DFRobot Beetle Board - Compatible with Arduino Leonardo - ATmega32U4

The DFRobot Beetle is an ultra-compact, coin-sized development board powered by the ATmega32U4 microcontroller and fully compatible with the Arduino Leonardo. Measuring just 20mm by 22mm, it is an ideal solution for students, makers, and educators looking for an affordable, lightweight controller for wearable electronics and space-constrained prototypes.

Coin-sized footprint for embedded builds

Measuring only 20mm by 22mm by 3.8mm, the Beetle packs a 16MHz ATmega32U4 processor into a miniature frame. This ultra-small form factor allows makers to embed full microcontroller functionality into compact enclosures, props, and wearable devices where standard boards are too bulky.

Wearable-friendly V-shaped connection pads

The board features large-size, gold-plated V-shaped I/O pads with wide spacing to make soldering simple and reliable. The unique pad shape also allows conductive thread or bare wires to be tightly wound and sewn directly onto fabric without requiring soldering.

Seamless Arduino Leonardo compatibility

Pre-flashed with the Leonardo bootloader, the Beetle can be programmed directly over Micro USB using the standard Arduino IDE. Selecting the Arduino Leonardo board profile enables immediate testing and sketch uploading without extra hardware or complex setup.

Versatile digital and analogue interfaces

Despite its diminutive footprint, the board exposes 10 digital I/O pins, 5 analogue input channels, 4 PWM channels, 1 UART port, and 1 I2C interface. Power is delivered through dedicated honeycomb-shaped gold-plated terminals or the onboard Micro USB port.

Budget-friendly prototyping for education

Designed to keep hardware acquisition costs low, the Beetle provides full-scale development capabilities for classrooms, DIY workshops, and single-use builds. Its reliable ATmega32U4 core has even flown aboard student-led CubeSat orbital missions for lightweight low-cost computing.

Downloads & documentation

• Product wiki (DFRobot)