CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 20, 2026April 19, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Loona Deskmate – An iPhone-powered AI desktop companion that doubles as a 165W GaN charging station (Crowdfunding)

LOONA DeskMate An iPhone Powered AI Desk Robot

Loona Deskmate is a screen-aware AI desktop companion for iPhone designed to act as a hands-free co-worker that understands your workflow, responds conversationally, and executes tasks directly across your apps. Instead of packing an expensive internal SoC and display into the robot, the Deskmate relies on a docked iPhone to act as its “brain” and face, while the base serves as a 165W GaN desktop charging station. It features real-time voice interaction (~0.5s response time), screen awareness, and a 3-DOF motorized head for lifelike motion and responsive behavior. The system relies on a smartphone (iPhone 12+) for computing and uses its camera and sensors for visual and contextual input. The base integrates a 165W GaN power hub with multiple ports (3× USB-C + 1× USB-A), allowing it to function as a desk charging station. Overall, the hardware combines a robotic form factor with a practical docking and power solution designed […]

April 19, 2026April 19, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

BeagleConnect Zepto – A “$1 computer” based on TI MSPM0L1117 Cortex-M0+ MCU

BeagleBoard.org Foundation’s BeagleConnect Zepto “$1 computer” is an upcoming open-source hardware board powered by Texas Instruments MSPM0L117 Cortex-M0+ MCU, part of the MSPM0 family introduced in 2023. It’s a tiny board with mikroBus-compatible headers, a TAG-CONNECT JTAG connector, two Qwiic connectors for expansion (or one Qwiic connector + USB-C depending on the variant), Boot and Reset buttons, and an RGB LED. BeagleConnect Zepto specifications: MCU – Texas Instruments MSPM0L117 CPU – 32MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ core Memory – 16KB SRAM Storage – 128KB dual-bank flash Package – QFN32 (5×5 mm) USB – Optional USB-C port for power (multiplexed with one of the Qwicc JST connectors) Expansion mikroBUS headers supporting a choice of about 2,000 ClickE add-on boards; one of the sides is compatible with some Raspberry Pi HATs (note limited to 12 pins) Up to 2x Qwicc connectors with full Grove function: I2C, UART, ADC, GPIO Debugging – 8-pin TAG-CONNECT JTAG […]

Pironman 5 Pro Max Review – A Raspberry Pi 5 Tower PC case with integrated video and audio capabilities, optional UPS kit

SunFounder has sent us a sample of the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC case for Raspberry Pi 5 for review alongside a PiPower 5 UPS board. The “Pro Max” builds upon the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed last year, but adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, two speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The PiPower 5 is a UPS HAT designed for Raspberry Pi Zero/Model B single board computers, and not directly compatible with the Pironman cases, but we’ll still try to use it. I’ll start this review with an unboxing of the Pironman 5 Pro Max and PiPower 5 packages, followed by an assembly guide for the Pironman 5 Pro Max, a test of the new features (display, camera, audio interaction), and finally, I’ll have a quick test of the UPS HAT with the Raspberry Pi 5 enclosure. Unboxing of Pironman […]

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Boardcon Tiny1126B is a smaller and lighter Rockchip RV1126B system-on-module, yet with more I/Os

Boardcon Tiny1126B shrinks the company’s MINI1126B-P Rockchip RV1126B system-on-module (SoM) from 38x30mm to 34x30mm, targeting even more compact AI vision systems such as smart cameras, smart door locks, inspection cameras, cleaning/logistics robots, DMS (Driver Monitoring Systems), BSD (Blind Spot Detection) solutions, and smart displays. Despite its smaller size, the Tiny1126B features two 0.4mm pitch 100-pin connectors, instead of two 0.5mm pitch 80-pin connectors for its predecessors, offering even more I/Os. It’s notably gaining a USB 3.0 DRD (Dual-Role Device) interface, an extra SDMMC interface, one additional SPI and I2C interfaces, Fast Ethernet, and more. The rest of the specifications, including memory capacity (up to 4GB LPDDR5) and storage (up to 256GB eMMC flash), remain the same. Boardcon Tiny1126B system-on-module Boardcon Tiny1126B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RV1126B CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 up to 1.6 GHz with 32KB L1 I-Cache and 32KB L1 D-Cache, unified 512KB L2 Cache GPU – 2D […]

