esp32 News - Page 2 of 120 - CNX Software

May 30, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

PCMFlow722 library enables two-way real-time HD voice over ESP-NOW with G.722 audio codec

Tanaka Masayuki’s PCMFlow722 library enables (half-duplex) two-way real-time HD voice over ESP-NOW on ESP32 boards with a speaker and a microphone, effectively transforming them into walkie-talkies. The library implements a G.722 wideband codec add-on for PCMFlow lightweight audio decode and PCM flow library for Arduino, which already supports uncompressed PCM, MP3, and FLAC audio codecs. PCM and FLAC take too much bandwidth over ESP-NOW, and MP3 is not suitable for real-time audio, so the legacy G.722 audio codec was selected instead. The keyword here is “HD voice,” since two-way audio over ESP-NOW was previously implemented in projects such as Atomic14’s esp32-walkie-talkie (5 years ago) and, more recently, the well-documented Adafruit ESP-NOW Walkie-Talkie project, but these typically rely on lower-quality G.711 audio or compressed audio. The PCMFlowG722 library and G.722 codec enable HD voice with “7 kHz audio at 16 kHz sampling using the same 64 kbps wire budget as G.711 […]

May 28, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Gesture HW1 is a 10-DOF ESP32-S3 robotic hand with high-dexterity manipulation (Crowdfunding)

Gesture HW1 — A 10 DOF Robotic Hand and Wrist

The HW1 by Gesture Platforms is a 10-degree-of-freedom (DOF) high-dexterity robotic hand and wrist built around an ESP32-S3 wireless MCU. It’s primarily designed for researchers, educators, and hobbyists; it bridges the gap between basic DIY robotic hands and expensive industrial models. The device weighs just around 500 grams but can handle a 1kg dynamic load and a 3kg static load. It communicates via USB-C or Bluetooth 5.0 and comes with a companion desktop app as well as Python and C++ SDKs for custom development. Gesture HW1 specifications: Microcontroller – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 microprocessor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Degrees of Freedom (active) – 10 DOF Finger Flexion – 0° – 90° (at each joint) Finger Adduction/Abduction – -10° – 40° Thumb Flexion/Extension – 0° – 120° Thumb Adduction/Abduction – 20° – 90° Thumb Distal Flexion – 0° – 90° Wrist Flexion/Extension – -50° – 50° Wrist […]

May 27, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

LichtBit’s open-source ESP32 Art-Net/sACN NeoPixels controller can drive up to 2,720 RGB LEDs

Untitled Artnet sACN LED Strip Pixel Controller 16 universe

Dutch hardware designer LichtBit has launched a fully open-source ESP32-based Art-Net/sACN NeoPixels LED strip controller designed for large-scale lighting installations and custom stage design. Built around an ESP32, the hardware routes lighting data over wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi to manage up to 16 universes of addressable LEDs across 4 dedicated outputs. We have previously written about various NeoPixel LED controllers, such as the xcrhom WLED Type-C, the Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick, the full-featured Adafruit Sparkle Motion, and others, which are designed for portable lighting setups and standalone animations. But LichtBit’s board targets the professional event industry by bridging the gap between commercial live-performance software (such as Resolume Arena, MadMapper, or xLights) and low-cost digital LED strips. LichtBit’s Art-Net and sACN LED controller specifications: Development Board – Generic ESP32 based developmt board with ESP32-WROOM-32 MCU Display – 128×32 I2C OLED display for real-time device configurations, status, and IP mapping Network 10/100Mbps Ethernet via WIZnet W5500 […]

May 26, 2026May 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

PolyCast5 – An ESP32-C5 multi-tool remote with dual-band WiFi 6, BLE, ESP-NOW, LoRa, and Infrared Tx/Rx (Crowdfunding)

PolyCast5 is a portable, hackable ESP32-C5-based multi-tool remote to control devices through five different core wireless technologies: WiFi 6, Bluetooth LE, ESP-NOW, LoRa, and infrared Tx/Rx. The all-in-one controller can be used for cybersecurity work, a standard IR learning remote control, a voice-enabled password manager, a robotic arm controller, an AI keyboard using the built-in microphone and Bluetooth connectivity, a long-range LoRa remote control, DIY electronics projects through a 4-pin GPIO header, and more. PolyCast5 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C5-WROOM-1 SoC – ESP32-C5 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ 40 MHz acting as the main processor for power-sensitive applications Memory – 384 KB SRAM on-chip, 8MB PSRAM Storage – 320 KB ROM Wireless Connectivity Dual-band (2.4GHz/5 GHz) 802.11ax WiFi 6, with 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 standard fallback Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (LE) 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee 3.0 and Thread 1.3 (note: support not […]

