch, the application automatically translated angular measurements into millimetres of linear travel, presenting results on an SSD1306 OLED display.

Debugging an Unexpected Hardware Issue

Bringing the sensor online was not entirely straightforward.

Initially, communication appeared unreliable. Sometimes the device responded perfectly. At other times it appeared completely dead.

Early suspicions focused on wiring, firmware and SPI timing. Oscilloscope measurements confirmed data transmission was occurring correctly, yet valid responses were inconsistent.

Careful examination of the schematics eventually revealed the root cause.

Several identically labelled SPI signals on the evaluation board were not actually connected together. Communication paths routed through an analogue switch controlled by the SDP interface hardware.

"I was sending the data, but just not getting anything back."

Once the analogue switch was bypassed with jumper wires connected directly to the sensor section, communications became completely reliable.

Designing Custom Mechanical Parts and Accuracy Testing

Although the evaluation kit provides its own magnetic assemblies, incorporating them into a practical mechanism required additional hardware.

OpenSCAD was used to design a shaft adapter that couples the supplied magnetic assembly to the ballscrew. A separate support bracket was designed in FreeCAD to hold the evaluation board, maintain sensor spacing and provide attachment points for the magnetic shielding ring.

The finished components are available as downloadable 3D models and make it considerably easier to integrate the evaluation hardware into experimental setups.To validate the system, measured travel was compared against readings from a laser distance meter.

With a 5 mm pitch ballscrew, ten complete turns should produce exactly 50 mm of travel.

The measured displacement matched expectations, demonstrating that the sensor correctly tracked angular position across multiple revolutions while translating it into useful linear movement.

The ADMT4000 ultimately offered substantially finer resolution than the laser distance reference being used for verification.

Magnetic Shielding and Environmental Effects and Resetting the Turn Counter

Testing also highlighted the benefits of the supplied magnetic shield ring.

When installed, nearby external magnets produced minimal disturbance because magnetic flux naturally preferred travelling through the engineered magnetic circuit rather than through surrounding air.

Removing the shield made the system noticeably more susceptible to external magnetic influences.

"In production, especially in something industrial with lots of metal around, the ring is probably a good idea."

One unusual aspect of the ADMT4000 is that the turn count is not stored in volatile memory. It is represented by a physical magnetic state inside the device. Consequently, resetting the counter requires influencing those magnetic structures rather than simply writing a register.

Several methods were explored:

A dedicated reset coil integrated into the evaluation board
Applying a sufficiently strong external magnetic field
Rotating beyond the maximum 46-turn range

The external magnetic field method proved particularly effective during experimentation and offered a useful way to visualise the sensor's underlying operating principles.

Final Thoughts

The ADMT4000 occupies a niche that few sensors can address. Its ability to preserve position information while completely unpowered eliminates the need for backup batteries, continual wake-ups, or homing procedures.

The project demonstrated not only how the device can be integrated into practical systems, but also revealed the remarkable material science that makes it work. Along the way it produced a complete MicroPython driver, OLED-based interface, custom mounting hardware and a collection of experiments exploring both AMR and GMR sensing principles.

For applications requiring immediate position awareness after power restoration, particularly where multiple revolutions must be tracked, the ADMT4000 offers capabilities that are difficult to achieve through conventional sensing approaches.

Additional project resources include the MicroPython driver implementation, the custom mounting bracket, and 3D-printable magnetic assembly adapters, making it much easier for others to explore this unusual sensor technology for themselves.

Supporting Links and Files

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

Products Used / Bill of Materials

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
Multiturn Magnetic Sensor, 0.016T to 0.031T, 3V to 3.6V, -40°C to 125°C, TSSOP-24	Analog Devices	1	Buy Now
Evaluation Kit, ADMT4000BRUZAB, Magnetic Turn Counter Sensor, Magnet Stimulus, Dipole Magnet	Analog Devices	1	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
magnet/shield nub for 3d printing	https://www.printables.com/model/1774156-admt4000-admagb3476-connector-for	1
bracket for mounting the eval board vertically	https://www.printables.com/model/1774230-bracket-for-admt4000-eval-board-eval-admt4000sd1z	1

Tags: RP2350, position tracking, admt4000, amr sensor, spi interface, multiturn position sensor, micropython, magnetic sensor, motion control, analog devices, Embedded Systems, industrial automation, e14presents_patdeegan, gmr technology, friday_release, magnetic encoder

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

e14sbhargav — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:09:08 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 9/3/2026 9:09:08 AM

Let Pat spin you Right Round

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

"It's easy enough to measure the angle on wake, but how does a sensor count complete revolutions with no battery backup? Zero power."

That question sits at the heart of what makes the ADMT4000 such an unusual device.

Why Multiturn Position Tracking Matters and A Look at the ADMT4000 Hardware

"No power, but no homing sequence and no constant recalibrating. Just always works, reporting position the instant it's turned on."

