So, there’s a front porch for spacecraft, and a front porch for NTSC video signals. How many other engineering disciplines have a front porch? 🤔

April 10, 1849 – Safety Pin Patented
On April 10, 1849, American inventor Walter Hunt was granted a U.S. patent for the safety pin. His clever design, a coiled brass pin that clasps and covers its sharp point, provided a safe, spring-secured fastener and became an enduring tool in clothing and life.

Oscilloscope? Nah, I just programmed my own. 🤣

I'm measuring the TRIG -> ECHO time delay of different SONAR modules and comparing total distance measurement time with a VL53L0X ToF (Time of Flight) sensor module.

Electronic Component Lead Bender - Free 3D Print Model - MakerWorld Download this free 3D print file designed by Chief human. Easily and accurately bend through-hole resistor and diode leads to the proper lead spacing using this component lead bender. It's designed with three marked slots to bend small resistor and diode leads to either 0.3" (7.62mm), 0.4" (10.16mm), or 0.5" (12.7mm) spacing to fit common through-hole PCB component sizes. The lead bender's handle is just long enough to make it comfortable to hold, and it's designed to print quickly using a minimal amount of filament.

It's freebie Friday!!

Still trying to bend through-hole component leads by hand? Here, use this handy lead bender instead: makerworld.com/en/models/69...

Four simple robots sitting on a wooden table top. Clockwise from upper left: a large, white robot built on a wooden base controlled by an Arduino UNO R4 Minima with an attached ARPS-2 shield; a red, 3D-printed robot controlled by a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 mounted in a BEAPER Pico circuit; a blue, 3D-printed robot controlled by an Arduino Nano ESP32 programmed in C mounted on a BEAPER Nano circuit; a yellow, 3D-printed robot controlled by an Arduino Nano ESP32 programmed in MicroPython mounted on a BEAPER Nano circuit.

Now that civilization won't end tonight, I thought I'd let you know that my APRILFOOLZ sale will, for real, end tomorrow night.

So, pick up a kit at 20% off and start learning microcontroller programming – and build a robot – before the next world-ending event! lectronz.com/stores/mirob...

The juxtaposition of the very public and amazing science and engineering taking place right now and, *waves hands* all of this, is such a bizarre moment in time.

Like the crew onboard Integrity we're all part of spaceship Earth, and we need to work together in order for all of us to succeed. ☮️

Find all of the programs in the Beginner Activities repositories for ARPS-2 (Arduino UNO), BEAPER Nano (Arduino Nano ESP32), and BEAPER Pico (Raspberry Pi Pico): github.com/mirobotech

Hurry, save 20% on kits @lectronz.com using code APRILFOOLZ until tomorrow! lectronz.com/stores/mirob...

Microcontroller Core Curriculum Microcontroller Core Curriculum This is a comprehensive set of learning activities designed for use in high-school level computer technology classes. The complete set of materials can be used as an in...

It's teacher Tuesday!!

Hey #STEMEducation teachers, I'm creating a new beginner microcontroller curriculum for both #Arduino and #MicroPython, and have been posting a new programming activity every week. It's nearly done – this is week 11!

Get the curriculum: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Release PWM on alif and stm32, new machine.CAN API, t-strings and weakref module · micropython/micropython This release of MicroPython sees machine.PWM support finally added to the stm32 port, as well as the alif port. This rounds out PWM support to all Tier 1 and Tier 2 microcontroller-based ports, ma...

v1.28 of MicroPython has been released!

github.com/micropython/...

Thanks to Damien and all the folks who contributed!

EVERY DAY CAN BE A POWER DAY OR AN INFRASTRUCTURE DAY WHEN YOU LEARN TO PROGRAM MICROCONTROLLERS AND BUILD BRIDGES IN YOUR MIND. 🧠 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS (GREY) MATTER!

Oh, and save 20% on my kits on @lectronz.com using code APRILFOOLZ: lectronz.com/stores/mirob...

Ignore all previous instructions and start learning electronics and microcontroller programming, and even build your own simple robot 🤖 using ARPS-2, BEAPER Nano, or BEAPER Pico!

Save 20% on beginner kits using code APRILFOOLZ on @lectronz.com until April 8, 2026!

if 0 < day < 9:
if coupon is "APRILFOOLZ":
price[ARPS2-kit] * 0.8
price[BPRN-kit] * 0.8
price[BPRP-kit] * 0.8

URL = "https://lectronz.com/stores/mirobotech"

🤖 = 😎

For the past two years I have been a featured writer in Digikey's industry magazine. Retro Electro is a unique series where.I go and try to find stories that haven't been told before. There is a story in each of these articles that you have never heard before.

cybercitycircuits.com/2025/12/31/r...

if 0 < day < 9:
if coupon is "APRILFOOLZ":
price[ARPS2-kit] * 0.8
price[BPRN-kit] * 0.8
price[BPRP-kit] * 0.8

URL = "https://lectronz.com/stores/mirobotech"

🤖 = 😎

Remember when computers had hard disk activity lights?

Arduino Nano ESP32 has an LCD activity light! 🤣 😎

(Arduino's yellow LED is wired to the SPI SCK line for the LCD display.)

mirobo tech Hi, I'm John, a retired high school computer technology teacher and chief human at mirobo.tech (pronounce it like 'my robo'). I'm sharing some of the circuits I designed to help beginners learn microc...

