Lifecycle
Badge ecosystems keep moving after handout: apps, hexpansions, SAOs, antennas, cases, repair parts, firmware updates, and post-event hardware experiments.
The 2021 badge combined ESP32, 240x240 LCD, Wi-Fi, NeoPixels, six buttons, buzzer, and USB or external battery power.
SourceThe V3j BOM identifies the badge core as ESP32_WROOM32_SKINNY with CH340C USB serial, AP2112 regulation, MCP73831 charging, power switching, and USB connector hardware.
SourceRob Rehrig describes the 0xB badge as an ESP32-based design in an NES-controller and circus-ticket form factor.
SourceHackaday.io and the repository README document an ESP32-compatible badge architecture with capacitive touch-wheel input, center button, TFT display, buzzer, LEDs, and LiPo power context.
SourceThe README documents an ESP32-C3-WROOM-02-N4 badge core with eighteen NeoPixel RGB LEDs and five attendee-facing buttons.
SourceThe CHCon 2025 badge used an ESP32-C3 with mounted OLED screen on a custom pukeko-themed circuit board.
SourceThe HOPE wiki documents an ESP32-C3 badge core with 16 WS2812-class RGB LEDs and attendee-facing light-pattern controls.
SourceThe firmware README documents an ESP32-C3 RISC-V MCU, Adafruit ST7789 240x240 TFT, twelve WS2812B LEDs, passive buzzer, and four navigation buttons.
SourceThe commit-pinned BOM identifies the ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4, buttons, red and blue LEDs, switch, display/driver footprints, six-pin SAO connector, 3.3 V regulator, and three 1×AA battery-holder footprints. It does not establish final population, battery wiring, or uniform delivered hardware.
SourceElectronic Cats documents an ESP32-C6 badge platform with RFM95 LoRa radio, OLED display, NeoPixel LEDs, USB, buzzer, KiCad files, and 3D assets.
SourceBadge Pirates identifies the central controller as an Espressif ESP32-S2 WROOM with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for the badge's IoT behavior.
SourceThe bPod repository and update page document an ESP32-S2 badge with ST7735 colour screen, capacitive touch controls, USB-C, LEDs, SAO connector, flash, and PSRAM-related hardware files.
SourceThe hardware docs document ESP32-S3 WROOM-2, a 1.9-inch ER-TFT019-1 display, SK6812MINI RGB LEDs, joystick/buttons, GPIO mapping, schematic v11, and STEP mechanical model references.
SourceThe CC13 KiCad archive comments identify an ESP32-S3 WROOM N16-class badge core with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth LE context.
SourceThe CactusCon-12 CAD archive identifies an ESP32-S3 WROOM core for the ProjectNeoRogue badge hardware.
SourceThe public CC14 CAD/archive evidence identifies an ESP32-S3 WROOM core for the conference badge hardware.
SourceThe README documents ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N8R8, sixteen NeoPixels, six buttons, two pairing connectors, and four SAO v1.69bis connectors.
SourceThe project page and retrospective document the move to ESP32-WROVER for WiFi/Bluetooth, external RAM, LULZCODE memory needs, and faster display/SD-card paths after the DC25 BMD-300 badge.
SourceA contemporary Hackaday.io project log describes the ShmooCon 2018 badge as basically an ESP8266 with serially addressable LEDs.
SourceThe firmware source includes ESP8266 Wi-Fi, WiFiClient, ESP8266WebServer, and mDNS support and serves a BSides PDX 2015 Badger web UI.
SourceThe repository documents ESPlant as an ESP8266 WiFi kit for transmitting environmental data, with Arduino IDE, Espressif SDK, and esp-open-rtos programming paths.
SourceGaroa’s REV. 0 documentation identifies an ESP8266, a 128×64 OLED, three GPIO buttons plus Reset, and a buzzer/IR path. It does not establish a complete final component population for every 2026 unit.
SourceThe badge used a flexible substrate PCB with ATmega328P control, accelerometer input, USB serial, CR2032 power, and 32 LEDs driven through shift-register logic.
