PiBrick Handheld Raises the Bar for DIY Raspberry Pi Portables

The PiBrick is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4–powered handheld gaming device that stands apart from the typical scratch-built portable. Unlike most DIY handhelds assembled around commodity breakout boards, PiBrick features custom injection-molded housing, a unified PCB handling power management, audio, and controls, and a 5-inch IPS display. The Compute Module 4 provides the processing grunt, while a purpose-designed carrier board keeps the assembly clean. Open-source hardware files are publicly available for builders who want to replicate it. Hackaday calls it “a really good one” — high praise in a category where completing the enclosure is usually the hardest part.

Sources: Hackaday

Equestrian-Inspired Controller Translates Rein Tension Into USB Input

[jlewallen] built a game controller modeled on the physical act of horseback riding, using hall-effect sensors and 3D-printed linkages to translate rein tension and rider posture into standard USB HID input. The controller connects via USB and works with any game that accepts analog axes — horse simulation titles or open-world games with mounted gameplay are natural fits. An Arduino serves as the USB bridge, and the entire mechanical assembly is printable on a standard FDM printer. Hackaday highlighted the build for its originality in human interface device design — a reminder that “controller” does not have to mean twin thumbsticks and shoulder buttons.

Sources: Hackaday

VOC-Sensing Fume Cabinet Keeps Resin 3D Printing Safe at Home

Resin 3D printers deliver sharp, detailed output, but uncured resin emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that pose real health risks in enclosed spaces. This open-source fume cabinet addresses the problem with laser-cut acrylic panels, an activated carbon filter stack, and a fan assembly designed to fully enclose a standard MSLA printer. An ESP8266 running custom firmware monitors a VOC sensor array and displays real-time air quality on an attached screen. Design files are freely available. The build covers three needs for home-shop resin printing in a single structure: physical containment, active filtration, and live air quality monitoring — all without commercial ventilation hardware.

Sources: Hackaday

ESP Osito Brings a Native OS to the Cheap Yellow Display

The Cheap Yellow Display — an ESP32-based LCD development board retailing for roughly $10 — has become a favourite platform for compact maker interfaces. Most CYD projects port retro operating systems onto the hardware rather than writing natively for it. ESP Osito, created by [Óscar Acena], takes the opposite approach: a small but complete OS built from scratch for the CYD’s ESP32, featuring a windowed UI, app launcher, file manager, Wi-Fi support, and over-the-air updates. The project is open source on GitHub and notable for prioritizing modern software design principles over the nostalgia-driven aesthetic common in the CYD ecosystem.

Sources: Hackaday

One-Button Medication Reminder Logs Daily Compliance to MicroSD

MedMinder is a minimal medication tracking device built around a single button and two LEDs. Designed by [PaulMakes] and centered on an ATtiny85, it asks one question per day: did you take your medication? Press the button in the morning and a green LED confirms the dose; miss it, and the indicator shifts to red by evening. Daily compliance is logged to a microSD card for optional review by the user or a caregiver. The 3D-printed enclosure runs for months on a single coin cell. Hackaday highlighted the design as a model of low-friction assistive technology — single-purpose hardware done purposefully.

Sources: Hackaday

A $30 ESP32-S3 Wristwatch Puts Cloud AI Voice on Your Wrist

A maker project on Hackster.io demonstrates that voice-activated cloud AI is achievable in a $30 ESP32-S3 build. The wristwatch pairs an ESP32-S3 module with a small color TFT display, an onboard microphone for voice input, and a speaker for audio output, routing queries through a cloud API for inference. A 3D-printed case and watch strap complete the wearable. Battery life runs several hours per charge — enough for demonstrations and prototyping, not all-day wear. The project is a compact proof of concept: AI interaction at the maker price point, requiring no custom silicon — only an ESP32-S3 and a handful of off-the-shelf parts.

Sources: Hackster.io

PCMFlow722 Library Brings G.722 Wideband Voice Over ESP-NOW

The PCMFlow722 library enables real-time two-way wideband voice calls between ESP32 boards over ESP-NOW, Espressif’s peer-to-peer wireless protocol that operates without a Wi-Fi router or cloud infrastructure. The library implements the G.722 audio codec — the ITU standard used in modern VoIP — delivering 7 kHz audio bandwidth compared to the 3.4 kHz ceiling of older narrowband codecs. Two ESP32 devices can now hold an HD voice call with no MQTT broker and no HTTP overhead. CNX Software reports that audio quality is noticeably cleaner than earlier 8 kHz narrowband ESP32 voice projects. Source code and a demo video are available on GitHub.

Sources: CNX Software

Petros Alef Is a Pico-Sized RISC-V Board With USB 3.0 for Camera Projects

The Petros CH32H417M Alef is a Raspberry Pi Pico–sized development board centered on a 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller with an unusual feature at this form factor: a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface. Measuring 21 × 51 mm, the board carries 64 KB of SRAM and 256 KB of flash, a DVP camera connector, and a USB-C port capable of USB 3.0 speeds — making it well-suited for machine vision and high-bandwidth capture projects. The CH32H417M chip is a RISC-V core from WCH, a Chinese fabless semiconductor company with a growing presence in the open hardware market. CNX Software has early documentation and pinout diagrams.

Sources: CNX Software

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