Hi! I think that every DIY esk8er should be able to make their very own remote. So I have started to work on a project with the hope of making that possible… but I’m going to need a little help to move things along.
For accessibilities sake I took my 3D printer and threw it out the window (just kidding, I don’t own a 3D printer), I found a way around printed circuit boards, and also, all of the parts can be found on Amazon or through Adafruit.com. Lastly, it’s adorable:)
The only thing that some folks might find intimidating is learning about Arduino, but don’t worry. Arduino is designed so that we can all copy the work of smarter people and look brilliant, ourselves. It’s easy. Don’t let it intimidate you. This is a great project to get your chops up so that you can employ this technology elsewhere on your esk8.
Many Arduino projects use mint-tin style containers as project boxes and, quite honestly, they seem like they could make a good remote enclosure as well. They are functional, discrete and available at every corner store (they are also available empty, in-bulk and in all shapes and sizes at Amazon). Conveniently, Adafruit Industries also sells proto-boards shaped just like common mint-tins. They’re kind of cute, make wiring easier and mitigate the need for PCBs. Although, you could make custom PCBs for yours, of course… or an enclosure made from legos for that matter:)
Many of the remote projects that I looked at involved 3D printed thumbwheels. For this project prefabricated thumb-sticks seemed like the best fit. The large thumbstick pictured above is a very common Arduino sensor with a lot of documentation. It would work well for a larger remote, is easy to wire and would be a good choice for those of you with large, meaty hands 
The small thumbstick is from the Nintendo Switch. These replacement thumb-sticks can be found everywhere and would make for a nice mini-remote.
The Arduino board that I have chosen is the Adafruit Feather M0. There are a lot of reasons for this. For one, it is a great board and Adafruit makes cool toys. But also, @StephanMe has done a lot of ground work with this board based on @solidgeek’s Firefly remote. So why reinvent the wheel. Additonally, though I’m leaving out the OLED is the basic project, you could get spicey and throw one in. The code is already there.
To get this project done before someone actually invents a hoverboard, I’ll need some help. First, the sketch code for the Arduino board needs to be adapted for a thumb joystick instead of a hall-sensored thumbwheel. Second, I haven’t a clue how to interface the small thumbstick with the Arduino. What on Earth is that little ribbon connector called?
Well, that’s that. I’ll report back with any progress. Any help from the community would be appreciated. Oh… by the way, the dorky antenna in in the picture is kind of a joke… kind of:)