CcircuitrocksOct 21 · 2 min readStereo Vision Board Gives Arduino Robots Depth SensingHow do you give a small robot depth perception without bolting a laptop to it? Ryan Walker's answer, covered by Hackster, is a stereo vision board that does the image math on its own and hands the rescircuitrocks.hashnode.dev
MMaggie WangOct 16 · 5 min readWhat Exactly Is Your Factory "Changing" on Your Board?Many hardware engineers share a habit: send the Gerber files, then wait for the boards to come back. The CAM engineering step in between? Rarely a concern. Until one day the boards come back differentanypcba.hashnode.dev
CcircuitrocksOct 13 · 2 min readNokia 3310 Pico Mod: Go Game Engine on an 84x48 ScreenCan a 2000-era phone with an 84x48 monochrome screen and a single buzzer still run new games? Developer Hoani Bryson says yes, and his entry won the eighth Nokia 3310 Jam out of 51 submissions. What Bcircuitrocks.hashnode.dev
MMaggie WangOct 13 · 5 min readHow to Choose the Right HDI Order: 1-N, 2-N, Any-Layer—Higher Isn't Always BetterIn PCB design reviews, one question comes up again and again: how many orders of HDI does this board need? The answer is usually one of two extremes: "Let's try 1-N first," or "Just go any-layer, to banypcba.hashnode.dev
CcircuitrocksOct 10 · 2 min readBuild an '80s Brick Phone with a Raspberry Pi Pico and BluetoothYour phone buzzes mid-soldering, and suddenly the iron is cold and you are reading a group chat. Kevin Noki's fix is a chunky brick handset that rings only when approved callers get through, with the circuitrocks.hashnode.dev
MMaggie WangOct 9 · 6 min readVia Stub Effects and Back Drilling in High-Speed PCBs: An SI Fundamental Every Hardware Engineer Should KnowIn high-speed digital design, signal integrity problems often hide in the least obvious places—vias. As signal rates move from 10Gbps to 25Gbps, 56Gbps, and even 112Gbps, an ordinary through-hole via anypcba.hashnode.dev
CcircuitrocksOct 5 · 2 min readDIY STM32 Scientific Calculator With a Memory LCD and CR2032 PowerDiscontinued calculators turn into collector items fast. The HP 35s left shelves in 2021 and used units soon sold above $200, which is more than a nice STM32 dev kit, a display and a PCB order combinecircuitrocks.hashnode.dev
CcircuitrocksOct 2 · 2 min readDIY Brain-Computer Interface: 8-Channel EEG on an ESP32Treat a brain-computer interface as a weekend project and it stops sounding like lab equipment. Carlos Lorenzo-Zúñiga Marí built an eight-channel EEG headset for under $350 (roughly PHP 20,000), and tcircuitrocks.hashnode.dev
CcircuitrocksSep 26 · 3 min readXGO Duck: Build an Open-Source Robot Duck with Arduino UNO QCommercial robotics reveals used to mean a long wait: a company shows off a slick prototype, and hobbyists watch from the sidelines until it ships. Pollen Robotics did exactly that with Microduck lastcircuitrocks.hashnode.dev
MMaggie WangSep 24 · 5 min readRigid-Flex PCB Design Guide: From Stack-up to ProductionIn medical devices, aerospace, and high-end consumer electronics, rigid-flex PCBs are becoming increasingly common. They enable 3D routing in tight spaces, reduce connectors and solder joints, and impanypcba.hashnode.dev