⚙️ WEEK 5: ELECTRONICS DESIGN

Circuit design and PCB layout. Building the nervous system of machines.

[ MISSION OBJECTIVE ]

Learn the fundamentals of electronics design using professional EDA tools. Design circuits, create schematics, layout PCBs, and bridge the gap between digital concept and physical implementation.

[ EDA TOOL FUNDAMENTALS ]

Assignment: Use an EDA tool to design an embedded microcontroller system.

KiCad schematic
Figure 1. Getting started with the KiCad software.
Xiao RP2040 pinout
Figure 2. Using the Xiao RP2040 Pinout

[ BUILD DOCUMENTATION ]

Board assembly
Figure 3. I soldered the board, but the screen catastrophically ripped out.
Milling process
Figure 4. They milled me a new board, but broke the mill in the process. Just documenting my failures here.
Board salvage
Figure 5. Quentin kindly helped me salvage another board which had power issues.
Successful board
Figure 6. Success! After this I ended up trading the SAMD board for an RP2040 to try working on pico architecture.
Functional device
Figure 7. Due to the screen having ripped out certain connections in my board, I only had access to a few buttons. Limited by hardware, I made a morse code telegraph.
Damage analysis
Figure 8. You can see the display leads ripped off the board. Some of the "buttons" were also damaged. I decided to adapt.
Click to play test video

[ RESOURCES ]

The code I used for the morse code device and embedded auto-translator

Group Assignment

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