The Arduino-Compatible Winkel Board Packs Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RF and More

If you enjoy working with Arduinos, but would prefer to be able to interact with them wirelessly, the Winkel Board by Mint Technologies may be the solution. Now on Crowd Supply, this $24 board features an ATmega128 MCU and an ESP8266 at its core, allowing for Wi-Fi communication and programming with the Arduino IDE out of the box.

On top of that, the Winkel Board includes an nRF24L01 radio transceiver, Bluetooth connectivity, and even a real-time clock for accurate timekeeping! All of the built-in components use the team’s Smart Opt system, which enables them to be powered down individually if a particular project doesn’t require a given module.

Adding to the impressive list of specs, the Winkel Board has 53 I/O points and 128KB of flash memory, so it could be a great tool for IoT projects. However, one of the Winkel Board’s biggest selling points is its OTA programming fo both the ATmega128 and ESP8266.

With OTA, reprogramming is as simple as pairing the onboard HC-05 Bluetooth module to your PC/laptop and then using the Bluetooth’s serial COM port to upload the new program.

Similarly, you can program the ESP-12E over Wi-Fi. When you power the board on, the Wi-Fi module automatically goes into configuration mode, allowing you to connect the ESP module to your Wi-Fi network and retrieve an IP address assignment. You can then send code to the module from any connected device.

Interested? Check out Mint Technologies’ Crowd Supply campaign!