If you’ve read my Raspberry Pi and SBC project guides here on XDA, you may have found something worth building with these miniature systems. But interestingly enough, they aren’t the only devices that can power up your next DIY creation. As long as you’re willing to don your coding hat and don’t mind interfacing several connections on a breadboard, there’s a staggering number of interesting ideas that have been implemented with microcontrollers, including the inexpensive Arduino boards!

15 Old-school gaming machine

Heck, you can even run Doom on the Arduino!

For arcade game lovers, it’s better to stick to the Raspberry Pi and other SBCs as they can emulate plenty of retro consoles. But that doesn’t mean an Arduino can’t run an old-school game or two! In fact, tech enthusiast bruno_opaiva managed to get the old-school Pong game running on just the Arduino.

But that’s not all: tinkerer Prathamesh Barik even got the beloved Tetris to run on the microcontroller. If your mind wasn’t already blown, you might want to check out YouTuber Djamal.Uk’s video on how to run Doom on the Arduino Uno.

14 Music visualizer

For those who need some visual oomph to go with their music

Every newcomer usually begins their DIY journey Lighting LEDs with an Arduino board, though this project serves other uses besides helping you get a hang of the microcontroller. As the next logical step, you can start looking into stuff like expert coder Waren Gonzaga’s LED Music visualizer. This beginner project doesn’t even require extra peripherals or sensors: all you need is an Arduino, a breadboard, a microphone input, and a handful of LEDs, and you can improve the aesthetics of your room with a custom-built music visualizer.

13 Burglar alarm

To detect unauthorized entry into your DIY workstation

One of the best ways to protect yourself from intruders is to set up a theft alarm that goes off the moment its infrared sensor detects a change in its surroundings. Despite its high utility, asmodeus_eous’s burglar alarm is great for beginners, as all you have to do is connect a buzzer, a PIR sensor, and an LCD to your Arduino Uno using a breadboard, and flash the code available on this Hackster repository onto the microcontroller using the Arduino IDE.

12 Automatic pet feeding station

Perfect for pet-owners

The automatic pet feeding station is by far the project with the most utility for those with furry companions at their homes. Of course, I wouldn’t advise fully relying on a piece of tech to keep your pets fed when you’re away from the house for longer durations. But tinkerer edr1924’s Feed-o-Matic provides a great option if you just wish to treat your pets to snacks at specific intervals. While the DIY pet feeding station may look intimidating to create at first glance, edr1924's step-by-step tutorial on Arduino's Project Hub website will help you get the ball snacks rolling in no time!

11 Gesture-controlled robot

As a bonus, the receiver looks like a slick-gauntlet

Simple to build and even easier to control, Arduino community member Abdelkadir Chantar's gesture-controlled robot car is a neat project for beginner and intermediate Arduino owners. Ranking pretty high up on the coolness leaderboard, this project requires two separate Arduino boards: one for the hand-mounted receiver and another for the robot itself. Besides that, you’ll need a handful of sensors, switches, wheels, and motors to bring this robot car to life.

10 Fingerprint door-lock

Keep all your project ideas safe behind an Arduino-colored lock

👁 An Arduino-powered biometric lock

A full-on motion-detecting surveillance system featuring an SBC is a great way to keep a vigilant eye on your surroundings, but you can also throw in an Arduino-based fingerprint lock for added security. Created by DIY Projects Lab on Hackster, this easy-to-follow tutorial requires you to connect an Arduino with a solenoid lock, relay chip, 12V battery, and most importantly, a fingerprint scanner module capable of storing up to 162 fingerprints in its database.

9 Arduino gamepad

Who says you need an expensive controller for gaming?

Despite the solid features available on modern gamepads, nothing beats the satisfaction of building your own controller from the ground up. Luckily, assembling a joystick isn’t all that difficult if you’re using a microcontroller like the Arduino boards, and you can follow this Instructables guide created by ace tinkerer MatthewH. The only caveat is that the project won’t work with the uber-popular Arduino Uno, meaning you’ll have to look into the Leonardo or Micro boards to create this 32-button joystick.

8 Automated chessboard

A battle of wits against AI has never been this fun

Playing Chess Titans and getting demolished when attempting anything past level 6 used to be one of my favorite non-tech hobbies as a teenager. So, you can imagine my giddiness when I came across Instructables user Greg06’s chessboard that allows AI algorithms to physically move chess pieces across the board. Powered by a tiny Arduino Nano, this amazing project uses electromagnets to change the positions of the computer’s pieces. To top it off, the automated chess board even includes provisions for the AI to physically remove your pieces from the board once it captures them.

7 FPV drone

It even works with a VR headset!

DIY robotic cars are quite popular among the microcontroller community, but this amazing project by talented YouTuber Max Imagination proves that the sky's the limit when it comes to Arduino projects. Fair warning though, this incredible project requires a little bit of soldering and software tweaking for a stable flying experience. But what truly sets it apart from other creations is that it includes a tiny camera module mounted on the front, which lets you see the video footage from your VR headset.

6 Fitness tracker

Stay in tip-top shape with a little help from your Arduino companion

Fitness trackers and smartwatches are pretty capable these days. That said, a self-built fitness tracker will work just as well if you want to record your workouts. Built by Arduino experts Nekhil R and Shebin Jacob, GetFit is a smart fitness tracker that combines Arduino with the AI facilities offered by Edge Impulse to detect your workout routine. Heck, this fun project even has a mobile app, which you can use to keep track of all your reps and get an estimation of the calories burned through your training regimen!