Tag dossier
Badge records tagged with Chicago, across United States.
ATmega32u4 tesserHack maze badge
The THOTCON 0x8 badge was a Chicago electronic conference badge built around an ATmega32u4, four RGB NeoPixel LEDs, three potentiometers, micro USB, two CR2032 coin-cell holders, and tesserHack stock firmware for an 8x8x8 maze game.
DePaul IRL ESP32 badge with capacitive pads, LEDs, speaker, and microphone
The THOTCON 0xA / Infinity badge was a Chicago electronic conference badge produced with DePaul's Idea Realization Lab for the May 3-4, 2019 event. DePaul Newsline reported a six-month, 1,700-unit custom circuit-board badge build; the public Poplicola repository documents a SparkFun ESP32 Thing Dev base, five capacitive touch pads, six LEDs, speaker output, microphone input, stock-firmware restore commands, and Arduino examples.
ESP32 retro-controller badge with LEDs, buzzer, accelerometer, and Wi-Fi
The THOTCON 0xB badge was a rescheduled-2021 Chicago electronic conference badge in a retro controller / circus-ticket form factor. Rob Rehrig's first-hand writeup documents an ESP32 main controller, reverse-mount RGB and single-color LEDs driven by an IS32FL3731 LED driver, capacitive touch buttons, piezo buzzer, accelerometer, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi node behavior, IRC remote connectivity, and serial interface.
Contra-themed laser-tag badge with custom clear-PC housing
The THOTCON 0xC badge was a Chicago electronic conference badge built around a Contra-inspired, conference-wide laser-tag game and a custom injection-molded clear polycarbonate housing. Rob Rehrig's first-hand writeup documents the badge theme, enclosure work, IR receiver/emitter layout, TIR lens work, Xometry manufacturing path, and roughly 2,000-badge production scale.
ESP32 touch-wheel badge with TFT, audio, LEDs, and games
The THOTCON 0xD badge was a Fourfold-built electronic conference badge for the May 30-31, 2025 Chicago event, documented as a 2,000-unit ESP32 touch-wheel badge with ST7789 TFT display, buzzer, six LEDs, LiPo power, add-on header, games, visual effects, and challenge hooks.
Youth-attendee conference identity artifact; handoff unverified
Hak4Kidz's official 2026 flyer says youth attendees receive a fun badge, with lunch, snacks, a T-shirt, and prizes, for its June 6 Chicago event. The official home calls the event Time Travel: Capture the Flag, but the sources do not identify the item's material, artwork, barcode/QR/RFID/NFC/electronic form, linkage to the CTF, allocation, or actual pickup/delivery.
Open ESP32-S3 Chicago builder-festival hardware badge
Onion DAO's official 2026 Chicago festival page says every accepted attendee gets a hardware badge at registration, with most components already on the board and a final soldering step. The same official site links to OnionDAO's public oniondao-badge repository, which documents a hacker-conference-style ESP32-S3 design, optional RF/audio modules, a display socket, secure element, expansion ports, and source trees for hardware and software. The public record supports a real organizer-published artifact and design, while exact recipient allocation, completed assembly, and final attendee population remain unverified.