Monthly Wrap-Up for April 2026： Driving Innovation in Embedded AI, Open-Source Hardware & Maker Projects
Hey community,
Boost your knowledge with 3 in-depth tech exploration offering expert insight, 6 product and service showcases that will leave you in awe. Plus, prepare for 6 latest Seeed news and event highlights. Dive into the vibrant open-source community with 2 inspiring projects. Let’s jump right in!
📚 I. In-depth Feature & Tech Exploration
01. RealSense 3D Segmentation
This demo showcases a RealSense-based 3D segmentation pipeline that leverages depth cameras and OpenCV to reconstruct point clouds and detect objects in 3D space, providing key spatial information such as object position, size, and orientation for robotic perception and grasping tasks. Check Out today.
02.Getting Started with XIAO ePaper Display EE05
Powered by XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus, the display board EE05 is a compact ePaper driver board supporting 24-Pin ePaper displays. It features a JST 2.0 mm battery connector with a power switch, built-in battery level detection circuitry, and comes with one reset button and three user-programmable buttons. Well-suited for low-power ePaper projects such as digital signage, electronic labels, and portable information boards.
This wiki explains how to use the BSP source package to build and flash the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Thor Developer Kit from an Ubuntu host. Check out today.
📰 II. Product & Service Showcases
Stay up-to-date with the latest product releases from Seeed. Discover new tools, platforms, and services designed to streamline your workflow and accelerate innovation in your projects.
01. Introducing the reBot Arm B601: A Fully Open-Source Robotic Arm Built for Physical AI
A major leap for accessible physical AI! Community-driven reBot Arm B601 delivers high precision performance, native ROS compatibility, and full documentation—ideal for robotics research, development and education. Find out more here.
02. ESP32-S31 Released: XIAO Series Facing Key Chip Selection
Espressif’s new ESP32-S31 debuts and sparks embedded community excitement. We’re deciding the XIAO series’ next step: opt for the cutting-edge S31 with upgraded RISC-V, Wi‑Fi 6 and high-bandwidth Edge AI capability, or stay with the mature, ecosystem-rich ESP32-S3 for reliable and fast development. We value practical developer needs over pure hardware specs. Read more.
03. Revolutionizing STEM Education and Rapid Prototyping with Micro-Drones
Kudos to Max Imagination for co-creating ESP-FLY. Powered by XIAO ESP32‑S3 and built on open-source ESP-Drone, it serves as a lightweight, expandable robotics platform for flight control, sensor fusion and IoT development. Compatible with ESP-IDF and professional firmware, it bridges coding theory and hands-on hardware practice. Discover More.
04. 1.28″ Round Touch Screen: Perfect Match for XIAO Series
This 1.28-inch round 240×240 touch screen is tailor-made for Seeed Studio XIAO. It integrates RTC, LiPo charging and TF card support on one board with plug-and-play use. Fully packed with display, interaction, storage and power functions, it needs no extra wiring, enabling faster development for wearables, smart panels and IoT dashboards. Read more.
05.Where Sight Meets Sound: reCamera + reSpeaker Spatial Audio Tracking Demo
Exploring the fusion of visual AI and spatial audio, we paired the RISC-V reCamera Gimbal with reSpeaker USB Mic Array to build a sound tracking system. reSpeaker detects sound arrival direction via DOA and transmits data over UDP. The reCamera’s Node-RED backend drives its motors to automatically aim the lens at the sound source. This multi-modal hardware integration project will soon release full open-source code and a detailed step-by-step tutorial on GitHub.
06.XIAO nRF52840 Sense Powers Discreet AI Watch Cobalt
Crafted inside a classic Casio F91W watch, Cobalt is a subtle AI voice wearable driven by XIAO nRF52840 Sense. It enables voice transcription and smart actions like messaging, calendar scheduling and alarm setting, supporting BLE connection and offline audio storage. With sophisticated low-power design, audio compression and custom PCB layout, it delivers powerful wearable AI while maintaining an ordinary, minimalist appearance. Read more.
👩💻 III. News & Event Highlights
Get the inside scoop on recent events and news. Gain valuable insights, key takeaways, and highlights from industry experts and thought leaders at the forefront of ML innovation.
