10 Best Raspberry Pi Zero Projects That Take Advantage of Its Small Stature
The Raspberry Pi has long been used by hobbyists for DIY electronics projects . The Raspberry Pi Zero is about the size of a bubblegum and for just five dollars, it has its own special use cases. Here are ten of our favorite designs that use its size.
10. Display any information on a tiny display.
Tiny displays are cool, so it makes sense for the Raspberry Pi Zero to fit inside one of them. These little things make a great desktop accessory .
We’ve seen several different variations on this idea, such as this one that displays information about your network, or one that displays pixel art . Heck, even this animated GIF mini display can be modified to work with Zero quite easily.
9. Play NPR anywhere at the touch of a button.
If you’re a big fan of NPR, then you probably like the NPR One app , which plays a stream of selected NPR podcasts in random order. You might be surprised that these streams are available from the command line, which means you can access the Raspberry Pi Zero.
A natural idea for the project is a tiny NPR One radio using a Raspberry Pi Zero . You have buttons to skip the story and pause the stream while it’s all crammed into a fancy little DIY suitcase.
8. Turn on the electric skateboard.
If you are a skateboarder, you may have dreamed of using this skateboard for more mobility. Naturally, someone decided to use a Raspberry Pi to get it working .
The idea here is to hide the Pi Zero under a skateboard. The Pi then powers a motor that you will control with the Wiimote. It’s pretty absurd, but it makes it just as fun to use.
7. Create a tiny computer the size of a power supply.
The Pi Zero’s greatest strength is its size. One project takes advantage of this by connecting the Raspberry Pi Zero directly to a power source .
The idea here is simple. You set up your Raspberry Pi Zero using SSH or VNC and then plug it directly into a power source using Sugru. Now you can simply plug it into the wall and control it remotely. This makes it almost invisible.
6. Create a mobile library.
Have you seen these cute mini-libraries filled with free books in the surrounding area? You can do this digitally with the Raspberry Pi Zero by sharing a whole library of your own books from a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Basically, you just turn your Raspberry Pi Zero into a Wi-Fi hotspot and then share your own library of books, magazines, DRM-free PDFs, or whatever else you have. Obviously you have to obey the law, but it’s a fun way to share your own content.
5. Play any episode of The Simpsons (or any TV show) in random order.
If you’ve ditched cable TV and switched to media streaming entirely , you can still skip the days of watching a random episode of your favorite show on TV. The Raspberry Pi Zero can bring this back.
In this project, they use the Simpsons episodes stored on the SD card. With a custom script, you can press a button and it will play the episode in random order. You can add any media here, including a few shows if you like, but The Simpsons is a fantastic choice.
4. Make a camera with a motion sensor.
The Raspberry Pi has been a great motion-sensing camera for a long time, but the Pi Zero’s low profile makes it even better.
With the Raspberry Pi Zero, your motion-sensing camera has a much smaller footprint, which means it can work even in tighter spaces. For example, it attaches to your window with a pair of suction cups , and it’s almost as lightweight as it gets.
3. Make the smallest (possibly) MAME cabinet in the world.
MAME wardrobes are awesome but huge. For a completely opposite approach, you can use the Raspberry Pi Zero to make it as small as the Pi itself.
You’ll need a few materials to get this suction cup to work, including a 3D printed case, but ultimately the cabinet is fully functional, which means you’ll have the best desktop accessory in your office.
2. Create a miniature computer with a dongle.
While the Pi Zero is a great little computer, it can get even better. This way you can connect it to any other computer you have, then it will connect directly so you don’t have to add USB or any networks.
The best part of this project is that you don’t need another mouse, screen, or keyboard. Just plug into your regular desktop computer and you’re good to go.
1. Put the Raspberry Pi Zero into an old school controller
We all know the Raspberry Pi can be a great DIY game console . The installation process only takes a few minutes, and the Raspberry Pi Zero fully supports older games from the SNES era and earlier. The whole project is even better when the entire system is inside the controller.
Case in point (ahem), this project uses an SNES controller , this one uses an NES controller , and this one uses the good old original Xbox controller . Regardless of how you choose to do it, you end up with a cute little retro game console that you can take with you wherever you go.