With a grand prize of $500, plus four $100 Tindie gift cards and five $100 OSH Park gift cards, you might think it’s the prizes that get people excited about the Square Inch Project. I think some would argue the real draw is the challenge of fitting something clever onto just 1 square inch of circuit board.
The original Square Inch Project was held back in 2015 and it was a big hit. The goal was simple, but supremely devilish: create an awesome and useful project using a 1×1 inch PCB. It was a runaway success, leading to its triumphant return this year, and the results were spectacular.
Winning Designs From The Square Inch Project
The return of The Square Inch Project brought with it some truly amazing designs and very clever uses of both space and creativity. Tindarians took home a win in three categories! Here’s a look at the winners and the runner-ups:
Grand Prize: Smart Motor Driver For Robotics (Danny FR)
The grand prize went to Danny FR who created this Smart Motor Driver (SAMI) for running a micro gearmotor. The goal was to implement PID control over the motors with the corresponding RPM feedback. With all the components already on board, all you need to do is supply power and send orders via I2C.
Best Project: Hive Tracker (Drix)
The Best Project award went to the HiveTracker. This is a small, low-cost, and scalable device for sub-millimeter 3D positioning. It’s a miniaturization of the Vive Tracker by HTC. It allows for 9DoF IMU with sensor fusion. Not only is it cheaper than other 3D tracking solutions, but it can track more objects.
Best Artistic Element: Rainbow Jellyfish (ꝺeshipu)
This jellyfish design uses LEDs with matching resistors colored the same as the wires coming out of the PCB. The ground wire is the only exception, but this is common for all LEDs. Connect the device to your breadboard projects and see the signals on the pins.
Best Social Media: Purple Snowy (nwmaker)
This PurpleSnowy badge offers a fun soldering challenge, and it looks great as a pin on your clothes or backpack. The latest version also offers blinking eyes.
Best Documentation: Compact, $25 Spectrometer (Kris Winer)
Building a spectrometer for under $25 sounds like a pretty difficult project, but doing it with a 1×1 inch PCB? That’s impossible, isn’t it? Apparently not, because this project uses AMS’ new AS7265X smart spectral sensor to put you well on your way towards building a modern tricorder.
In addition to these winners, five runner-ups won $100 OSH Park gift cards:
- Compact $25 Spectrometer – Kris Winer
- Boson Frame Grabber – Greg Davill
- Rotovis-Mod1 – Zakqwy
- STM32L4 Sensor Tile – Kris Winer (Tiera Corp)
- 1 Square Inch 20msps Oscilloscope – Mark Omo
Congratulations to the winners and runner-ups!