According to Analog Devices' specifications, the device supports:

True power-on multiturn sensing
Tracking up to 46 complete turns
±0.25° angular accuracy
Up to 100 kSPS update rates
SPI communications
16 mT to 31 mT magnetic operating range
Integrated diagnostic and temperature monitoring features

The sensor uses a paired magnet and magnetic shield assembly. During testing, the supplied ADMAGB3476 magnetic assembly was coupled directly to a ballscrew through a custom printed adapter.

"The sensor wants between 16 and 31 millitesla."

This narrow operating window explains the emphasis Analog Devices places on mechanical positioning and alignment throughout the evaluation documentation.

The Physics Behind the Magic

The most fascinating part of the project was the investigation into how the ADMT4000 achieves its true power-on behaviour.

To better understand AMR, an experiment was created using a section of nickel-based guitar string, a Wheatstone bridge circuit and a collection of strong magnets.

The setup attempted to observe the tiny changes in resistance that occur when magnetic fields alter electron scattering inside ferromagnetic materials.

"We're demonstrating AMR, a quantum effect, in this little piece of guitar string with just a regular DMM."

This experiment provides an accessible demonstration of the same physical phenomenon the ADMT4000 exploits to determine angular position.

From AMR to GMR

While AMR provides angle information, it cannot explain how position survives complete loss of power.

That capability comes from GMR structures fabricated as microscopic magnetic nanowires inside the device.

"When power is applied, the chip simply reads the resistance state of the spiral and knows the accumulated turn count."

Building a MicroPython Driver

Although Analog Devices supplies no-OS C drivers and example applications, the test platform was based on MicroPython running on an RP2350 MCU.

Rather than using the supplied SDP controller hardware, a complete MicroPython implementation was developed from the provided reference code.

The resulting driver mirrors the ADMT4000 register map and communication protocol, including CRC validation, ECC configuration, diagnostics and conversion routines.

One particularly useful addition was persistent configuration storage:

data = {
    'zero': self.zero,
    'report_location': self.report_location,
    'report_alternate': self.report_alternate
}

This allows the system to remember calibration and zero-position information between restarts.

The software also converts turn counts into practical linear position measurements for the ballscrew application:

self.distance_per_degree = 5.000 / 360.0

Using the known screw pitch, the application automatically translated angular measurements into millimetres of linear travel, presenting results on an SSD1306 OLED display.

Debugging an Unexpected Hardware Issue

Bringing the sensor online was not entirely straightforward.

Initially, communication appeared unreliable. Sometimes the device responded perfectly. At other times it appeared completely dead.

Early suspicions focused on wiring, firmware and SPI timing. Oscilloscope measurements confirmed data transmission was occurring correctly, yet valid responses were inconsistent.

Careful examination of the schematics eventually revealed the root cause.

Several identically labelled SPI signals on the evaluation board were not actually connected together. Communication paths routed through an analogue switch controlled by the SDP interface hardware.

"I was sending the data, but just not getting anything back."

Once the analogue switch was bypassed with jumper wires connected directly to the sensor section, communications became completely reliable.

Designing Custom Mechanical Parts and Accuracy Testing

Although the evaluation kit provides its own magnetic assemblies, incorporating them into a practical mechanism required additional hardware.

With a 5 mm pitch ballscrew, ten complete turns should produce exactly 50 mm of travel.

The measured displacement matched expectations, demonstrating that the sensor correctly tracked angular position across multiple revolutions while translating it into useful linear movement.

The ADMT4000 ultimately offered substantially finer resolution than the laser distance reference being used for verification.

Magnetic Shielding and Environmental Effects and Resetting the Turn Counter

Testing also highlighted the benefits of the supplied magnetic shield ring.

When installed, nearby external magnets produced minimal disturbance because magnetic flux naturally preferred travelling through the engineered magnetic circuit rather than through surrounding air.

Removing the shield made the system noticeably more susceptible to external magnetic influences.

"In production, especially in something industrial with lots of metal around, the ring is probably a good idea."

Several methods were explored:

A dedicated reset coil integrated into the evaluation board
Applying a sufficiently strong external magnetic field
Rotating beyond the maximum 46-turn range

The external magnetic field method proved particularly effective during experimentation and offered a useful way to visualise the sensor's underlying operating principles.

