Maker Builds Palm-Sized Persistence-of-Vision TV Using Raspberry Pi Pico

A maker known as 'Ancient' has built a handheld mechanical television called the Scanwheel using a Raspberry Pi Pico, a stepper motor, and just five LEDs. The device relies on persistence of vision, where a spinning disk with 20 precisely spaced holes creates a scanning effect as it rotates at up to 900 RPM. This technique allows the blinking LEDs to produce a 20x20 pixel color display in the center, alongside two additional 20x20 black-and-white panels. The Pico coordinates LED timing and motor control through its GPIO pins, keeping the wiring simple enough for a breadboard. Full build instructions, firmware, and disk design files are publicly available on the project's GitHub repository.