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Product Overview

Cyber Fidget: a machined-aluminum case with a small glowing screen showing a retro sunset, a slider on the left and six buttons below the screen

A machined-aluminum, pocket-sized gadget built for play, tinkering, and experimentation. Designed and machined in Michigan.

After this page you will know what Cyber Fidget is, what's inside it, what comes in the kit, and where to go next.

Assembly guide Build your first app

  • Pocket-sized
  • Screen, buttons and a slider
  • Lights and sound
  • Wi-Fi + Bluetooth
  • Screws together, no soldering
  • Open source

What is Cyber Fidget?

Cyber Fidget is two things at once:

  • A Cyber Fidget held in a hand, playing a brick-breaking game on its screen

    1. An electronic fidget toy

    Beyond a spinner or clicker: something with a screen, buttons, LEDs, and sound that's fun to hold and play with.

  • The Cyber Fidget mainboard on its own: the screen above it on a ribbon cable, the microSD slot, the USB-C port, the battery connector and the power switch

    2. An approachable dev board

    A development board with everything already included: display, buttons, slider, speaker, mic, accelerometer, LEDs, SD card, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

It's meant to feel good in your hands, be easy to use without knowing how it works, and be fully hackable when you're ready to dig in.

What's inside

The face of Cyber Fidget: the screen at the top, the slider on the left, six buttons in the middle, two light windows and the speaker holes on the right
Size 2.2 x 1.6 x 0.8 in (55.3 x 41.3 x 19.6 mm)
Weight ~68 g (varies by backplate)
MCU ESP32-PICO-MINI-02 (Wi-Fi + Bluetooth)
Display 0.96" 128x64 monochrome OLED
Controls 6 buttons + analog slider
Audio Speaker + MEMS microphone
LEDs 4x RGBW (3 front, 1 back)
Storage microSD card
Power 400 mAh LiPo, USB-C charging
Body Precision-machined aluminum

The MCU (microcontroller) is the small computer that runs your apps. For the full component list with part numbers, see Hardware Specs.

What you can do with it

  • The emulator playing a catch game: a paddle on the right edge catches dots flying across from the left

    Play

    The firmware ships with 29+ built-in apps: games, screensavers, tools, and examples.

    Built-in apps

  • The studio's 2D editor with a ball sprite on the canvas, the drawing tools on the left and the live preview on the right

    Draw and animate

    Draw sprites (small pictures for characters and objects) and animate them in the studio on cyberfidget.com.

    Studio overview

  • The emulator panel in the studio running a first app that shows Hello on the screen, with the REBUILD button below it

    Make your own apps

    Write apps in your browser and watch them run in the emulator (an on-screen copy of the device), then install them on your Cyber Fidget.

    Build your first app

  • The emulator running an app that draws a wireframe 3D model on the screen

    Build 3D models

    Build wireframe models from points and lines in the studio, then show them in your apps.

    3D models

It also records voice notes to the memory card, pairs with your phone through the Phone Companion, and serves a Web Portal you can open in a browser to manage music files.

What's in the kit

The kit laid out on a white table: the aluminum case front and two backplates, six buttons and the slider, screws, a red color filter, the screen retainer, the mainboard with its screen, and the battery

Cyber Fidget primarily ships as a self-assembly kit -- no soldering, just screws. The kit includes:

  • Machined aluminum chassis (front and back)
  • Assembled PCB with all components pre-soldered
  • Buttons, slider, and hardware
  • Screws and fasteners
  • Interchangeable screen color filters

Assembly takes about 15 minutes. See the Assembly Guide for step-by-step instructions with photos.

Made for tinkerers

Three Cyber Fidgets in a row, their screens glowing through dark, red and teal color filters

Every screw and part is accessible. The enclosure is built to be opened, explored, and modified:

  • Re-color it -- swap screen colors (blue, red, teal, and more)
  • Redesign it -- 3D print your own backplate or case modifications
  • Hack it -- make your own apps in the studio, or change the firmware source code itself
  • Learn from it -- ideal for learning how to code, embedded systems, sensors, and human-machine interfaces

More in Accessories.

Who it's for

  • Players and fidgeters

    You don't need to know how it works to enjoy it. Turn it on and pick a game or screensaver from the menu.

    Built-in apps

  • New coders and game makers

    Write apps in your browser with nothing to install, and see them run straight away.

    Make a game, step by step

  • Teachers and families

    The browser path needs no installs and no device. A teacher guide is in development.

    Explore what it can do

  • Makers and firmware developers

    The firmware and these docs are open source, and the hardware is documented down to the pins.

    Open source | Pinout

Software

The firmware ships with 29+ built-in apps (games, screensavers, tools, examples). See Apps for the catalog.

Make your own apps in the studio in your browser. Build your first app takes you from a blank template to an app running in the emulator and on your Cyber Fidget. Make a game, step by step builds a paddle game with lights, sound and a score.

Advanced: firmware development

Studio apps do not need this route. To change the firmware or add built-in apps, clone the firmware repo and use VS Code with PlatformIO (via pioarduino), the tools that build and install the firmware. See Firmware development for setup. The hardware is designed to support CircuitPython, but that support is untested.

See also