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

WiQwiic-32 – A compact USB-C IoT board with eight Qwiic connectors (Crowdfunding)

Hack The Board’s WiQwiic-32 is a small USB-C IoT development board based on an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and equipped with a 1.14-inch LCD and eight Qwiic ports for easy prototyping with compatible modules. It also features a microphone and a buzzer for audio interaction, four buttons, two RGB LEDs, and a power LED. There aren’t any through-holes for GPIO pins, so expansion is only possible through the Qwiic connectors, although you can always add a Qwiic to header converter module if you ever need breadboard-compatible GPIO headers. WiQwiic-32 specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM Storage – TBD Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Antenna – PCB antenna Display – 1.14-inch TFT display Audio On-board buzzer Built-in microphone for voice and sound detection USB […]

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

reBot Arm B601-DM – An open-source 6+1 DoF robotic arm for embodied AI and teleoperation applications

Seeed Studio reBot Arm B601-DM is a fully open-source 6-axis robotic arm (plus a parallel gripper) designed to lower the barrier to entry for embodied AI learning and teleoperation. Built around high-performance Damiao actuators, the arm offers up to 767mm of reach, a 1.5kg payload capacity, and high-precision 0.2mm repeatability. Designed for researchers and robotics developers, the B601-DM is compatible out of the box with major AI and robotics frameworks, including ROS 1/2, Hugging Face’s LeRobot, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, and Pinocchio. Seeed Studio reBot Arm B601-DM specifications: Communication – CAN bus @ 1Mbps) and UART @ 921600bps Degrees of Freedom (DOF) – 6-axis arm + 1 parallel gripper Motors / Actuators – 7x Damiao motors 4x DAMIAO 4310 (DM-J4310-2EC) 3x DAMIAO 4340P (DM-J4340P-2EC) high-torque motors Payload – 1.5kg (without gripper, at recommended 70% reach) Reach – 767mm (with gripper), 607mm (without gripper) Repeatability – < 0.2 mm Joint torque and […]

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Intel Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” processor family launched for entry-level laptops and Edge AI systems

After several leaks, the Intel Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” entry-level processor family is now official. Intel describes it as the first “hybrid AI-ready Core Series processor”. As expected, the “Computer & CPU tile” comes with up to six cores (2x P cores + 4x LPE cores), up to 2-core Intel Xe 3 graphics, up to 40 TOPS of combined AI performance, and LPDDR5x/DDR5 memory interfaces. The “Platform controller tile” integrates six PCIe Gen4 lanes, two Thunderbolt 4 interfaces, two USB 3.2 and eight USB 2.0 interfaces, as well as WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity. The Computer & GPU tile is manufactured using an Intel 18A process, while the Platform controller tile is manufactured with another “External” process (TSMC?). Single-channel memory is confirmed, and it looks like eMMC flash will be replaced with UFS 3.0 memory for edge systems with soldered-on memory, although many systems will make use of […]

April 16, 2026April 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Conclusive Engineering KSTR-SAMA5D27 is an ultra-compact, low-power SBC based on Microchip SAMA5D27 SiP

Conclusive Engineering KSTR-SAMA5D27 is an ultra-compact (70x50mm) single board computer (SBC) powered by a Microchip SAMA5D27 Arm Cortex-A5 processor microprocessor clocked at 500 MHz paired with 256MB LPDDR2 (system-in-package). The board also features a microSD card slot and EEPROM for storage/configuration, Fast Ethernet, WiFi 4, and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, a USB-C port, two GPIO headers, and supports USB and battery power. It’s designed for IoT devices, smart systems, and edge computing applications. Conclusive Engineering KSTR-SAMA5D27 specifications: SiP – Microchip SAMA5D27 CPU – Arm Cortex-A5 microprocessor @ 500 MHz System Memory – 256 MB LPDDR2 Storage MicroSD card slot 4KB EEPROM Networking 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 jack 2.4 GHz WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 USB 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type-C connector 1x USB 2.0 Host on expansion header Expansion 34-pin and 30-pin connectors 2x Flexcom (configurable: I2C, SPI, UART) I2C 6-channel ADC with Vref 10-bit ISC (Image Sensor Controller), 10-bit […]