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Arduino Projects and Maker Highlights from Open Sauce 2026
2026-08-06 | By Zach Hipps
Arduino invited me to Open Sauce this year, and I made it my mission to find as many projects as I could that used Arduino in one way or another, but I could not go empty-handed. I had to bring a couple of projects that I built myself, including my automatic resistor analyzer. Powered by an Arduino Uno Q, it lets you place a through-hole resistor under a microscope and automatically calculates its value. The problem was that Open Sauce is attended by tens of thousands of people who want a hands-on experience, and the prototype just was not ready for prime time. I spent the days leading up to the event designing an enclosure that combines laser-cut acrylic with 3D-printed parts. I think it ended up looking like a custom PC case, and because I cannot help myself when it comes to overengineering, I added some addressable LEDs. Along with a custom, freshly printed, 3D-printed carrying case for my hex tile PCB board game, I packed up my projects and gear and flew out to San Francisco.
After a plane delay set me back a full day, I finally made it to the event and set up my projects at the DigiKey booth. The energy was bananas. Arduino had over 5,500 people come through their tent to solder components onto an event badge PCB to make an interactive game, and it was awesome seeing so many people, especially kids, getting into soldering. Both the Arduino and DigiKey booths were packed the entire time. While showing off the resistor analyzer and hex tile game, I got to tell makers about the Dream Lab Challenge hosted by Arduino and DigiKey. The contest challenges makers to build something creative using an Arduino Uno Q, document it on Maker.io, and submit a form. Four winners will receive $5,000 worth of Dream Lab equipment. Having seen the prize list, I am actually a little jealous that I cannot enter it myself.
Armed with a bag full of Arduino Uno Q boards I was tasked to give away by Arduino, I walked the floor to meet other makers. I caught up with Matt, who builds mobile robots around his house. I handed him an Uno Q, which features an STM microcontroller alongside a microprocessor running full Linux, perfect for developing in Python or C++. I also met Hack Club team members who built a gimbal-controlled 3-D printed maze mounted on a platform with servos controlling tilt and other features as part of a three-day hackathon. Next, I spoke with a creator who gutted an old 1970s Polaroid Camera and replaced the internals with his own custom electronics to automatically upload photos he has taken to Instagram using their API, and then print a physical thermal receipt with a QR code that links to the post. I also chatted with a maker who used an Arduino Nano and LED strips to create a giant, glowing LEGO minifigure lightsaber, and he had another project powered by an Arduino Uno to control a robotic arm he built for a class project. However, the project that brought out the giddy child in me was built by a maker named Carson. He brought an eighth-scale backyard train set that he designed, laser-cut, and welded himself. To avoid using a phone app, he coded an Arduino to convert signals from an RC transmitter into DCC (Digital Command Control) decoder command packets for light and sound functions. The engine features four 350-watt motors powered by massive batteries, and it is strong enough to pull a train of twenty cars with ten people riding along. Of course I took a ride.
Before the event ended, I bumped into a maker named Sharad who was troubleshooting a moving trash can designed to catch garbage on the fly. He was running into brownout issues and overheating on his board. I ran over to the Arduino booth to grab him a fresh Arduino Uno R4 board. We checked his setup for shorts using a multimeter. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it back up and running during the event. Knowing when to set a project aside and come back with a fresh set of eyes is just part of the process, and I hope the new board helped him get it running back home.
Open Sauce was an incredible, albeit slightly overwhelming, experience. It was nearly impossible to check out all the cool projects. If you have an Arduino Uno Q project bouncing around in your head, do not let it sit on paper. Check out the link for the Arduino Dream Lab Challenge, grab a board, and get building. My name is Zach, and I am the Byte Sized Engineer. Huge thanks to Arduino for supporting the maker community and sending me out to the event. Go build something cool, and I will see you next time.