Final Thoughts

Supporting Links and Files

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

Products Used / Bill of Materials

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
Multiturn Magnetic Sensor, 0.016T to 0.031T, 3V to 3.6V, -40°C to 125°C, TSSOP-24	Analog Devices	1	Buy Now
Evaluation Kit, ADMT4000BRUZAB, Magnetic Turn Counter Sensor, Magnet Stimulus, Dipole Magnet	Analog Devices	1	Buy Now

Additional Parts

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity
magnet/shield nub for 3d printing	https://www.printables.com/model/1774156-admt4000-admagb3476-connector-for	1
bracket for mounting the eval board vertically	https://www.printables.com/model/1774230-bracket-for-admt4000-eval-board-eval-admt4000sd1z	1

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

cstanton — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:17:51 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Documents by cstanton on 9/2/2026 4:17:51 PM

Let Pat spin you Right Round

community.element14.com/.../admt4000v3-Pat-Deegan_5F00_V5.mp4

"It's easy enough to measure the angle on wake, but how does a sensor count complete revolutions with no battery backup? Zero power."

That question sits at the heart of what makes the ADMT4000 such an unusual device.

Why Multiturn Position Tracking Matters

"No power, but no homing sequence and no constant recalibrating. Just always works, reporting position the instant it's turned on."

A Look at the ADMT4000 Hardware

According to Analog Devices' specifications, the device supports:

True power-on multiturn sensing
Tracking up to 46 complete turns
±0.25° angular accuracy
Up to 100 kSPS update rates
SPI communications
16 mT to 31 mT magnetic operating range
Integrated diagnostic and temperature monitoring features

The sensor uses a paired magnet and magnetic shield assembly. During testing, the supplied ADMAGB3476 magnetic assembly was coupled directly to a ballscrew through a custom printed adapter.

"The sensor wants between 16 and 31 millitesla."

This narrow operating window explains the emphasis Analog Devices places on mechanical positioning and alignment throughout the evaluation documentation.

The Physics Behind the Magic

The most fascinating part of the project was the investigation into how the ADMT4000 achieves its true power-on behaviour.

To better understand AMR, an experiment was created using a section of nickel-based guitar string, a Wheatstone bridge circuit and a collection of strong magnets.

The setup attempted to observe the tiny changes in resistance that occur when magnetic fields alter electron scattering inside ferromagnetic materials.

"We're demonstrating AMR, a quantum effect, in this little piece of guitar string with just a regular DMM."

This experiment provides an accessible demonstration of the same physical phenomenon the ADMT4000 exploits to determine angular position.

From AMR to GMR

While AMR provides angle information, it cannot explain how position survives complete loss of power.

That capability comes from GMR structures fabricated as microscopic magnetic nanowires inside the device.

"When power is applied, the chip simply reads the resistance state of the spiral and knows the accumulated turn count."

Building a MicroPython Driver

Although Analog Devices supplies no-OS C drivers and example applications, the test platform was based on MicroPython running on an RP2350 MCU.

Rather than using the supplied SDP controller hardware, a complete MicroPython implementation was developed from the provided reference code.

The resulting driver mirrors the ADMT4000 register map and communication protocol, including CRC validation, ECC configuration, diagnostics and conversion routines.

One particularly useful addition was persistent configuration storage:

data = {
    'zero': self.zero,
    'report_location': self.report_location,
    'report_alternate': self.report_alternate
}

This allows the system to remember calibration and zero-position information between restarts.

The software also converts turn counts into practical linear position measurements for the ballscrew application:

self.distance_per_degree = 5.000 / 360.0

Using the known screw pitch, the application automatically translated angular measurements into millimetres of linear travel, presenting results on an SSD1306 OLED display.

Debugging an Unexpected Hardware Issue

Bringing the sensor online was not entirely straightforward.

Initially, communication appeared unreliable. Sometimes the device responded perfectly. At other times it appeared completely dead.

Early suspicions focused on wiring, firmware and SPI timing. Oscilloscope measurements confirmed data transmission was occurring correctly, yet valid responses were inconsistent.

Careful examination of the schematics eventually revealed the root cause.

Several identically labelled SPI signals on the evaluation board were not actually connected together. Communication paths routed through an analogue switch controlled by the SDP interface hardware.

"I was sending the data, but just not getting anything back."

Once the analogue switch was bypassed with jumper wires connected directly to the sensor section, communications became completely reliable.

Designing Custom Mechanical Parts

Although the evaluation kit provides its own magnetic assemblies, incorporating them into a practical mechanism required additional hardware.

The finished components are available as downloadable 3D models and make it considerably easier to integrate the evaluation hardware into experimental setups.

Accuracy Testing

To validate the system, measured travel was compared against readings from a laser distance meter.

With a 5 mm pitch ballscrew, ten complete turns should produce exactly 50 mm of travel.

The measured displacement matched expectations, demonstrating that the sensor correctly tracked angular position across multiple revolutions while translating it into useful linear movement.

The ADMT4000 ultimately offered substantially finer resolution than the laser distance reference being used for verification.

Magnetic Shielding and Environmental Effects

Testing also highlighted the benefits of the supplied magnetic shield ring.

When installed, nearby external magnets produced minimal disturbance because magnetic flux naturally preferred travelling through the engineered magnetic circuit rather than through surrounding air.

Removing the shield made the system noticeably more susceptible to external magnetic influences.