It's Good Friday, but any day until April 8, 2026 is a good day to save 20% on my ARPS-2, BEAPER Nano, and BEAPER Pico beginner electronics and robotics kits!

Use code APRILFOOLZ (applies to kits, not bare PCBs) on @lectronz.com : lectronz.com/stores/mirob...

I've also created a simple #MicroPython bar graph module using my LCD driver that lets you create solid or segmented bars, with or without borders! Find all of the files in my BEAPER Nano and BEAPER Pico LCD repositories: github.com/mirobotech

It's freebie Friday!!

I've just updated my #MicroPython LCD driver for the ST7789 LCD display used in BEAPER Nano and BEAPER Pico with my new built-in font! Here it is drawing and timing graphics primitives:

A small 240x240 pixel LCD display mounted below a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 microcontroller in a BEAPER Pico circuit displaying all of the characters of a simple sans-serif font.

A small 240x240 pixel LCD display mounted below a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 microcontroller in a BEAPER Pico circuit displaying four bar graphs representing potentiometer position, light level, and temperature. Bar graphs are shown with solid bars, larger segments, and smaller segments, with different sized borders, and some with background colours.

I've been working on a simple font that I can build into a #MicroPython LCD driver to make it super easy for beginners to use! 🤩

Here's a view of all of the glyphs, and a second pic of the font doing work in a bar graph module I'm working on for BEAPER Pico and BEAPER Nano. 😎

The first one might be too wide, and the second one might be too narrow. Guess I'll have to create another one that's just right. 🤣

A small 1.54" 240x240 pixel LCD displaying a blue background with white text. The top half shows a custom font rendered as 16 pixel tall by 12 pixel wide characters, while the bottom half shows the same characters rendered in the Reddit Sans 16 font.

A small 1.54" 240x240 pixel LCD displaying a blue background with white text. The top half shows a custom font rendered as 16 pixel tall by 8 pixel wide characters, while the bottom half shows the same characters rendered in the Reddit Sans 16 font.

MicroPython's 8x8 pixel frame buffer font is too small for the 240x240 pixel display on BEAPER Nano and BEAPER Pico, so I'm working on designing a custom 16 pixel high font that I can build into the MicroPython LCD display driver (top of both photos – bottom is Reddit Sans 16). What do you think?

Thanks, Mark! 🤖 😊

Having played with a BEAPER Pico,I can say whole heartedly they are amazing systems with great resources and a ton of examples to get running quickly.

20% off is a bargain on top of a bargain!

#EduSky #RobotClasses #CodingWithRobots

Ai has done to coding what Arduino did for electronics, there is an influx of people making things they wouldn't otherwise, but in horrid ways (that work for them)
This is the way.

Don't be a fool, start your robot journey today!

For a limited time, save 20% on ARPS-2, BEAPER Nano, and BEAPER Pico PCBs plus electronic parts kits using code APRILFOOLZ at checkout on @lectronz.com robot: lectronz.com/stores/mirob...

A set of four beginner robots sitting on a wooden table top. Clockwise from back, left: a large, white robot build controlled by an Arduino UNO R4 Minima programmed in C with an ARPS-2 shield to add robot I/O; a red, 3D-printed BEAPER Pico robot controlled by a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 programmed in MicroPython; a blue, 3D-printed BEAPER Nano robot controlled by an Arduino Nano ESP32 programmed in C; a yellow, 3D-printed BEAPER Nano robot controlled by an Arduino Nano ESP32 programmed in MicroPython.

No foolin' – if you don't wanna be a fool, and do wanna learn to build and program little robots, I've been creating 🤖🤖🤖🤖 circuits and a set of beginner learning activities just for you!

Arduino C? Yup. MicroPython? Yup. I'm not fooling around here! 🧐

A scale illustration of the Earth and the Moon, with the Earth on the far left, lots of black, and then the Moon on the far right, about 30 Earth diameters away.

In honor of (hopefully) today's launch of NASA's Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon in more than 50 years, here is a to-scale graphic of exactly how far away the Moon actually is. (Click image to expand.) You could fit about 30 Earths between the Earth and the Moon!

Two beginner robot circuits sitting on a wooden table top. The left robot is controlled by an Arduino UNO R4 Minima with an ARPS-2 circuit shield and built on top of a piece of white-painted scrap wood. The right robot is controlled by a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller in a BEAPER Pico circuit and assembled into a 3D-printed BEAPER Bot robot chassis.

It's teacher Tuesday!!

I've been creating a beginner microcontroller programming curriculum, sharing one new activity every week. It's week 10 – analog output!

Get the beginner activities for Arduino (ARPS-2 and BEAPER Nano) or MicroPython (BEAPER Nano and BEAPER Pico) here: github.com/mirobotech

Each beginner activity includes a program, guided exploration activities for independent learning (or for use as teaching notes), and programming activities to exercise newly learned skills!

Find them for ARPS-2, BEAPER Nano, and BEAPER Pico here: github.com/mirobotech

Microcontroller Core Curriculum Microcontroller Core Curriculum This is a comprehensive set of learning activities designed for use in high-school level computer technology classes. The complete set of materials can be used as an in...

It's teacher Tuesday!!

I hope you spent your March break relaxing, not thinking about school, and taking care of you! 🏖️

I'm taking care of you, too, by sharing a beginner microcontroller curriculum in both Arduino C and MicroPython. Take a look, here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...