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Design by CopperPilot Team

Walkie-Talkie Hat Tutorial

Build a walkie-talkie hat for TinyCore with CopperPilot

Walkie-Talkie Hat Tutorial

Learn how to build a walkie-talkie hat for TinyCore, an ESP32-powered development board.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use CopperPilot to ideate, design, and validate hardware
using the ESP-NOW protocol with a microphone and speakerphone.

Overview

TinyCore is an impressive ESP32-powered development board with a wealth of built-in features.
In this project, we’ll create a walkie-talkie hat that utilizes the ESP-NOW protocol for
wireless communication, requiring a microphone and speakerphone.

What You’ll Learn

  • How to use CopperPilot to ideate and design hardware projects
  • Component selection and sourcing from KiCad libraries
  • Wiring up analog microphones and speakers with amplifiers
  • Schematic design and PCB layout with CopperPilot
  • Design review and validation of your PCB
  • Auto-routing and manual routing techniques

Project Steps

  1. Ideation: CopperPilot helps you start ideating on the project and lays out
    components on a template PCB.
  2. Component Selection: CopperPilot searches through KiCad to locate components,
    proposing options including a straightforward setup with an analog mic, speaker, and amplifier.
  3. Schematic Design: Components are sourced from KiCad and integrated into the
    schematic, with symbols inserted and updated in both the schematic and PCB views.
  4. Wiring: CopperPilot consults datasheets to figure out wiring specifics for
    the microphone and speaker, connecting them with the necessary support components like resistors
    and bootstrap capacitors.
  5. PCB Layout: Components are positioned on the PCB, and routing is performed
    using a mix of auto-routing and manual routing techniques.
  6. Design Review: CopperPilot performs a design review, identifying and helping
    fix issues such as unwired input/output paths.

Key Components

  • Analog microphone
  • Speaker
  • Amplifier
  • Support components (resistors, bootstrap capacitors)

This tutorial demonstrates the complete workflow of ideating, designing, and validating hardware
with CopperPilot, from initial concept to a finished PCB design ready for manufacturing.

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