Hardware & Code Archive
Looking for an Arduino EMG muscle sensor?
Backyard Brains built many of the classic Arduino muscle-signal lessons with the Muscle SpikerShield. The original board is retired, but the experiments remain one of the clearest ways to learn how EMG becomes a microcontroller input.
On this page, you’ll find the archived Muscle SpikerShield projects, Arduino code, and current Backyard Brains recommendations for building body-controlled machines.
The Muscle SpikerShield Legacy
Our Muscle SpikerShield paired a standard Arduino Uno with custom motor-control circuitry, multi-channel LED bar graphs, and precise EMG pre-amplification. It became the backbone of international science fairs and introductory bionics courses, allowing students to map forearm EMG voltages to servo sweeps, stepper motors, LCD screens, and custom actuators.
Through our classic "Control Machines with your Brain" experiment, we taught a generation of makers how to convert messy, raw analog biological electricity into solid, Arduino-readable threshold values. We used these thresholds to drive prosthetic limbs, run robotic grippers, play simple video games, and illuminate wearable LED strips.
The Modern Transition
For modern STEM classrooms and makerspaces, we now recommend the BBC micro:bit combined with our Spiker:bit shield. It offers a cleaner, more visual block-coding start (Microsoft MakeCode) while allowing students to graduate to Python or JavaScript. However, if you are a university lab or standard tinkerer committed to the native Arduino IDE, all of our classic Arduino sketches, schematics, and code are 100% open-source and permanently archived here.
Archived SpikerShield Arduino Projects
Our retired documentation, Arduino C++ sketches, and experiment guides are still incredibly valuable resources for understanding bionic hardware integration:
The Gripper Hand (Bionic Claw)
Read forearm EMG and use Arduino code to actuate a standard servo-controlled claw. A classic introduction to bionics and prosthetic servo mapping.
View Archived Docs
Stepper Motor Control
Step-by-step code and schematics showing how to drive high-precision stepper motors using muscle flexing thresholds via standard Arduino sketches.
View Archived Code
Human-to-Human Interface
The code blueprint that lets an Arduino detect forearm contractions and command a safe, battery-powered TENS stimulator on a partner's arm.
View Archived Docs
How to Interface Arduino with Current BYB Gear
While the specialized Muscle SpikerShield board has been retired, standard Arduino-based electrophysiology is still fully possible with custom wiring! You can route the analog output of our flagship Muscle SpikerBox Classic or Human SpikerBox directly to any Arduino analog input pin (A0–A5) to capture real-time muscle action potentials. (Note: This requires a custom breadboard wiring setup, so we recommend referring to our community forums and build guides before wiring external amplifiers to a microcontroller).
Ready to Build with the Modern Standard?
Snaps directly onto the BBC micro:bit, features pre-built Microsoft MakeCode block integrations, and has a massive, active, current project library. Start building bionics in under 10 minutes.