Announcements

[ACTION REQUIRED] Congratulations + Post-Showcase Logistics

Roman Silivra · May 17, 2026 Announcement Announcements

Hello everybody,

I hope your finals went well!

Congratulations!

First of all, I want to congratulate everybody one more time on all of the hard work that you put into your projects! It’s crazy to think about how your projects have gone from the idea phase to real, physical designs in the span of just a few months! Everybody should be very proud of themselves.

Next, I wanted to give a shoutout to our industry sponsors – Apple, Digikey, and Espressif – without whom HOPE wouldn’t be possible!

Post-Showcase Logistics:

We’re currently working hard on getting grades finalized and ready, so please stay tuned for another announcement that we’ll make about that. As a reminder, HOPE is graded P/NP, so the criteria for passing is a 70% overall.

There are a few more assignments that you’ll need to do, all of which are due tomorrow (Sunday 5/17) at 11:59 PM PST

Course feedback form: this is how we improve our offering of HOPE for the future! The form is anonymous, so please be as candid as you feel comfortable. After you submit, there will be a secret word given. If you submitted and didn’t see the secret word, please try resubmitting.

Project contribution form: this is to make sure that everybody contributed fairly to the group project.

You can find both of these forms at the bcourses assignment: https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1553922/quizzes/2538593

Note that you must submit the bcourses assignment to get credit!

Joining HOPE Staff:

If you had a good time in HOPE and want to help make it even better for future generations of budding PCB engineers, we’d love to have you on HOPE staff next semester! Please fill out this google form (http://berkie.ee/hope-sp26-staff-interest ) if you’re interested! This isn’t a job or competitive club application; we’ll reach out to everybody who submits the form.

Note that HOPE staff is a purely volunteer position – everybody is here because we want to do our part to help the wider Berkeley community.

Congratulations again, and all the best,

Roman + HOPE Staff

Showcase Presentation Schedule and Slides

Curtis Manacsa · May 9, 2026 Project

Showcase is from 2:00-5:30, looking forward to seeing your hard work. Presentations start at 3:00 check out the schedule link below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LS4NKUoNWtFjmwEjfbC9fuIXb50CLlUSs5DjPiwM30A/edit?gid=1136180497#gid=1136180497

Please drop your slides below, since bcourses is down.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KXqaGjIpnOK-EnqEvyKV9AT4UHtEbx6B

[ACTION REQUIRED] Last-Minute Work Time + Showcase Website + Slides

Roman Silivra · May 9, 2026 Announcement Project

Hello everybody,

Hopefully your projects are going well! As described in #39, we will be having the project showcase from approximately 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM (presentations running from 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM)

We’re still working hard on finalizing the exact schedule of presentations, but they’ll be ready soon. The link will be posted here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LS4NKUoNWtFjmwEjfbC9fuIXb50CLlUSs5DjPiwM30A/edit?gid=1136180497#gid=1136180497

Some good news: we have reserved Supernode for HOPE project bring-up from now - 5 PM (though remember, you should be done by 2 PM !)

Action Items:

If you haven’t done so yet, please create and populate a page for your project on the showcase website by 3 PM: https://sites.google.com/d/1Ayb9qvnM6-erderBFbEOSoW8rxXxUfqS/p/1CSt5TJSBXZL8YXzkSLlq8EIC5Ti_-46z/edit

Regarding slides, the Canvas hack means that you likely will not be able to submit your slides to bcourses in time for the presentation. Instead, please upload your slides to this google drive folder by 3 PM: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KXqaGjIpnOK-EnqEvyKV9AT4UHtEbx6B

We know how hard everybody has been working, and we can’t wait to see your awesome projects! See you soon!

All the best,

Roman + HOPE Staff

Annie and Lawrence OH Tomorrow Cancelled

Annie Zhang · May 8, 2026 Project

Hello! Me and Lawrence will be cancelling our usual 2-3PM friday OH since it conflicts with showcase. Good luck on your projects everyone! Excited to see all your amazing work. :D

Curtis’ RRR Week OH, and missing parts

Curtis Manacsa · May 7, 2026 Project

I’ll be moving my OH to start at 7:30 PM today, and I’ll be able to disburse materials and help until 12:00AM tonight. Sorry for the inconvenience! I’ll also be around Cory most of tomorrow.

Also, if you have missing parts, I have some on hand. I’ll look through our carts and contact each group today and tomorrow, but if you notice anything missing please reach out in this Ed post.

