protonema
Left: A 2x2 baseboard with a stepper motor controller, a Raspberry Pi Pico and a breadboard.
Center: A 3x2 baseboard with a four-digit LED display, a Raspberry Pi Pico, a SD card adapter, and a temperature sensor on a breadboard, acting as a temperature logger.
Right: A 3x4 baseboard with a Raspberry Pi Pico, a perfboard stamp, a larger breadboarding area with a Pixie Chroma display, an ST discovery board, and a mikroBUS™ Click™ adapter.
Project Overview
Protonema is an low-cost electronics prototyping and learning system designed to combine the best of breadboarding, microprocessors and surface mount technologies into a single easy-to-use and easy-to-extend system for rapid electronics prototyping and development.
Protonema includes:
- Baseboards that distribute power.
- Stamps that provide modular building blocks and breadboarding areas.
- Guides that provide assembly instructions and theory of operations.
Project Goals
- Approachable: Combine the best of the classic “100-in-one” electronics kits with modern microcontrollers and digital logic.
- Low cost: Target cost is less than $50, making it suitable for classroom use.
- Open source: Available for use and extension with minimal restrictions. See the license for more details.
- Extensible: Pluggable stamps implement functions not easily constructed on a breadboard. This allows the system to be used to teach and prototype a wide variety of different subject areas, including power electronics, computer organization, audio processing, etc.
- Built-in 3V3 and 5V power distribution, with clear visual indication of power domains
Baseboards
Part # | Name | Status | BOM Cost | OSHWA | Cert # |
|-|-|-|-|-|-|
| 1510A v1.0 | 3x4 Baseboard | Complete | $17.57 CAD | 
| CA000015 |
| 1522A v1.0 | 2x2 Baseboard | Draft | $7.36 CAD | | CA000023 |
| 1532A v1.1 | 3x2 Baseboard | Coming Soon | | 
| |
Stamps
| Part # | Name | Status | BOM Cost | OSHWA | Cert # | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1011A v1.0 | Horizontal Breadboard Stamp | Complete | $14.98 CAD | |
CA000016 | |
| 1012A v1.0 | Vertical Breadboard Stamp | Complete | $19.84 CAD | |
CA000022 | |
| 1030A v0.4 | PIC Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1031A v1.1 | Raspberry Pi Pico Stamp | Complete | $17.20 CAD | |
CA000020 | |
| 1032A v1.0 | LED Matrix Stamp | Complete | $10.35 CAD | |
CA000019 | |
| 1033A v0.3 | Decoder Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1034A v1.0 | Protoboard Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1035A v0.2 | ESP32 Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1036A v0.1 | Pi Pico Interface Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1037A v1.1 | LCD Display Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1038A v1.0 | LED Display Stamp | Complete | $9.19 CAD | |
CA000018 | |
| 1039A v1.0 | Intersection Simulator Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1040A v1.0 | Smart LED Level Shifter Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1041A v1.0 | Train Simulator Stamp | In Progress | |
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| 1052A v1.0 | 3.5mm Jack I/O | Coming Soon | |
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| 1060A v1.0 | Dual Potentiometer Stamp | Complete | $6.92 CAD | |
CA000024 | |
| 1065A v1.0 | SD Card Stamp | Coming Soon | |
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| 1094A v1.0 | Sliders | Coming Soon | |