01.The Meshtastic Antenna Pairing Guide to Double Your LoRa Range with Seeed Hardware
Meshtastic range relies on proper antenna selection rather than higher power. Seeed’s different devices match dedicated antennas: XIAO Kit uses FPC/rubber duck; T1000-E adopts built-in FPC with 5km range; Wio Tracker fits rubber duck or magnetic antenna; SenseCAP Solar Node pairs with fiberglass antenna for up to 10km coverage.Find out more.
02. From Ideas to Prototypes: TinyML Workshop at HACKFORGE Bootcamp
03.Tiny Boards, Bigger Possibilities: Meet the New XIAO ePaper DIY Kits EE05 & EN05
Our XIAO ePaper family adds two new DIY Kits: EE05 and EN05. Compact 27×52mm boards support 24-pin ePaper screens, extra GPIOs and three user buttons. EN05 features ultra-low power; EE05 offers strong processing, Wi-Fi, SenseCraft HMI and ESPHome support. Both work with Arduino/Platform IO, starting at $16.40. Find out more.
04.Build Your First MeshCore Network Using MeshCore Starter Kit
05.TinyGo v0.41 Is Here: Native Wireless Support for Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3 & S3
TinyGo is a Go compiler for microcontrollers, offering a modern alternative to C/C++ and MicroPython. Its v0.41 adds native Wi-Fi support for XIAO ESP32-C3/S3, with dedicated packages and ready examples. It supports the full XIAO lineup and more Seeed hardware, letting developers build IoT projects easily with pure Go. Find out more.
06.Introducing reSpeaker Flex: The Smart Ear for Robotics and Embedded AI
reSpeaker Flex is a modular 4-mic array voice solution powered by XMOS XVF3800. It integrates full acoustic algorithms for noise reduction, echo cancellation and 5m far-field pickup. Featuring split modular design with circular/linear array options, it supports USB/I2S, works with XIAO, Raspberry Pi and Jetson, ideal for robotics, smart devices and industrial voice AI. Find out more.
🌈 IV. Community Project Spotlight
Celebrate the creativity and ingenuity of our community members with featured projects and ideas in machine learning. From open-source libraries to DIY solutions, there’s no shortage of inspiration to be found among our talented community.
01. Minimal Curved E-Ink Smartwatch with XIAO nRF52840
A lightweight curved e-ink smartwatch is powered by XIAO nRF52840 Sense and a 29-inch flexible e-ink display. It eliminates redundant functions to focus on minimalism, wearing comfort and long battery life with an always legible soft screen. Iterative prototyping and DIY development make it a practical wearable that prioritizes real-world usability over exaggerated hardware specs. Check it out .
02. Tramli: Smart Home Tram Departure Display
Tramli is a compact real-time tram departure display created by Supertoub, powered by the XIAO ESP32-C6. Designed for the front door, it syncs live public transit data and reminds users when to leave for the tram, with urgency prompts for rushing. It supports offline timetables stored in flash to function without Wi-Fi. Equipped with deep sleep mode, RTC wake-up, battery monitoring and a sleek 3D-printed case, this well-polished build is perfectly tailored for everyday commuting. Learn more.
That’s all for today, thank you all for reading through this Monthly Wrap-up in your spare time. (It is indeed a fruitful month!) If you wanna share what projects you’re working on, shoot us a tweet @seeedstudio, let us know on LinkedIn and Discord, or publish your project on our Project Hub on Hackster.
#Notes
If you’re new to this session, here is a brief intro. We have gotten dozens of requests over the years for a Seeed Monthly Newsletter. Although we already have a newsletter for weekly updates, we still need a place to host overall information about what’s happened on a monthly basis. It can offer an efficient and friendly way to get updated for the whole community. And that’s what we expect for our Seeed Monthly Wrap-ups. Instead of putting it as a subscribe-to-read format, we’re publishing them on our blog, so as to keep it as open and accessible as possible for the whole community. For each entry, we will cover awesome projects from the community, campaigns that we are running, new products, IIoT Solutions, and even secret recipes for prototyping and manufacturing.
About Author
