ESP32 STEAMakers board, ideal tool to get started in the world of programming, electronics, communications and robotics. Used in conjunction with the Imagina TDR STEAM board and the ArduinoBlocks programming environment, with these three tools we can develop countless projects from a very basic level to highly complex projects using all the potential they offer. In addition, it has compatibility with most of the functionalities of Arduino UNO, but with greater power and versatility.

The new ESP32 Plus STEAMaker board offers us an unlimited amount of features as it is based on a 32-bit microcontroller with Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity integrated on the board itself and socket for micro SD cards for data storage. It also has connections for all inputs and outputs with the possibility of having the power supply attached and I2C expansion ports to be able to connect different devices directly on the board. The board is based on the ESP32-WROOM-32 microcontroller.

The main technical specifications:

• Xtensa LX6 CPU
• 2-core CPU
• 32-bit architecture
• 160 MHz operating frequency
• Wifi and Bluetooth communications
• RAM memory
• Flash memory
• 11 Analog-to-Digital converters with 12-bit resolution
• 2 8-bit Digital-to-Analog converters
• I2C connectivity

The most important features of this board are:

• Tensilica Xtensa 32-bit LX6 microcontroller at 160MHz.
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n/e/i connectivity.
• Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity and BLE mode.
• SD card socket.
• 14 powered digital inputs and outputs
• Powered female serial connector.
• I2C connector to connect up to 5 devices at the same time on the same board.
• I2C female connector for connection of an OLED display.
• Reset connector
• 5V connector
• 3.3V connector
• Selectable 3.3-5V switch to switch between these two voltages on some power supply pins.
• Analog inputs and outputs.
• Integrated Hall and temperature sensor.
• 2 Digital-to-Analog converters (DAC) of 8 bits.
• 16 analog-to-digital converters (ADC) of 12 bits.
• 16 PWM channels.
• 2 UART.
• 2 I2C channels.
• 4 SPI channels.
• 448Kb ROM.
• 520KB SRAM.
• 8KB+8KB SRAM in RTC.
• 1kbit eFUSE.
• 512 bytes Flash Memory (EEPROM).
• 10 touch sensors.
• 4 internal 64-bit timers.

Not all features of the ESP-WROOM-32 controller are available, as some pins have dual functions and are used on the board in a specific way (e.g. to control the SD card). But most functions can be used, and the ESP32 STEAMakers board has a better connection of elements due to the pins for input/output, I2C and power Dupont connectors. In addition, some power pins can change their value (3.3V or 5V) by means of a switch depending on our needs.

To do the programming we can do it through the Arduino IDE or through ArduinoBlocks. As we can see they are two different systems. In the Arduino IDE the programming is done by instructions (right of the image) and in ArduinoBlocks it is done by blocks (left of the image). The following image shows a code comparison between ArduinoBlocks and Arduino IDE.