“Tomorrow the birds will sing”

The Tramp, City Lights (1931)

microboids

microboids is a minimalist electronic bird murmuration.

microboids

Designed and developed by T.L. 2025.

Brief

Earlier in the year I challenged myself to implement a bird murmuration model on a microcontroller. I loved the result and thought it would make a nice ornament for my desk, so I designed a circuit board that would run the simulation ad infinitum. I found some small wooden stands that the board slots into and it makes for a nice little trinket.

Usage

Underside of the circuit board

• Connect via micro USB cable.
• Press RESET to restart the murmuration
• Use SW2 switch to select operating mode
  • ON: Murmuration
  • 1: Conway’s game of life

Technical info

• Source Code link
• Schematic link

Articles

• A short summary of the boids murmuration algorithm with a desktop demo written in rust. link
• Implementing boids on a microcontroller with fixed point arithmetic link

Last updated: 2025-09-04