Samwise Makers' News
Thursday, May 14, 2026
LiDAR Matrix Sensor Gives ESP32 Robot Genuine 3D Vision
Maker Mellow_Labs has integrated a LiDAR matrix sensor into Zippy, a 3D-printed ESP32-powered tracked robot, showing how an 8×8 time-of-flight array enables spatial awareness for autonomous navigation. Unlike a single-point ToF sensor, the matrix variant delivers 64 independent range measurements from 2 cm to 3.5 m, building a real-time depth map. The sensor is an ST Microelectronics VL53L7CX-class SPAD array running at up to 60 Hz. Mounted at the front of Zippy, roughly half the rows detect the floor, still providing useful obstacle data. Code was developed through LLM-assisted iterations. The project shows how affordable multi-zone ToF sensors are opening practical 3D sensing for hobbyist robotics.
Sources: Hackaday
Custom Mainboard Brings the PlayStation 2 Into Handheld Form
Maker tschicki has reverse-engineered the PlayStation 2 to build a custom handheld mainboard almost from scratch, retaining only a handful of original PS2 chips. The portable unit integrates an RP2040 microcontroller for USB Power Delivery, digital video output, an SD card replacing the original disc drive, a customised boot ROM, upgraded audio, and a DualShock 2 controller interface built into the handheld itself. The 3D-printed enclosure houses all components in a compact form factor. Tschicki warns the project demands specialised tools and advanced skills. Full schematics and firmware are available open-source on GitHub at tschicki/PS2-Portable.
Sources: Hackaday
Unitree Robot Dog Investigation Exposes CVE and Suspicious Firmware Traffic
Researcher Benn Jordan has published a detailed investigation into Unitree Robotics quadruped robot dogs, uncovering safety flaws and the CVE-2025-2894 security vulnerability. Jordan found that the Lidar sits below the head, creating blind spots to the rear and sides that make autonomous guarding impractical. The Wi-Fi password input field allows arbitrary command execution without authentication, and the firmware transmits data to external servers when it believes monitoring has ceased. Unitree basic quadruped robots cost a few thousand dollars and pair onboard Lidar with substantial computing power, but Jordan characterises the firmware as untrustworthy until independently audited and patched by the owner.
Sources: Hackaday
VTech Toy Laptop Reborn as PinkPad V1: A Raspberry Pi Linux Machine
Maker kati has turned a VTech toddler toy laptop into the PinkPad V1, a fully functional clamshell computer running Arch Linux ARM. The build keeps the original pink shell while replacing the internals with a Raspberry Pi, a 5-inch touchscreen LCD, and a rechargeable battery. Black keyboard keys were repainted pink with nail polish to maintain the aesthetic. VTech toys have a long history as hacking platforms, previously appearing as punch card cyberdecks and Z80 stations. Kati notes that fitting all connectors, wiring, and components into the fixed enclosure was far more challenging than expected, a common experience when retrofitting electronics into existing consumer hardware shells.
Sources: Hackaday
Y-Zipper: 3D-Printable PLA and TPU Mechanism Converts Flat Strips Into Rigid Rods
Researchers Jiaji Li et al. have described the Y-zipper, a 3D-printable mechanism published in the ACM digital library that transforms flat flexible strips into rigid 3D structures using a zipper action. Printed in PLA with TPU compliant bridges, Y-zipper strips zip into straight rods, curved arcs, coils, or screws depending on the strip geometry. Multiple rods join with demonstrated connectors, suggesting uses such as collapsible tent supports and flat-pack assemblies. The design tolerates typical FDM quality variation because critical locking surfaces lie on the X/Y axes rather than Z, and smooth build-plate faces appear outward when assembled. Maximum viable length is approximately 3 metres before structural degradation.
Sources: Hackaday
FreeCAD 1.1 Gets a Thorough Beginner Tutorial Focused on Real Engineering Workflow
YouTuber Deltahedra has released a beginner tutorial for FreeCAD 1.1, the current stable release of the open-source parametric CAD package, modelling a real bicycle stem component from scratch. The video stays entirely within the Part Design workbench, demonstrating a workflow aligned with engineering best practices rather than just explaining buttons. It covers interface navigation, walks through the full design sequence step-by-step, and shows how to identify and fix common modelling mistakes. Targeting FreeCAD 1.1 specifically means the interface learners see on screen matches the tutorial exactly, avoiding the frustration of guides written for older versions with different toolbar layouts.
Sources: Hackaday
Baltazar Studios Builds a Scientific Calculator Around a Fully Custom FPGA CPU
Baltazar Studios has released a scientific calculator with a fully custom CPU implemented on an FPGA, with complete source code on GitHub. The processor uses Harvard architecture with a 12-bit instruction set operating on 4-bit nibbles, a design approach borrowed from HP classic calculator CPUs to optimise binary-coded decimal arithmetic. The finished device has a 3D-printed enclosure, an OLED display with a VFD-like look, and high-quality backlit keys. The FPGA implementation exposes the complete design for inspection at register-transfer level, making it one of very few everyday devices whose computing core was built by its enclosure designer. A build writeup is at baltazarstudios.com alongside the GitHub repository.
Sources: Hackaday
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
None this week
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Makers & Hardware
1. earlephilhower/arduino-pico — RP2040/RP2350 Arduino core
2. davidmonterocrespo24/velxio — Browser emulator for Arduino & ESP32
3. raspberrypi/firmware — Pre-compiled Pi kernel & bootloader
Upcoming Events
Hackaday Europe 2026 — May 16–17, Lecco, Italy
Open Hardware Summit 2026 — May 23–24, Berlin, Germany
Maker Faire New York 2026 — Date TBA, New York, USA
Curated by JD · samwise.agency