MCH2022 badge

The MCH2022 badge is our most advanced badge yet. Shaped like a game console this badge is a powerhouse filled with cool technology.

Once assembled, you can use the badge to display your name, write Python code and maybe play a game or find an Easter Egg, but don’t forget: the real fun starts when you hack it to make it your own!

MCH2022 badge overview

Getting Started

We’ve assembled some resources to quickly get started.

Getting Help (and helping …)

Reread the instructions if something isn’t working. Then go to our Troubleshooting Guide

Check out these resources if you run into trouble.

Case and frontpanel

You can find a 3D printable case and a lasercuttable frontpanel in this GIT repository.

The Hardware

The badge contains an Espressif ESP32 Wrover-e WiFi module with 16MB of flash storage and 8MB of PSRAM, an Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller chip for advanced USB communication and board management and a Lattice ICE40UP5K FPGA for hardware accelerated graphics.

It also contains a bunch of stuff (TODO elaborate “stuff”).

The hardware is described in more detail in the hardware section.

The Software

The ESP32 loads an application chooser menu when you first power it on. Once loaded, you can launch a number of preinstalled applications:

the Name-Tag app
a Micropython scripting environment
a sensor playground for the Bosch sensors
The Hatchery where you can load more apps!

and the app contains a link to the Hatchery an app store you can use to load more apps. And more importantly, where you can publish app you write yourself.

The software is still in active development, more information will be published here soon.

Hardware sponsors

ALLNET China was our production partner, for which we are more than grateful. They took care of sourcing most components and oversaw the production process in China, saving us a lot of work and potential headaches and allowing us to focus on the product!
Espressif was very generous to donate us all of the ESP32-WROVER-E modules we needed. The ESP32 has proven itself to be a solid basis for badges in the past, and for related projects such as the PocketSprite. Espressifs continued support means a lot to us as it allows us to continue expanding our existing ESP32-based ecosystem!
Lattice Semiconductor provided us with 4000 pieces of their awesome ICE40UP5K low-power FPGA. With this donation, they enabled us to explore and provide a new dimension of hardware capabilities and user-created applications. We shipped the first FPGA-equipped event badge in the world. Thanks Lattice!
Bosch Sensortec let us put two of their advanced sensors on the badge: the BNO055 9-axis Absolute Orientation Sensor, and their new BME680 Air-Quality (And More) Sensor. These sensors enable a range of uses for the badge off-the-shelf, allowing developers to develop more engaging games and expanding the range of potential uses for the badge after the event.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation helped us out with a discount when another chip which we tried to source became unavailable. On the badge, the RP2040 enables a wide range of USB capabilities, allowing us to work on bridging the gap between embedded development and everyday computing.

All of our sponsors helped us out in a time when sourcing capable chips was a near-impossible task. Without them, this project would not have been possible. We are grateful to all of them for their help and sponsorship, and we hope to work with them again in future badge projects!