"In production, especially in something industrial with lots of metal around, the ring is probably a good idea."

Resetting the Turn Counter

One unusual aspect of the ADMT4000 is that the turn count is not stored in volatile memory. It is represented by a physical magnetic state inside the device.

Consequently, resetting the counter requires influencing those magnetic structures rather than simply writing a register.

Several methods were explored:

A dedicated reset coil integrated into the evaluation board
Applying a sufficiently strong external magnetic field
Rotating beyond the maximum 46-turn range

The external magnetic field method proved particularly effective during experimentation and offered a useful way to visualise the sensor's underlying operating principles.

Final Thoughts

Project Video Release Archive

e14sbhargav — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:07:32 GMT

Revision 226 posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 8/27/2026 2:07:32 PM

Project Video Releases

element14 presents | Meet the Hosts

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 670: Build your own Larson Scanner

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 666: How Far Can I2C Go?

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 661: Clem makes his own LED Wristwatch

Episode 660: LoFi Beats to Solder To

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 639: Off-Grid Remote Generator Starter?

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 623: How to Run Linux on an ESP32

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

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

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Episode 552: Magical Potion Bottle Rack

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

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Episode 400: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Stress Test

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Episode 396: Arduino Retro LED Matrix Handheld

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Episode 388: FPGA MIDI Music Synthesizer

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Episode 385: 20 PCB Design Pitfalls

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Episode 383: Gameboy Wireless Link Cable (DMG1)

Episode 382: Modding a Super 8 Camera into a Digital

Episode 381: Reverse Music Box

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Episode 379: Macroscope Soldering Tool

Episode 378: Invader ZIM Animatronic GIR

Episode 377: Altair 8800 Replica

Episode 376: 4D Gaming with the Matrix Creator

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Episode 371: FPGA "Game Genie" for Atari 2600

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Episode 367: Most Useless IoT Device Ever - Part 2

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Episode 363 - Add a Motor to your Bike with Arduino

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Episode 360: Make Your Own Raspberry Pi Cell Phone

Episode 359: Make Your Own CNC Pyrography Wood Burner

Episode 358: The Shrimp of Terror!

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Episode 356: Bank to the Future with Arduino & TI

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Episode 353: Program Your Own FPGA Video Game

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Episode 349: Raspberry Pi Selfie Rocket

See All Previous Episodes

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 Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

cstanton — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:28:06 GMT

Revision 5 posted to Documents by cstanton on 8/26/2026 4:28:06 PM

Rather than wait weeks to borrow a thermal imaging camera, Katie Dumont set out to build one from scratch. Combining a Seeed Studio MLX90640 thermal array sensor with an Arduino UNO R4 Minima and a colour display, she produced a portable thermal camera that can highlight heat loss, reveal hidden hot spots and display temperature variations in real time. The project goes beyond simply wiring modules together, with a custom-designed 3D printed enclosure, rugged physical controls, configurable temperature scales and plenty of experimentation to get the best image from the sensor. It's a practical build that demonstrates just how accessible thermal imaging has become for makers, engineers and anyone curious about what's really going on beneath the surface.

Get Fired Up and Watch Katie Build

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

Why wait to borrow a thermal imaging camera when the core technology is now available as a relatively affordable sensor module? Faced with long waiting lists for energy-efficiency thermal cameras, Katie Dumont decided to build one instead. The result is a handheld thermal imaging camera based around an Arduino UNO R4 Minima, combining a 32 × 24 infrared sensor array with a colour touchscreen display, physical controls and a custom-designed enclosure.

Rather than replicating the behaviour of a commercial thermal camera, the project explores how easily a thermal imaging system can be tailored to specific requirements. Temperature ranges can be adjusted, colour mappings can be customised and the hardware remains open to future upgrades.

The Hardware Platform

At the heart of the build is the Seeed Studio MLX90640 infrared thermal imaging sensor. Unlike a conventional camera, the MLX90640 does not capture visible light. Instead, it measures infrared radiation across a grid of 768 sensing elements arranged in a 32 × 24 array.

"It's got an array of thermal sensors of 32 by 24 of them so should get a fairly decent image of the temperatures."

The sensor communicates over I²C, making it straightforward to interface with modern microcontroller platforms. One of the aspects that immediately stood out during development was its quoted accuracy.

"It's plus and minus 1.5 degrees C accuracy so I should be fairly confident with what I get out of this as an accurate representation of the temperature."

Supporting the sensor is the Arduino UNO R4 Minima, based on the Renesas RA4M1 microcontroller. With significantly more RAM and processing capability than earlier Uno generations, it is capable of handling the calculations required to process MLX90640 image data while simultaneously driving a display.

Visual output is provided by a DFRobot Fermion capacitive touchscreen display module, creating a compact self-contained handheld instrument. Two Multicomp Pro pushbuttons provide range adjustment controls, while a custom 3D-printed enclosure holds everything together.