SourceThe board exposed CP2102 serial-over-USB, SPI SSD1306 OLED, I2C pressure/temperature and light sensors, a GPIO push button, and a PWM tricolor LED for driver-writing exercises.
SourceThe official events page says HITCON Wallet contained a Secure Element CoolWallet, electronic paper, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth Low Energy.
SourceContemporary coverage says BSides Canberra 2016 delegates received a home-made Arduino badge, but does not identify exact board revision, display model, or production files.
SourceFreetronics documents LoliBot as a two-wheel robot kit with a Lolin32-Lite ESP32 brain, WiFi/Bluetooth, onboard 18650 power, USB charging, and skid-steering drive.
SourceThe 2024 Wombat badge combined a custom PCB, MS51FB9AE Nuvoton microcontroller, CH340G USB serial, micro-USB, RGB LED, six challenge LEDs, CR2032 holder, and slide switch.
SourceThe official CommSec Village page says the special-edition HITB2018PEK badge was based on an MTK series platform with 32M flash, 128MB RAM, a display screen, and UART provided.
SourceHITCON's official events page says the 2017 electronic badge was powered by a MediaTek chipset and included Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, joystick/game-controller input, infrared, and an LED display.
SourceAustralian Cyber Security Magazine reported that 2018 delegates received a handmade conference badge using a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC.
SourceThe 2017 repository documents the continued nRF51822/STM32F072 badge platform with OLED, BLE, battery management, touch buttons, USB, and AAA/USB power.
SourceThe official page describes the electronic badge as a PCB-based, modular artifact powered by multiple processors with two different systems integrated together.
SourceThe official CommSec Village page lists an STM32F103 MCU, W25Q32 flash, 1.3-inch OLED, 433 MHz RF receiver, IR receiver, six direction/action buttons, and six RGB LEDs.
SourceThe hardware README describes a Raspberry Pi RP2040 badge design derived from the Seeed XIAO 2040 with 16 MB SPI flash.
SourceThe Badge Village page says the specialized hacking tool uses a Raspberry Pi Pico as its core controller for fault-injection experiments.
SourceThe technical overview identifies an ATSAMD21G18A, ESP32-PICO-D4, LP5024 LED driver, 2.9 inch red/black/white e-paper display, capacitive touch, user LEDs, RGB LEDs, microSD, and user buttons.
SourceThe hands-on coverage and project-owner comments identify an STM32F103CBT6 ARM Cortex-M3 controller running at 72 MHz with the badge firmware built through STM32Duino-style tooling.
SourceThe repository README identifies the THOTCON 0xA badge base as a SparkFun ESP32 Thing Dev board.
SourceThe README directs builders through SparkFun nRF52832 Breakout Arduino compatibility and variant-file changes for the badge target.
SourceHackaday identifies the badge controller as a TI CC2640R2 with ARM Cortex-M3 core and Bluetooth capability, paired with a Holtek HT16D35B LED controller.
SourceThe BSides Ballarat page documents an interactive ESP32 badge with screen, controls, badge-to-badge communication, and SAO add-on support.
SourceThe writeup identifies the badge as a tiny Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanner made from a WemOS board.
SourceThe 2017 badge combined a Wemos D1 Mini with OLED and RGB shields plus a switched AA battery holder on a laser-cut acrylic base.
SourceThe sketch README describes the Banglet board as a Feather-style nRF52/Bluefruit design modified into a wrist-worn form factor.
SourceThe 2018 badge moved to nRF52832 with OLED, BLE, NeoPixel RGB LEDs, buttons, battery management, and STM32 USB handling.
SourceThe 2019 badge kept the nRF52832/STM32F070 split with OLED, BLE, NeoPixel RGB LEDs, buttons, and Li-ion/USB power.
SourceThe ARAMCON badge combined an nRF52840 module, 2.9-inch e-paper display, accelerometer, flash, MP3/WMA audio codec, Cherry MX keys, NeoPixels, SAO connector, and KiCad PCB files.
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