Electromaker of the Month - March 2023 Winners

Throughout March the prolific tinkerers of the Electromaker Community have been busy in the Project Hub! As always, it's down to our judges to decide which 3 projects will be the Electromaker of the Month winners for March!

In case you missed it - Electromaker of the Month celebrates the top three community projects (as picked by our independent judges) and rewards them with prizes, including Amazon gift vouchers (provided by the lovely folks at Mouser) and Electromaker Swag!

1. Relic Cyberware

First prize winner this time is 314Reactor with Relic Cyberware: A Cyberpunk 2077-inspired, head-mounted ChatGPT companion that uses the wearer's heart rate to inform its responses. The build consists of a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with an Audio shim combined with a heart rate monitor shim, all contained within a head-mounted case with a battery and boost circuit.

It uses various libraries to convert spoken text from the user into prompts for a ChatGPT Python API wrapper, which plays the part of the in-game Trauma Team International via inventive prompts, including the user's current heart rate data. Combined with the custom Cyberpunk-inspired jacket, it's an incredible-looking thing too! Find out more from 314Reactor's excellent YouTube video covering the build:

Our judges loved the stylized documentation - each chapter taking a quote from the game Cyberpunk 2077, explaining both the thoughts behind the build process and the eventual results. They also found the video - which combines as a show off and explainer - to be a great intro to the project. The judges were also impressed with how much 314Reactor got out of the Pi Zero 2 W. While it is powerful for its size, this was quite a hefty project!

Congratulations 314Reactor! You win the top Electromaker of the Month prize -  a $150 Amazon gift voucher and a pile of Electromaker Swag!

2. How to Make Arduino Hollow Clock

Second place this month is the Arduino Hollow Clock from diy-projects-lab. The floating hands effect is achieved by using two rotating outer rings, one of which is attached to the minute hand, and the second of which houses two neodymium magnets, keeping the magnet at the end of the hours hand in place. controlling both hands is a single stepper motor using worm and bevel gears to maintain the right ration between minute and hour hand. All of the gears and rings are 3d printed, and the brains of the project? An Arduino Nano soldered to a custom stepper motor PCB.

The build is based on the incredible original design by Shinsaku Hiura ,who has been perfecting the design over several iterations for some time. This is a nice implementation of it, and you can see the full details in the video that accompanies the project.

Our judges loved the clean finish of this project and the decision to create a custom PCB for the electronics. Making and remixing the projects of others is the heart of the Maker community, and it's nice to see Shinsaku Hiura's designs being embraced by other people.

Congratulations on nabbing second this month! A $100 Amazon voucher, and some Electromaker Goodies will be on their way to you!

3. Ultra-tiny Solution Of Daily Activities ​​recognition

Taking third prize is alex-miller with the Ultra-tiny Solution Of Daily Activities ​​recognition project. This project takes the concept of movement recognition - which already uses TinyML to determine certain movements like running and climbing stairs - and applies it to other daily tasks. The data is taken from a wrist mounted Arduino Nicla Sense ME, and the onboard TinyML model was trained using Neuton.AI, a no-code platform that can process data and train models in the cloud, that can be deployed back on to low-power hardware.

Our judges loved the concept behind extending movement recognition beyond the average use cases, but were especially taken by the documentation. It's clear, step-by-step, and gives a great idea just how easy it can be to get started with training TinyML models.

Congratulations Alex, you win third prize, a $50 Amazon gift voucher and a pile of Electromaker Swag!

Will You Be the Next Electromaker of the Month?

Every month we celebrate the inventive, curious, and resourceful nature of our Maker community. Any project published on the Electromaker website is eligible to win, and there's a whole host of great prizes!

To get started, register for a free Electromaker account, and upload your project!