Projects
Need inspiration? Find it here! These tutorials feature special projects broken down into steps to illustrate how you can use various concepts, skills, and technologies to build awesome stuff.
EL Wire Pants
July 18, 2019
In this tutorial, we will sew standard electroluminescent (EL) wire to a pair of pants.
Modifying Your EL Wire Inverter
July 18, 2019
In this tutorial, we will modify the 12V EL wire inverter to power the EL Sequencer/EL Escudo Dos off a single power supply.
Pi Servo pHAT (v2) Hookup Guide
July 11, 2019
This hookup guide will show you how to connect and use the Pi Servo pHAT.
Qwiic Kit for Raspberry Pi Hookup Guide
July 4, 2019
Get started with the CCS811, BME280, VCNL4040, and microOLED via I2C using the Qwiic system and Python on a Raspberry Pi! Take sensor readings from the enviroment and display them on the microOLED, serial terminal, or the cloud with Cayenne!
Using Home Assistant to Expand Your Home Automations
May 9, 2019
An introduction to Home Assistant, an open source home automation hub.
Displaying Your Coordinates with a GPS Module
April 30, 2019
This Arduino tutorial will teach you how to pinpoint and display your GPS coordinates with a press of a button using hardware from our Qwiic Connect System (I2C).
Wireless Gesture Controlled Robot
April 25, 2019
Control the RedBot wirelessly based on the movement of your hand using an accelerometer, Arduino, and XBees!
Keyboard Shortcut, Qwiic Keypad
April 25, 2019
A simple project using the Qwiic Keypad and the RedBoard Turbo to create your own custom hotkey-pad.
LED Gumball Machine
April 24, 2019
Hacking gumball machines to make the world a happier, blinkier place.
Wireless Glove Controller
April 24, 2019
Build a wireless glove controller with Arduinos to trigger an LED using XBees!
Build a Qwiic Jukebox that is Toddler Approved!
March 29, 2019
Follow this tutorial to build your own custom jukebox. Note, this is designed simple and tough for use primarily with toddlers. It's also a great introduction to SparkFun's Qwiic products!
Wireless RC Robot with Arduino and XBees
March 12, 2019
In this tutorial, we will expand on the SIK for RedBot to control the robot wirelessly with XBee radios! We'll explore a different microcontroller and wirelessly control the RedBot at a distance.
Computer Vision and Projection Mapping in Python
February 6, 2019
Use computer vision to detect faces and project images on top of them.
Motion Controlled Wearable LED Dance Harness
January 30, 2019
Control LEDs based on your movement using an accelerometer! Make your LEDs breathe by fading in and out when laying on the floor, turn off the LEDs when moving to your side, or make the LEDs blink in a headstand!
Live Spotify Album Art Display
January 23, 2019
Learn how to turn our 64x64 RGB LED Matrix Panel into a display for your current Spotify album art using an ESP32.
Wireless Remote Control with micro:bit
January 21, 2019
In this tutorial, we will utilize the MakeCode radio blocks to have the one micro:bit transmit a signal to a receiving micro:bit on the same channel. Eventually, we will control a micro:bot wirelessly using parts from the arcade:kit!
3D Printed Illuminated Wand Prop
November 29, 2018
In this tutorial, we will learn about how to create a theatrical prop for a performance by 3D printing a wand and adding an LED.
EL Wire Hoodie
October 24, 2018
In this tutorial, we will sew standard electroluminescent (EL) wire to a hoodie.
How to Make a Custom EL Wire Extension Cable
October 24, 2018
In this tutorial, we will make a custom EL Wire extension cable as an alternative to splicing wire.
Python GUI Guide: Introduction to Tkinter
August 13, 2018
Tkinter is the standard graphical user interface package that comes with Python. This tutorial will show you how to create basic windowed applications as well as complete full-screen dashboard examples complete with live graph updates from matplotlib.
Graph Sensor Data with Python and Matplotlib
July 23, 2018
Use matplotlib to create a real-time plot of temperature data collected from a TMP102 sensor connected to a Raspberry Pi.
Light Up Your 3D Printer's Bed
June 27, 2018
Having issues viewing your print in a dark lit room? In this tutorial, we will be using LED strips to light up a print bed's area on a LulzBot 3D printer!
IoT Weight Logging Scale
May 9, 2018
This tutorial will show you how to make a scale that logs your weight to a custom website on the Internet. The principles can be extrapolated to any type of data.
Old Tutorials
Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the
archived tutorials on the main
SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer
actively maintained.