E-Fidget – an RP2040-based haptic board #PiDay #RaspberryPi @Raspberry_Pi
Micha appeared on this weeks’ Show and Tell videocast discussing their project: E-Fidget. E-Fidget is a battery-powered haptic feedback based fidget spinner. It’s RP2040-based and 100% OSHW!
The E-Fidget is a new kind of fidget spinner. It uses haptic feedback in the form of 8 vibration motors to simulate the feeling of spinning while not moving at all. This provides several benefits, including being able to be “spun” from inside of a pocket to reduce distraction, and much lower noise levels.
The E-Fidget is based around the RP2040 microcontroller, the same one found inside the popular Raspberry Pi Pico! It has 16 MBits of on-board flash storage, and 8 vibration motors with corresponding MOSFET drivers.
The recommended software for the E-Fidget is CircuitPython, the easy-to-use Python port for microcontrollers. While you’re free to try other languages, I won’t be able to support you with them as readily! (I’ll still try, of course)
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
