Electromaker of the Month - December Winners

It's time to meet the winners of the December Electromaker of the Month! For the whole of 2022, our community has been busy creating the most amazing projects. Let's see which ones are going to win this time!

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 prototyping hardware from Nordic Semiconductor and some fine swag to boot! The top prize also receives a $50 Amazon gift voucher!

1. Flex Controlled Air Powered Gripper

Our top prize winner this month is Blight3d28 with their incredible soft-body gripping robotic hand. Made entirely from 3dprinted parts (including the silicone molds), the grasping motion is controlled using flex sensors attached to a human hand, controlled by an Arduino.

The judges loved the DIY nature of this project, designed and fabricated using simple tools, yet coming up with a very functional robot in a field that is still very much bleeding edge. 

Congratulations Blight3d28! You win the top Electromaker of the Month prize - a pile of Nordic Semiconductor prototyping gear!

You'll also get some tidy Electromaker Swag and a $50 Amazon gift voucher!

2. Lorawan Soil Moisture Sensor

Second place goes to Makerfabs01 for their custom LoRa and RP2040-based soil moisture module. The system comes together as a standalone, battery powered LoRaWAN module that works with The Things Network.

Our judges loved how this project brings together several ideas into one compact and well designed PCB module. They were also impressed with the documentation, which didn't only explain the project, but went into the design and part choice logic throughout. It was interesting to see the advantages and disadvantages of possible approaches, and how those decisions affected the final build.

3. Esp32 Bluetooth Low Energy Midi Footswitch

This month's third prize goes to Mexbeb with their Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI stompbox. There are so many words in that previous sentence to get excited about!

In short, it's a foot pedal sending MIDI CC signals, and various banks allow for many possible MIDI triggers. It also includes an extra input for an optional expression pedal. The real kicker here is the BLE implementation. There aren't many wireless stompboxes out there, and this is a wonderful, functional proof of concept.

Second and Third place wins a big bag of Nordic and Electromaker Swag, including an nrf52840 BLE dongle for creating custom Bluetooth Low Energy projects!

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!