Validating the Sensor and Designing for Real-World Use

Before committing to the enclosure design and software architecture, the project began with a simple proof-of-concept test.

The thermal sensor and display were wired together with the Arduino, and example software from the display and sensor libraries was adapted into a quick prototype. To verify operation, two everyday thermal references were selected: an ice cube and a container of near-boiling water.

"I've taken the example code for the library for the camera and the screen and just popped them together just to make a really simple test to check this is going to do what I want it to do."

The resulting thermal images immediately demonstrated that the system was operating correctly. Cold regions appeared deep blue, while high-temperature regions saturated towards red. Even subtle thermal effects became visible.

"I'm getting detail of the steam coming off the cup as that greeny, so not as hot but hotter than ambient temperature."

The testing phase also verified that temperature gradients around the cup could be observed clearly, with transitions through yellow and green before reaching ambient background temperatures. Many DIY thermal imaging projects stop at a bench-top prototype, but this build was intended to become a practical tool capable of being stored in a toolbox and used repeatedly.

Although the display includes touch capability, a conscious decision was made not to use touchscreen controls for normal operation.

"I also want quite a rugged tool that I can keep in a toolkit."

Instead of relying on touch gestures, the design uses dedicated physical buttons to adjust display ranges. This approach allows a protective acrylic window to be fitted over the display, increasing durability while simplifying operation.

"For just two buttons, two physical buttons are going to be much stronger in a work environment than having a touch screen."

It is a practical engineering compromise. While touchscreens provide flexibility, robustness frequently takes priority when creating equipment that may be transported regularly or used in harsher environments.

Software Architecture

The firmware was developed using the Arduino IDE, combining display libraries from DFRobot with thermal imaging support from the Adafruit MLX90640 library.

Rather than relying on a fixed colour scale, the software introduces configurable temperature limits and colour mappings. Arrays define selectable temperature bands and associated palette values, allowing the display range to be adapted to different inspection scenarios.

"I've made an array of temperatures that I think would be nice to choose between for the minimum and for the maximum."

A significant enhancement beyond the initial proof-of-concept was the addition of a graphical reference scale. Alongside the thermal image itself, the software generates a colour bar displaying the current temperature mapping and ambient reference point.

"I've made a little bar on the screen just so you've got something to reference."

This is particularly useful when comparing thermal scenes because colours alone can sometimes be misleading without context. Showing the active scale ensures that temperature differences remain meaningful as users adjust ranges.

The display rendering process converts each measured temperature into a colour lookup value and then expands the low-resolution thermal array into larger screen pixels.

"Displaying each pixel as 13 by 13 square."

This scaling approach preserves the sensor's underlying structure while making the image large enough to be useful on the handheld display.

Custom Enclosure Development and Performance and Practical Applications

To transform the electronics into a finished product, a dedicated enclosure was modelled and 3D printed.

The housing was designed around the precise requirements of the hardware, including mounting locations for the Arduino, openings for the pushbuttons, accommodation for the acrylic display cover and a dedicated aperture for the thermal imaging sensor.

The enclosure design was created in FreeCAD, allowing dimensions to be adjusted until everything aligned correctly. Once printed, the finished parts closely matched the original CAD model and provided the foundation for final assembly.

The completed unit feels much closer to a commercial inspection tool than a development-board prototype, while still retaining all of the flexibility of an open-source design. The finished camera provides a useful way of visualising heat loss, identifying hot components and locating unexpected temperature variations. Like many MLX90640-based systems, it operates at relatively modest frame rates due to the amount of processing required to convert raw sensor data into temperatures and rendered images.

Even so, the camera is perfectly capable of highlighting thermal differences across surfaces, electrical equipment and household environments.

"It'll give me an idea of just what temperature something is with a visual graphic of where that is."

For energy-efficiency surveys, that means doors, windows, insulation gaps and draught-prone areas become immediately visible. For electronics work, it offers a way to identify unexpectedly hot components and thermal bottlenecks without specialised commercial equipment.

Future Enhancements and Final Thoughts

One of the advantages of building a thermal camera rather than purchasing a finished product is that new capabilities can be added whenever the hardware allows.

The most obvious next feature would be image capture.

"The addition for actually capturing that picture and having it as an image file."

The display hardware already includes an SD card slot, opening up the possibility of storing thermal snapshots directly to removable media. However, implementing this feature requires careful consideration.

"The only thing I'd worry about is in processing that it might make the whole camera image speed that it's updating slower."

Another particularly interesting possibility would be combining visible-light imagery with thermal information, similar to the image-overlay functionality found on professional thermal cameras.

"To have an actual normal camera and be able to overlay the thermal imaging sensor data onto a real picture."