TLDR: Curtis OH in Supernode or Cory 125

W: 7:30 - 12:00 AM

Th: 12:00 PM - 12:00 AM

[Action Required] HOPE Showcase Logistics

Roman Silivra · May 5, 2026 Announcement Project

Hello everybody!

As we’ve mentioned a few times over the course of the semester, we will be having a showcase of all of your awesome final projects! This showcase will take place on Friday, May 8, from 2:00 PM until roughly 5:30 PM. Showcase presentations will be in-person in Cory Hall. You’ll be setting up your projects from 2:00 - 3:00 PM, and presentations will run from roughly 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM. Historically, presentations have sometimes run late, so it’s a good idea to try to have some free time after 5:30 PM as well.

Food will be provided at the end of the showcase!

Presentations:

As part of the showcase, each group will present their projects before HOPE staff and potentially other visitors (historically, engineers from Apple have come!) Regarding your presentations:

You will have 5 minutes to present. Please practice your presentations ahead of time, as we will cut off groups that go for too long to make sure we stay on schedule.

Your presentation should take the form of a slideshow. Here are some starting points, but feel free to talk about other things as well:

What was the goal and intended function of your project?

Were you able to meet that goal?

What went well/poorly? (eg what design decisions turned out to be good/bad ideas?)

What did you learn?

What could you have done differently/what improvements could you make for the future?

2 presentations will be running simultaneously, in rooms Cory 212 and Cory 258

Groups that are not actively presenting/in line will be showcasing their projects in the Cory Courtyard (2nd floor)

There will be a bcourses assignment posted shortly where you will submit your slides

Website:

Every semester, we put together a website so that you can showcase and have a record of the cool work you’ve done! This semester, the website is:

https://sites.google.com/d/1Ayb9qvnM6-erderBFbEOSoW8rxXxUfqS/p/1CSt5TJSBXZL8YXzkSLlq8EIC5Ti_-46z/edit

The “published” version of the site is at: https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/hopesp26finalprojectshowcase/hope

Action items (due by Tuesday 05/05 @ 11:59 PM):

Leave a comment on this post if anybody from your group cannot attend all/part of the presentation. We understand that the scheduled time may conflict with other events (eg class presentations), so please let us know so that we can schedule groups to present at the most convenient time. Please make sure to include your group number (can be found on bcourses)

Create a page for your group on the showcase website. Don’t worry about having a totally ready page, but please create the page where you’ll be working. If you’d like some reference, check out the website from last semester! https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/hope-ape-fall-25-final-project/home

Great work so far, let’s finish strong!

All the best,

HOPE Staff

Roman's OH Happening as Usual, Extended until 7

Roman Silivra · May 2, 2026 Announcement OH Updates

Hello everybody,

I realized that my OH today was not on the HOPE calendar for some reason.

I am in Supernode since the usual time (5 PM), and I will stay longer until 7 PM in case anybody would like to come by.

My apologies for any inconvenience!

All the best,

Roman

HOPE Grades

Aarav Singh · Apr 30, 2026 Announcement Announcements

Hello HOPE students

I published the grades for attendance and labs today. Reach out via email or private edpost if you think there are any errors with your grade.

-Aarav + HOPE Staff

Roman's OH Today Cancelled

Roman Silivra · Apr 25, 2026 Announcement OH Updates

Hello all,

Unfortunately, I have an unavoidable schedule conflict that requires me to cancel my office hours today at 5 PM.

My apologies for any resulting inconvenience!

All the best,

Roman

OH

Lawrence Rhee · Apr 25, 2026 OH Updates

Hello,

I’ll be in Cory 125 until 3:30 if anybody needs it.

OH moved to 2-4 in 125

Annie Zhang · Apr 18, 2026 Project

Hello! My apologies I accidentally dragged my oh to be 12-1 but meant it to be 2-3 in Cory. To make it up we’ll be there 2-4 in Cory 125.

OH Moved to Cor 125

Aarav Singh · Apr 17, 2026 OH Updates

Since a club seems to be using Supernode for something, I’m moving my 7-8pm OH to Cory 125 for this week.

Installing Arduino IDE Before Lab this Week

Roman Silivra · Apr 16, 2026 Announcement Project

Hello everybody,

Sorry for the short notice, but please check out this post to be more prepared for lab section this week!

Before coming to lab this week (if possible), please follow the instructions below to download and install the Arduino IDE and the libraries we will use for the lab. The internet in Cory is flaky and you may have a hard time doing this in lab. Also if you have one, bring a USB-C cable to lab that you can use with your computer.

