NiceBadge

NiceBadge is an electronic conference badge and a hands-on platform for learning TinyGo programming.

Whether you are attending a conference or just getting started with embedded development, NiceBadge gives you a real piece of hardware to hack on, complete with a ready-to-use firmware, step-by-step tutorials, and progressively more advanced examples that unlock every capability of the board.

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Features

Peripheral	Details
Color display	Compact full-color screen (FJ08K-S), ST7789 driver
Buttons	2 Cherry MX hot-swap mechanical switches
Joystick	Alps EC11E rotary encoder with push switch
RGB LEDs	2 × SK6812MINI-E addressable LEDs, WS2812 driver
StemmQT connector	JST SH 4-pin for I2C expansion modules
Buzzer	5.5 mm passive buzzer for audio feedback
Bluetooth	BLE via the nRF52840 on the nice!nano
USB HID	Acts as a keyboard/mouse over USB thanks to the nice!nano
Battery	Onboard battery cell header (2-pin 2.00 mm)

The microcontroller is the nice!nano (nRF52840), which is fully supported by TinyGo and exposes both USB HID and Bluetooth HID out of the box.

Repository layout

nicebadge/
├── hardware/              # KiCad PCB design files
│   └── PCB-kicad/
│       └── production/    # Gerbers, BOM, pick-and-place files
└── tutorial/              # TinyGo tutorials and examples
    ├── basics/            # Step-by-step basics (step0 → step10)
    ├── ble/               # Bluetooth Low Energy examples
    └── examples/          # Standalone examples (sensors, HID, etc.)

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Firmware

NiceBadge ships two ready-to-use firmwares:

Demo firmware (conference)

A showcase firmware that demonstrates all badge peripherals — LEDs, display, buttons, joystick, buzzer, and BLE. Ideal for conferences and as a starting point for your own experiments.

Repository: code.madriguera.me/GoEducation/badges

HID firmware

Turns the badge into a fully functional USB/Bluetooth keyboard. Built on top of sago35/keyboards, a TinyGo framework for custom keyboards.

Repository: github.com/sago35/keyboards

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Getting started

Prerequisites

• TinyGo ≥ 0.32
• Go ≥ 1.22
• A NiceBadge board (see hardware section below) or a compatible nice!nano dev board

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Hardware

All design files are located in hardware/PCB-kicad/. Production files (Gerbers, BOM, positions) ready for fabrication are in hardware/PCB-kicad/production/.

Bill of Materials

Designator	Value / Part	Footprint	Qty
BT1	Battery Cell	PinHeader 2×01 P2.00 mm Vertical	1
BZ1	Buzzer	Buzzer 5.5 mm	1
DISPLAY1	Display connector	PinHeader 1×08 P2.54 mm Vertical	1
H1, H2, H3, H4	Mounting Hole	M2	4
LED1, LED2	YS-SK6812MINI-E	SK6812MINI-E	2
R1, R2	Resistor	Axial DIN0207 L6.3 mm D2.5 mm P10.16 mm	2
STEMMAQT1	StemmQT connector	JST SH SM04B-SRSS-TB 1×04 P1.00 mm	1
SW1, SW2B1	Push switch	Cherry MX Hot-swap	2
SW2	Rotary Encoder + Switch	Alps EC11E Vertical H20 mm	1
SW2B, SW2C	Key switch	Strap hole	2
U1	nice!nano	nice_nano	1
U2	FJ08K-S	FJ08K-S	1

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Tutorials & examples

All code lives under tutorial/. Flash any step from inside that directory:

cd tutorial
tinygo flash -target nicenano ./basics/step0

Run go mod tidy once inside tutorial/ to fetch all dependencies.

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Basics

A progressive series that introduces every peripheral one at a time.

Step	What it does
step0	Blink the built-in LED — verifies the flash toolchain works
step1	Built-in LED controlled by button A
step2	WS2812 RGB LEDs alternating red and green
step3	WS2812 LEDs change color with buttons A, B, and rotary
step3b	Rainbow cycle on the LEDs, A/B scroll through the hue
step4	"Hello Gophers!" text on the display
step5	Display shows a circle per button; rings appear on press
step6	Analog joystick — a dot follows the stick on the display
step7	Rotary encoder — turning cycles LED colors, push resets
step8	Passive buzzer plays a note per button press
step9	Serial monitor — prints button, encoder, and joystick events over USB serial
step10	USB MIDI — badge sends notes C4 / E4 / G4 to any DAW
step11	USB HID mouse — joystick moves the cursor, A/B click

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BLE

Bluetooth Low Energy examples using the nRF52840 on the nice!nano. Compatible apps: nRF Connect, nRF Toolbox, Serial Bluetooth Terminal, LightBlue.

Step	What it does
step1	Counter — advertises as Nordic UART Service (NUS), sends an incrementing counter via BLE notifications every second; display shows connection status and current value; send reset from the app to restart the count
step2	LED color control — mobile writes 3 bytes (R, G, B) to a custom characteristic; both WS2812 LEDs and the display update immediately
step3	Scanner — lists nearby BLE devices with name and RSSI, color-coded by signal strength; button A clears the list

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Examples

Standalone, feature-complete programs.

Example	What it does	Extra hardware
thermal-camera	AMG88xx 8×8 IR sensor upscaled with bilinear interpolation and rendered with an iron-palette color map on the full display	AMG88xx sensor on I2C1 (SDA=P0_17, SCL=P0_20)
rubber-duck	USB HID keyboard automation (Ubuntu/GNOME target): opens a text editor, types a message, and launches a URL. Press button A to trigger	—
co2-sensor	SCD4x CO2/temperature/humidity sensor: display background turns green/yellow/red by CO2 level, LEDs mirror the color, buzzer warns above 1500 ppm	SCD4x sensor on I2C1 (SDA=P0_17, SCL=P0_20)

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Acknowledgements

NiceBadge is based on the conf2025badge by sago35, which debuted at the TinyGo Conference in Japan. NiceBadge shares the same form-factor and was built on top of the groundwork たかさごさん laid there.

Thank you, for the inspiration, the open design, and all the work that made this possible.

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License

See LICENSE.