While technically achievable, this would likely demand considerably more processing power than is available within the current hardware configuration. The concept nevertheless demonstrates how extensible the design could become should a future revision migrate to a more powerful platform. This project demonstrates just how accessible thermal imaging technology has become. By combining an MLX90640 infrared sensor, an Arduino UNO R4 Minima, a colour display and a carefully considered enclosure design, Katie has produced a capable handheld thermal camera that can be customised far beyond the capabilities of many entry-level commercial units.

What began as an attempt to avoid a lengthy borrowing queue evolved into a fully featured thermal inspection tool with configurable temperature ranges, physical controls, a rugged enclosure and a clear upgrade path. Whether used for identifying household heat loss, examining electronic assemblies or simply exploring temperature differences in the world around it, it is an excellent example of turning readily available maker hardware into a genuinely useful instrument.

Key Hardware Used

Arduino UNO R4 Minima Development Board
Seeed Studio MLX90640 Thermal Imaging Sensor (32 × 24 IR array)
DFRobot Fermion TFT Capacitive Touch Display
Multicomp Pro Pushbutton Switches
3D-printed PLA enclosure
3 mm acrylic display protection window

Interested in building your own version or adapting the design?

Supporting Links, ECAD and Code

Parts Used and Buy Links

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
ABX00080 Development Board, UNO R4 Minima	Arduino	1	Buy Now
DFROBOT Capacitive TouchScreen, Fermion, TFT LCD, Arduino Board	DFROBOT	1	Buy Now
114020141 Thermal Imaging Camera/IR Array Board	SEEED Studio	1	Buy Now
R13-24A-05-BB Pushbutton Switch, R13-24, 7.2 mm, SPST-NO"	Multicomp Pro	2	Buy Now
MP015138 3D Printer Filament, 1.75mm, Milk White, PLA"	Multicomp Pro	1	Buy Now
Product Name
3mm Clear Acrylic sheet

Tags: infrared imaging, thermal camera diy, arudino project, i2c sensor, maker electronics project, 3d printed enclosure, thermal mapping, handheld thermal camera, arduino uno R4, heat loss detection, electronics diagnostics, mlx90640, thermal sensor project, temperature visualisation, friday_release, thermal imaging camera

Building a Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

e14sbhargav — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:28:06 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14sbhargav on 8/26/2026 4:28:06 PM

Get Fired Up and Watch Katie Build

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

The Hardware Platform

"It's got an array of thermal sensors of 32 by 24 of them so should get a fairly decent image of the temperatures."

"It's plus and minus 1.5 degrees C accuracy so I should be fairly confident with what I get out of this as an accurate representation of the temperature."

Validating the Sensor and Designing for Real-World Use

Before committing to the enclosure design and software architecture, the project began with a simple proof-of-concept test.

"I've taken the example code for the library for the camera and the screen and just popped them together just to make a really simple test to check this is going to do what I want it to do."

"I'm getting detail of the steam coming off the cup as that greeny, so not as hot but hotter than ambient temperature."

Although the display includes touch capability, a conscious decision was made not to use touchscreen controls for normal operation.

"I also want quite a rugged tool that I can keep in a toolkit."

"For just two buttons, two physical buttons are going to be much stronger in a work environment than having a touch screen."

Software Architecture

The firmware was developed using the Arduino IDE, combining display libraries from DFRobot with thermal imaging support from the Adafruit MLX90640 library.

"I've made an array of temperatures that I think would be nice to choose between for the minimum and for the maximum."

"I've made a little bar on the screen just so you've got something to reference."

The display rendering process converts each measured temperature into a colour lookup value and then expands the low-resolution thermal array into larger screen pixels.

"Displaying each pixel as 13 by 13 square."

This scaling approach preserves the sensor's underlying structure while making the image large enough to be useful on the handheld display.

Custom Enclosure Development and Performance and Practical Applications

To transform the electronics into a finished product, a dedicated enclosure was modelled and 3D printed.

Even so, the camera is perfectly capable of highlighting thermal differences across surfaces, electrical equipment and household environments.

"It'll give me an idea of just what temperature something is with a visual graphic of where that is."

Future Enhancements and Final Thoughts

One of the advantages of building a thermal camera rather than purchasing a finished product is that new capabilities can be added whenever the hardware allows.

The most obvious next feature would be image capture.

"The addition for actually capturing that picture and having it as an image file."

"The only thing I'd worry about is in processing that it might make the whole camera image speed that it's updating slower."

Another particularly interesting possibility would be combining visible-light imagery with thermal information, similar to the image-overlay functionality found on professional thermal cameras.

"To have an actual normal camera and be able to overlay the thermal imaging sensor data onto a real picture."

Key Hardware Used

Arduino UNO R4 Minima Development Board
Seeed Studio MLX90640 Thermal Imaging Sensor (32 × 24 IR array)
DFRobot Fermion TFT Capacitive Touch Display
Multicomp Pro Pushbutton Switches
3D-printed PLA enclosure
3 mm acrylic display protection window

Interested in building your own version or adapting the design?