Install the Arduino IDE: https://www.arduino.cc/en/software

Launch and navigate to the File > Preferences Window

Under “Additional Board Manager URLs” add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json to the textbox.

Go to Tools > Board > Boards Manager and search up esp32 in the top. Install the esp32 package by Espressif Systems

We’ll be using a pre-written library to communicate with the temperature sensor.

To install it, navigate to Sketch > Include Library > Manage Libraries

Search up PCT2075 and install the Adafruit library. Do the same for the BusIO library. If you get a message along the lines of “The library (name) needs some other dependencies….”, click “Install all”

All the best,

HOPE Staff

OH Moved Permanently

Shikha Kathrani · Apr 15, 2026 OH Updates

Hi Everyone,

I’m moving my OH to Thursday’s 11am - 12pm permanently. This change will be reflected on the HOPE calendar.

Thank you,

Shikha

OH in Cory 125

Ansh Thakkar · Apr 14, 2026 Announcement OH Updates

For anyone planning to attend my OH right now, I am in Cory 125, not Supernode.

  • Ansh

Reminder: Project Due Tonight + Deliverables

Roman Silivra · Apr 10, 2026 Announcement Project

Hey everybody,

As the project deadline (tonight at midnight) approaches, please make sure that you’re aware of the deliverables described in: https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1553922/assignments/9050313

In particular, your submission to Github classroom should have the following:

Commit message saying something like “Final commit” or “Project complete”. After your final commit, please let us know if you make any additional changes

Zip of your overall project

Zip of your Gerber manufacturing files

Link to your BOM (make sure that it’s shared with hope@ieee.berkeley.edu !)

Link/screenshot to a passing JLCPCB DFM check

As a reminder, HOPE staff is currently in Cory hall offering late-night support, so please come by if you’re having trouble or have questions!

All the best,

Roman + HOPE Staff

Datasheet Reading Tool

Aarav Singh · Apr 10, 2026 Announcements

https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~dcostine/personal/PowerDeviceLib/DigiTest/index.html

This is a tool for reading datasheets, you can upload a screenshot of a datasheet graph, then define the axes. It then lets you mouse over the grid and see data values. You can also plot points along the curve and extract them.

Reminder: Project Layout + Joining Github Classroom

Roman Silivra · Apr 7, 2026 Announcement Project

Hey everybody!

Project Layout:

As a reminder, final project layout was due on Friday (04/03). If you haven’t submitted your layout yet, please do so ASAP! This is important so that staff can give you feedback prior to the final manufacturing deadline.

If you’ve already pushed your layout, thank you! We are working on sending out feedback.

BOM:

Please make sure that your project’s BOM is following the HOPE template, and that you’ve linked it as a google sheet in your repository’s README.

As a reminder, we will provide ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 modules (courtesy of a generous sponsorship from Espressif), so we strongly encourage using these modules.

Github classroom:

Make sure that you are pushing your work to Github classroom regularly, to make sure that everybody (both your groupmates and HOPE staff) can easily access the most up-to-date version of your projects. Please see Aarav’s post (#10) for more information. If you’re having any difficulty, please reach out so that we can help.

Office Hours:

HOPE Staff have moved around office hours to provide as much support as possible, so please check the calendar on our course website and come by if you have questions/issues.

We’re all very excited to see your awesome projects coming together, so let’s cross the finish line strong!

Labs:

All the best,

HOPE Staff

OH moved for this week - Ansh

Ansh Thakkar · Apr 7, 2026 Announcement OH Updates

For this week only, I will be holding my OH on Thursday 5-6pm.

Roman OH 4/3 Running Late

Roman Silivra · Apr 4, 2026 Announcement OH Updates

Hi all,

Sorry, I am running late. I will hopefully be at my OH by 5:20.

Project Layout Submissions

Curtis Manacsa · Mar 31, 2026 Announcements

The layout assignment will be posted on BCourses soon, and it is now due on 4/3 (Friday) at 11:59 PM.

Please resubmit your work with the layout included on GitHub Classroom. Also, attach your BOM to your project’s README.

Please see #10 if you have not joined or configured the GitHub Classroom. Please DO THIS ASAP! This is how we will be collecting your submissions for the manufacturing deadline!

As stated in #14, even if you have not finished your layout, please include screenshots of your progress in your design review slides!

IMPORTANT: Design Review Week!

Curtis Manacsa · Mar 31, 2026 Announcement Announcements

Hi HOPE students,

I hope your Spring Break was great!

