3 ambitious ESP32 projects to inspire you this weekend (July 31 - Aug 2)

Published Jul 30, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Tim has been covering technology for almost 20 years, in that time spanning a broad range of topics from security to product reviews. He is especially focused on the Apple ecosystem, productivity, and consumer advice. Over the years Tim has written thousands of articles, reviews, and round-ups in addition to producing video content and original photography. A graduate of journalism, he found his footing as a freelancer with a laptop and loves how he is able to work from practically anywhere. Now a Senior Editor for iPhone, Mac, and Smart Home at How-To Geek, Tim still loves to write. He can also be found crafting round-ups and productivity posts for the Zapier blog. Earlier in his career Tim spent nearly a decade as a writer and eventually Apple section editor for MakeUseOf. Tim currently lives in Brisbane, Australia. Outside of work he loves to hike and work out, play video games, and spend quality time with his wonderful partner and two cats Inka and Roger. Microcontrollers like the ESP32 have helped to democratize hobby engineering, with cheap hardware and accessible projects. Some of these builds can feel quite out of reach, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop to admire them and maybe take inspiration for future ideas. Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C6 The Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C6 is the perfect microcontroller for your next smart home project. The built-in Zigbee and Thread radios compliments Matter support. Plus, with Wi-Fi 6, it'll easily connect to modern wireless networks. The Halcyon Dawn Spaceship Simulator A control interface for a game that you’ll never play The Halcyon Dawn Spaceship Simulator is quite possibly the wildest ESP32 project I’ve ever seen, for multiple reasons. You only need to take a look at this thing to realize that it’s something special. In a post on Reddit, project author u/triggur (of Mad Goat Labs) describes the project as a labor of love that incorporates 152 physical controls, six screens, and 164,000 lines of code. In addition to the contraption, the author also created the game that goes along with it. Described as a work of fan-fiction set in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War sci-fi universe, the game itself will never be released. If you want to learn more, there’s a deep-dive into the game that you can fully explore, but the author’s refusal to release comes down to the fact that “nobody else has the expensive simulator frame it requires,” and a "don't make money off my stuff" rule set by the original series author. What has been released is Enigma, the framework used to build the physical control system on which the game relies. These are USB human interface device (HID) boards for switches, rotary encoders, analog inputs, and addressable LEDs. They include support for sound, haptics, and displays, with detailed documentation available. To quote the project author, the panels used for the game are “deliberately generic (some panels have up to 3 Enigma boards inside them) rather than purpose-built so that I can use them on future projects, including escape room puzzles.” OomWoo open-source robot vacuum This project sucks OomWoo is an open-source robot vacuum that you can build yourself, with an ESP32 microcontroller making up one small part in the full build. The final bill of materials is estimated to cost around $200 in parts, plus the price of a Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB). The finished project should offer similar performance to a mid-range robot priced around the $600 mark, with mopping and premium obstacle detection. While that’s around half the price of buying a retail unit, you’re not building this just to save a few hundred dollars on a robot vacuum. This is a journey on which you embark to overcome a challenge and fully embrace the open-source alternative to a market dominated by pricey proprietary options. Build instructions are expected to arrive later in 2026, with the project still under active development. The idea is to walk away with a high-quality home appliance that integrates with Home Assistant, uses 3D-printed parts, and doesn’t rely on the cloud. If you can’t wait that long, consider installing Valetudo on an existing retail robot. DIY thermal imaging camera Insulate your house and spot leaks If you want a thermal imaging camera badly enough, there are lots of options available to you. One of those is to build one yourself, and that’s exactly what Circuit Digest shows you how to do in this involved guide. You’ll build a camera capable of measuring a temperature range from -40ºC to 300ºC with adjustable refresh rate, 10 color palettes, and five interpolation modes. Powered by an ESP32, the finished camera uses a 3D-printed chassis, can save images to an SD card, has a built-in battery and charging circuitry, and makes use of a proper graphical interface and physical controls. The project’s author has shared PCB schematics (which will require ordering) and STL files (to print at home) on the GitHub repository. A thermal imaging camera can be fun to play with, particularly since they give you a numerical reading of the measured temperature in addition to colors on a screen. You can use them to look for hot and cold spots to better insulate your home, and they even have utility in spotting leaks within the walls which cause visible temperature variations. Alternatively, there are simpler builds available like this Makerfabs version. Looking for some projects you can start working on right now? Check out last week’s collection of ESP32 kitchen projects.