Supporting Links, ECAD and Code

Parts Used and Buy Links

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
ABX00080 Development Board, UNO R4 Minima	Arduino	1	Buy Now
DFROBOT Capacitive TouchScreen, Fermion, TFT LCD, Arduino Board	DFROBOT	1	Buy Now
114020141 Thermal Imaging Camera/IR Array Board	SEEED Studio	1	Buy Now
R13-24A-05-BB Pushbutton Switch, R13-24, 7.2 mm, SPST-NO"	Multicomp Pro	2	Buy Now
MP015138 3D Printer Filament, 1.75mm, Milk White, PLA"	Multicomp Pro	1	Buy Now
Product Name
3mm Clear Acrylic sheet

Building a Customisable Handheld Arduino Thermal Imaging Camera

cstanton — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:59:28 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Documents by cstanton on 8/26/2026 9:59:28 AM

Get Fired Up and Watch Katie Build

community.element14.com/.../Building-a-Customisable-Handheld-Arduino-Thermal-Imaging-Camera.mp4

The Hardware Platform

"It's got an array of thermal sensors of 32 by 24 of them so should get a fairly decent image of the temperatures."

"It's plus and minus 1.5 degrees C accuracy so I should be fairly confident with what I get out of this as an accurate representation of the temperature."

Validating the Sensor and Designing for Real-World Use

Before committing to the enclosure design and software architecture, the project began with a simple proof-of-concept test.

"I've taken the example code for the library for the camera and the screen and just popped them together just to make a really simple test to check this is going to do what I want it to do."

"I'm getting detail of the steam coming off the cup as that greeny, so not as hot but hotter than ambient temperature."

Although the display includes touch capability, a conscious decision was made not to use touchscreen controls for normal operation.

"I also want quite a rugged tool that I can keep in a toolkit."

"For just two buttons, two physical buttons are going to be much stronger in a work environment than having a touch screen."

Software Architecture

The firmware was developed using the Arduino IDE, combining display libraries from DFRobot with thermal imaging support from the Adafruit MLX90640 library.

"I've made an array of temperatures that I think would be nice to choose between for the minimum and for the maximum."

"I've made a little bar on the screen just so you've got something to reference."

The display rendering process converts each measured temperature into a colour lookup value and then expands the low-resolution thermal array into larger screen pixels.

"Displaying each pixel as 13 by 13 square."

This scaling approach preserves the sensor's underlying structure while making the image large enough to be useful on the handheld display.

Custom Enclosure Development and Performance and Practical Applications

To transform the electronics into a finished product, a dedicated enclosure was modelled and 3D printed.

Even so, the camera is perfectly capable of highlighting thermal differences across surfaces, electrical equipment and household environments.

"It'll give me an idea of just what temperature something is with a visual graphic of where that is."

Future Enhancements and Final Thoughts

One of the advantages of building a thermal camera rather than purchasing a finished product is that new capabilities can be added whenever the hardware allows.

The most obvious next feature would be image capture.

"The addition for actually capturing that picture and having it as an image file."

"The only thing I'd worry about is in processing that it might make the whole camera image speed that it's updating slower."

Another particularly interesting possibility would be combining visible-light imagery with thermal information, similar to the image-overlay functionality found on professional thermal cameras.

"To have an actual normal camera and be able to overlay the thermal imaging sensor data onto a real picture."

Key Hardware Used

Arduino UNO R4 Minima Development Board
Seeed Studio MLX90640 Thermal Imaging Sensor (32 × 24 IR array)
DFRobot Fermion TFT Capacitive Touch Display
Multicomp Pro Pushbutton Switches
3D-printed PLA enclosure
3 mm acrylic display protection window

Interested in building your own version or adapting the design?

Supporting Links, ECAD and Code

Parts Used and Buy Links

Product Name	Manufacturer	Quantity	Buy Kit
ABX00080 Development Board, UNO R4 Minima	Arduino	1	Buy Now
DFROBOT Capacitive TouchScreen, Fermion, TFT LCD, Arduino Board	DFROBOT	1	Buy Now
114020141 Thermal Imaging Camera/IR Array Board	SEEED Studio	1	Buy Now
R13-24A-05-BB Pushbutton Switch, R13-24, 7.2 mm, SPST-NO"	Multicomp Pro	2	Buy Now
MP015138 3D Printer Filament, 1.75mm, Milk White, PLA"	Multicomp Pro	1	Buy Now
Product Name
3mm Clear Acrylic sheet

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

cstanton — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:54:30 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Documents by cstanton on 8/24/2026 2:54:30 PM

Let Pat spin you Right Round

"It's easy enough to measure the angle on wake, but how does a sensor count complete revolutions with no battery backup? Zero power."

That question sits at the heart of what makes the ADMT4000 such an unusual device.