As a reminder, this week is Design Review! This is a really crucial week, and staff will be all-hands-on-deck to support your projects. You must go to your assigned section this week to present. There are a few things that you should know:

  • Design review slides are due at 7 PM on the day of your section. Submit your slides to BCourses, and make sure to give global viewing permission if you submit a link!
  • Please use this template for your design review slide submission link
  • If you are in a group that has Wednesday and Thursday section students, please attend the one that the majority of your group is in, and make a private edpost.
  • Let us know about any exam conflicts through a private EdPost.

Even if you are not done with the project checkpoints, please put together any work you have done in your design review slides so that you can get personalized feedback.

Also, check out the other post too, but layout submissions have been pushed back to the original date of Friday 4/3. Please include any progress you have made for layout in your design review slides!

Curtis OH 3/18

Curtis Manacsa · Mar 19, 2026 General

I will be running a bit late, expect Berkeley time + a little bit. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Monday 5-6pm OH Canceled - Ansh

Ansh Thakkar · Mar 17, 2026 Announcement General

Hello HOPE Students,

I cannot make it to my usual OH today. The calendar has been updated to reflect this.

Thanks, Ansh

Project Schematic Submissions

Aarav Singh · Mar 15, 2026 Announcement General

Hello HOPE students,

Apologies for the delay on instructions for submitting your project schematic. For this assignment, we will be opening up a bcourses submission since we were delayed in setting up the GitHub classroom. For bcourses, please submit a zip archive of your project along with a link to your bill of materials and a pdf of your schematic.

Assignment: https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1553922/assignments/9050321

(If you need an extension, fill out the extension request on the website)

We have a non-graded checkoff quiz that you can go through to ensure you have completed everything for this project: https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1553922/quizzes/2532083

We are going to be using GitHub classroom for all project related submissions going forward. GitHub is useful tool for version control, we have a guide for setting it up here: https://hope.berkie.ee/github-desktop.

If you need help setting this up, you can make a private edpost or come in and ask us in person during office hours or sections.

For joining the GitHub classroom, please join via this link and connect your GitHub account to your name: https://classroom.github.com/a/uwAiv-IU

Once you accept the assignment, check to see if one of your teammates has created a repository already under the join an existing team section.

You can find your group number by clicking on the “Groups” tab on the bcourse’s People page.

If you are the first person in your group to join, please create a team name with the following format: Group-[Group #]-[Project/Team name].

e.g. Group-28-Buck-Converter

If any issues arise during the account linking/ group forming process, you can make a private post on Ed, and I will work with you to resolve it.

  • HOPE Staff

OH Delayed - Roman

Roman Silivra · Mar 14, 2026 Announcement General

Hello all,

My OH today will start a little later than usual, probably closer to 5:15 or 5:20 PM. I will stay later.

Thanks,

Roman

Project Resources

Aarav Singh · Mar 13, 2026 Announcement General

As a reminder, we have a project spec document with deliverables and references for each step of the project. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1smVeWLNiplKkxcA6GZ_3y53MKBoSkndNkYT-nEIYHTI/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.4ezcpfh21zxb

We recommend using the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 for your microcontroller because we have a lot of them, we also have a reference schematic here (it has the design rules for JLCPCB manufacturing) : https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1xYzoJUOG03_vSiMpzJzM-GwwctzvgaoV

For your USB-C we recommend using the USB4085-GF-A (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/gct/USB4085-GF-A/9859662) since USB-Cs have been a common point of failure in previous semesters.

OH MOVED TEMPORARILY- Curtis

Curtis Manacsa · Mar 5, 2026 General

For this week only, I’ve moved my OH to Thursday 4-5.

Running Late to Office Hours

Shikha Kathrani · Feb 28, 2026 General

Hi all,

I’ll be at my office hours at 4:20. I apologize for the delay!

OH Moved - Shikha

Shikha Kathrani · Feb 20, 2026 General

Hi all,

Due to a time conflict, I’ll be moving my OH tomorrow (2/20) from 1pm - 2pm in Cory 125 to 2pm - 3pm in Cory 125. Feel free to come for any questions, checkoffs, or just to chat! :)

OH MOVED - ISHAAN

Ishaan Gupta · Feb 19, 2026 Announcement General

Due to the Supernode being closed for tours from 12-1pm , I am moving my OH to 5-6 PM in Super Node

No office hours today

Ansh Thakkar · Feb 17, 2026 Announcement General

Hello,

Since today is a holiday, I am not holding my usual 5 pm OH. The HOPE calendar has been updated to reflect this.

Thanks, Ansh