MadLab's Enigma Machine Kit Brings a Piece of Cryptographic History to Life via a Raspberry Pi Pico
RP2040-powered emulation lets you type messages for encryption or decryption using the infamous cipher device.
Educational electronics specialist MadLab has launched a soldering kit that delivers a functional recreation of a World War II German Enigma cryptography machine — powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico's RP2040 microcontroller.
"[This is] an accurate simulation of the M3 Enigma cipher machine used by the German Navy during the Second World War," the company explains of its latest kit. "This particular Enigma model utilized three rotors (selected from a total of eight) and had a choice of two reflectors. Each of the rotors has a selectable ring position, as well as an initial or start position, and a plug board is also supported."
The Enigma machine was a key part of the Nazi Germany war effort, used to encipher and decipher communications for everything from commerce and politics to military manoeuvrers. Its messages were thought indecipherable to anyone who did not have both a machine and knowledge of which code wheels and plug board settings were in use — but Polish cryptographers had broken the encryption as early as 1932, and further work at the UK's Bletchley Park by Alan Turing and colleagues would go further in decoding intercepted communication.
Where the original Enigma machine was mechanical in nature, MadLab's recreation is entirely electronic — taking the form of a PCB shaped like the code wheels of a real Enigma and playing host to a small color display and a Raspberry Pi Pico. The ability of the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller to act as a USB Host is used to connect to any standard PC keyboard, and encoded or decoded messages are displayed on-screen for transcription elsewhere.
"The components are all through-hole apart from the [Raspberry Pi] Pico itself," the company explains of the kit, which is designed for those new to both electronics and soldering. "The latter is relatively easy to solder as the pads are not closely spaced. The only tricky part is ensuring that the Pico is accurately aligned with the main PCB."
The Enigma Machine Kit is available to order on the MadLab Tindie store, priced at $39.
