This Raspberry Pi Tricorder is Straight Out of The Alpha Quadrant

Raspberry Pi
(Image credit: Himmelin4)

We've encountered beaucoups of Raspberry Pi cyberdecks over the years and even a few tricorders but this is one of the coolest Pi-based tricorder cyberdecks we've come across. It was created by a maker who goes by Himmelen4 and is designed to resemble a TR-560 Tricorder VI standard model from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The best Raspberry Pi projects make science fiction a reality—something Star Trek has provided inspiration for over the years. According to Himmelen4, it's fully customizable so modifying the design is possible for a variety of functions. It has multiple screens and a custom keyboard that can be programmed for any input needs.

Himmelin4 has shared plenty of pictures on Imgur that show off the internal components which are very well-packed inside the tricorder case. The outer shell is 3D-printed and even has holes for external port access.

It relies on a Raspberry Pi Zero and includes additional components to bring the cyberdeck together like a GPS board and a NESDR SDR radio module. There are two Adafruit screens used in the tricorder design: one in the top half and a smaller screen next to the keyboard in the bottom half. The keyboard was wired from scratch and featured 3D-printed keycaps.

This project is a work in progress so be sure to follow Himmelen4 for more updates. In the meantime, visit the original thread on Reddit to see the progress so far.

Ash Hill
Freelance News and Features Writer

Ash Hill is a Freelance News and Features Writer with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.