Why Multiturn Position Tracking Matters

"No power, but no homing sequence and no constant recalibrating. Just always works, reporting position the instant it's turned on."

A Look at the ADMT4000 Hardware

According to Analog Devices' specifications, the device supports:

True power-on multiturn sensing
Tracking up to 46 complete turns
±0.25° angular accuracy
Up to 100 kSPS update rates
SPI communications
16 mT to 31 mT magnetic operating range
Integrated diagnostic and temperature monitoring features

The sensor uses a paired magnet and magnetic shield assembly. During testing, the supplied ADMAGB3476 magnetic assembly was coupled directly to a ballscrew through a custom printed adapter.

"The sensor wants between 16 and 31 millitesla."

This narrow operating window explains the emphasis Analog Devices places on mechanical positioning and alignment throughout the evaluation documentation.

The Physics Behind the Magic

The most fascinating part of the project was the investigation into how the ADMT4000 achieves its true power-on behaviour.

To better understand AMR, an experiment was created using a section of nickel-based guitar string, a Wheatstone bridge circuit and a collection of strong magnets.

The setup attempted to observe the tiny changes in resistance that occur when magnetic fields alter electron scattering inside ferromagnetic materials.

"We're demonstrating AMR, a quantum effect, in this little piece of guitar string with just a regular DMM."

This experiment provides an accessible demonstration of the same physical phenomenon the ADMT4000 exploits to determine angular position.

From AMR to GMR

While AMR provides angle information, it cannot explain how position survives complete loss of power.

That capability comes from GMR structures fabricated as microscopic magnetic nanowires inside the device.

"When power is applied, the chip simply reads the resistance state of the spiral and knows the accumulated turn count."

Building a MicroPython Driver

Although Analog Devices supplies no-OS C drivers and example applications, the test platform was based on MicroPython running on an RP2350 MCU.

Rather than using the supplied SDP controller hardware, a complete MicroPython implementation was developed from the provided reference code.

The resulting driver mirrors the ADMT4000 register map and communication protocol, including CRC validation, ECC configuration, diagnostics and conversion routines.

One particularly useful addition was persistent configuration storage:

data = {
    'zero': self.zero,
    'report_location': self.report_location,
    'report_alternate': self.report_alternate
}

This allows the system to remember calibration and zero-position information between restarts.

The software also converts turn counts into practical linear position measurements for the ballscrew application:

self.distance_per_degree = 5.000 / 360.0

Using the known screw pitch, the application automatically translated angular measurements into millimetres of linear travel, presenting results on an SSD1306 OLED display.

Debugging an Unexpected Hardware Issue

Bringing the sensor online was not entirely straightforward.

Initially, communication appeared unreliable. Sometimes the device responded perfectly. At other times it appeared completely dead.

Early suspicions focused on wiring, firmware and SPI timing. Oscilloscope measurements confirmed data transmission was occurring correctly, yet valid responses were inconsistent.

Careful examination of the schematics eventually revealed the root cause.

Several identically labelled SPI signals on the evaluation board were not actually connected together. Communication paths routed through an analogue switch controlled by the SDP interface hardware.

"I was sending the data, but just not getting anything back."

Once the analogue switch was bypassed with jumper wires connected directly to the sensor section, communications became completely reliable.

Designing Custom Mechanical Parts

Although the evaluation kit provides its own magnetic assemblies, incorporating them into a practical mechanism required additional hardware.

The finished components are available as downloadable 3D models and make it considerably easier to integrate the evaluation hardware into experimental setups.

Accuracy Testing

To validate the system, measured travel was compared against readings from a laser distance meter.

With a 5 mm pitch ballscrew, ten complete turns should produce exactly 50 mm of travel.

The measured displacement matched expectations, demonstrating that the sensor correctly tracked angular position across multiple revolutions while translating it into useful linear movement.

The ADMT4000 ultimately offered substantially finer resolution than the laser distance reference being used for verification.

Magnetic Shielding and Environmental Effects

Testing also highlighted the benefits of the supplied magnetic shield ring.

When installed, nearby external magnets produced minimal disturbance because magnetic flux naturally preferred travelling through the engineered magnetic circuit rather than through surrounding air.

Removing the shield made the system noticeably more susceptible to external magnetic influences.

"In production, especially in something industrial with lots of metal around, the ring is probably a good idea."

Resetting the Turn Counter

One unusual aspect of the ADMT4000 is that the turn count is not stored in volatile memory. It is represented by a physical magnetic state inside the device.

Consequently, resetting the counter requires influencing those magnetic structures rather than simply writing a register.

Several methods were explored:

A dedicated reset coil integrated into the evaluation board
Applying a sufficiently strong external magnetic field
Rotating beyond the maximum 46-turn range

The external magnetic field method proved particularly effective during experimentation and offered a useful way to visualise the sensor's underlying operating principles.