ESP32-Based Board Uses ClojureScript to Explore Building IoT Devices

With the Esprit board from Mike Fikes, the ESP32 can now run a ClojureScript REPL. It uses Espruino, which is an embedded JavaScript engine for platforms like the ESP32. This combination means you can explore programming an IoT device with ClojureScript.

Clojure is a Lisp dialect making it a programming language with a rich set of data structures. ClojureScript is a compiler for Closure that targets JavaScript. Combined with Espruino, it is now possible to run ClojureScript on an ESP32.

Fikes developed the Esprit to allow users to explore this combination of programming language and IoT-enabled hardware. On the board is a LiPo battery charging circuit, LED status indicators, and six of the ESP32's GPIO pins. The ESP32-WROVER module itself has 8 MiB SPIRAM and 16 MiB Flash.

While the Esprit does make it faster to get to using the ClojureScript REPL, Fikes does offer instructions on how to get up and running with any ESP32-WROVER based board.

Over on the Esprit-Board GitHub repository, there is design data (Proteus), Gerbers, and a bill of materials. The Esprit repo has the files for the firmware-side. You can also visit the FikesFarm Tindie store to purchase an Esprit board.

For more information about ClojureScript and how to use it with an ESP32, check out the "ClojureScript on Microcontrollers" talk by Fikes at the Clojure/North 2020 remote conference scheduled for June 25th and 26th, 2020.