May 26, 2026May 27, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ESPHome 2026.5.0 released with new ESPHome Device Builder (beta), performance/memory optimizations

ESPHome 2026.5.0 has just been released with the beta version of the new ESPHome Device Builder web app that replaces the legacy in-tree dashboard with a real configuration editor, a firmware job queue, multi-select bulk actions, labels and areas, out-of-sync detection, cross-config search, distributed builds, and a proper settings UI. The firmware itself gains optimizations of the main loop, scheduler, and task watchdog to lower CPU and power usage on supported platforms, and a range of other memory/performance optimizations across the API, audio, and helper hot paths. The audio decoder pipeline has been improved and features new microMP3, microWAV, and microFLAC streaming libraries. OTA has also been enhanced with partition-table and bootloader updates, web-server OTA, and soft-brick recovery, and ESP32 MCUs are now handled by up to the ESP-IDF v6.0.1 framework natively, while Zigbee support has been expanded to ESP32 H2 and ESP32-C6, among other features. Key features of the […]

May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Monitor live traffic from V2X signals with V2X2MAP open-source Android app and an ESP32-C5 development board

Yesterday, I wrote about the OpenTrafficMap ESP32-C5 C-ITS receiver board to monitor and potentially optimize traffic using 802.11p / ITS-G5 V2X communication over 5.9 GHz WiFi 6, and map all detected nodes on the OpenTrafficMap website. Peter Holzhauser (Pit711) forked the ESP32-C5 C-ITS receiver firmware to port it to the Waveshare ESP32-C5-WIFI6-KIT development board and added BLE streaming. He also designed the V2X2MAP open-source Android app to interface with the board (since 5GHz WiFi on phones can’t usually handle 802.11p), and a Windows installer to flash the firmware. While the ESP32-C5 C-ITS receiver board integrates an ESP32-C5-WROOM-1 module, a GPS module, and an Ethernet port with PoE, the V2X2MAP project leverages any recent Android smartphone with a USB OTG port and GPS, so you can simply connect most ESP32-C5 boards to monitor live traffic at proximity (a few hundred meters to several kilometers) on your phone including traffic lights, public […]

May 24, 2026May 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OpenTrafficMap ESP32-C5 C-ITS receiver board can help improve traffic efficiency using 802.11p V2X communication

The ESP32-C5 C-ITS receiver project is an open-source hardware board that gathers data over 802.11p V2X communication from nearby traffic lights, public transportation (buses, trams…), trucks, cars, motorcycles, and even pedestrians to display the results on online maps. It works using the ITS-G5 protocol built on top of 802.11p V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), which requires a 5.9 GHz WiFi radio, and makes the ESP32-C5 an ideal candidate. The standard requires a C-ITS Station (ITS-S) found in vehicles (on-board units – OBU) or roadside units (RSU) handling both transmission and reception, and a receiver to handle incoming wireless signals, decode C-ITS (Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems) messages, and feed the data into online maps like OpenTrafficMap (See screenshot below). ESP32-C5 C-ITX receiver specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C5-WROOM-1 (ESP32-C5-WROOM-1-N16R8 or ESP32-C5-WROOM-1-N8R8) SoC – ESP32-C5 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ 40 MHz acting as the main processor for […]

May 22, 2026May 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ESP32-S31 development boards unveiled for IoT, Smart Audio, and HMI applications

Two ESP32-S31 development boards are currently in the works, and the documentation is already available. The ESP32-S31 was unveiled last March, and it’s the most feature-rich ESP32 wireless microcontroller so far with two RISC-V cores, Gigabit Ethernet, 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 connectivity, LCD and camera interfaces, and more. The ESP32-S31-Function-CoreBoard-1 development board is based on the ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 wireless module, and offers Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 OTG, and onboard audio peripherals for connected IoT applications. The ESP32-S31-Korvo-1 is a multimedia-focused development board based on the same ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 module, but featuring a dual-microphone array for speech recognition and near/far-field wake-up, two speaker connectors, a 4.3-inch LCD, a 3MP camera module, and a microSD card slot. It targets low-cost, low-power, connected audio/video and HMI applications. ESP32-S31-Function-CoreBoard-1 development board Specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 SoC – ESP32-S31NRV16 CPU RISC-V HP (High-performance) RV32IMAFCP CPU @ 320 MHz with FPU, SIMD, etc. RISC-V […]