OSH Park Releases Open Hardware Summit 2020 Badge Renders, Confirms CircuitPython Support
Powered by the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840, the 10th anniversary badge takes a novel wristwatch-like form factor.
The first renders of the Open Hardware Summit 2020 badge, an open hardware creation which takes an intriguing wristwatch form factor, have been released by OSH Park's Drew Fustini — along with confirmation that it will feature support for CircuitPython.
Designed to celebrate the Open Hardware Summit's 10th anniversary in March this year, an event Hackster.io is proud to sponsor, the 10th anniversary badge is built around a Rigado BMD340 wireless module - itself featuring a Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 wireless system-on-chip. This is mated to a compact 1.54" LCD panel, four user-configurable buttons, and a lithium-polymer (LiPo) battery charging circuit.
For sensors, the design includes a Bosch Sensortec BME680 temperature, pressure, and humidity sensor, a Broadcom APDS-9960 gesture sensor, an STMicroelectronics LSM9DS1 inertial measurement unit (IMU) with nine degrees of freedom (9DoF), and an optional I2C connector compatible with SparkFun's Qwiic ecosystem. For those who find that list lacking, there's room in the design for an optional Knowles SPH0645LM4H-B microphone — though this won't be fitted as standard to the 300 units manufactured for the event.
Designed by Alex Amiclo and Michael Welling, with input from other OSH Park team members, the compact board is meant to be worn on the wrist — in contrast with typical event badges, which are worn around the neck on a lanyard. The gesture sensor and wireless connectivity offers a range of possibilities for communication between guests, including the potential to share data with a nearby unit based on a fist-bump or other gesture.
The board has passed through design review and been registered as certified Open Source Hardware, but has not yet been produced. This hasn't, however, stopped Welling from adding support for the hardware to CircuitPython — confirmed by the its listing on the CircuitPython website.
The board won't be sold openly, though as a piece of open hardware its design files and software are freely available on the project's GitHub repository while development progress can be tracked on the Hackaday.io page; instead, it will be given as a gift to attendees of the 10th Anniversary Open Hardware Summit on the 13th of March at the NYU School of Law in New York. Those interested in attending the event can find more information on the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) website.