“STM32 Quest for college students, creative project development experience, 1:1 coaching from experts to be provided”

Provides creative project development experience based on STM32's convenient development environment and rich HW/SW ecosystem
During the project development process, feedback will be provided through 1:1 coaching with ST product marketing experts.

[Editor's Note] STMicroelectronics (hereinafter referred to as ST) is hosting the 'STM32 Quest: 2024 University Developer Contest (GFX & Wireless)' for college students. The theme for 2024 is 'Implement your own idea using ST's GUI and Wireless'. As it is held for college students, it is also meaningful in terms of fostering future engineers from the perspective of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) that ST emphasizes. During the period, in addition to webinar sessions on GFX & Wireless solutions provided by ST marketers, STM32 development boards (STM32U5G9J, NUCLEO) will be distributed to students to provide them with experience developing their own creative projects. We met with Lee Jun-ho, Deputy Manager of Marketing for the STM32 Wireless product line, and Alexandre Renoux, Manager of Marketing for the TouchGFX product line, to learn more about the STM32 Quest.

▲ST Vice President Lee Jun-ho (left), Manager Alexandre Renou

■ STM32 Quest: Introducing the 2024 University Developer Contest (GFX & Wireless)

Vice President Lee Jun-ho: Every year, ST hosts the STM32 Quest event to provide embedded system developers with a place to experience STM32’s convenient development environment and rich hardware/software ecosystem, and to freely develop creative ideas.

The STM32 Quest, which will be held in 2024, will be held for approximately 5 months starting in August, targeting university students rather than developers working in the field.

STM32 Quest will provide hands-on experience developing your own creative projects using the STM32 board, along with webinar sessions (basic/advanced) on ST’s graphical and wireless solutions.

We also plan to provide practical feedback through 1:1 coaching with ST's product marketing experts during the project development process.

■ Benefits that college students can gain from participating in the contest />
Alexandre Renoux, Manager: Participants will not only be able to experience the development environment for the STM32 microcontroller, which is widely used in embedded industrial sites, but will also be able to see ST’s solutions for the latest technology trends, such as graphical UI, wireless connectivity, security, and AI.

Additionally, you can acquire basic knowledge and skills by completing the contest's sub-missions, and further implement the final application through creative assignments.

■ What is the most important thing you want to emphasize at this event?

Vice President Lee Jun-ho: I would like to highlight TouchGFX, a convenient and powerful graphic UI solution, and STM32WB products equipped with Bluetooth technology.

Currently, various wireless connectivity technologies are being widely applied in everything from industrial equipment to home appliances.

Among them, Bluetooth is installed in more than 5 billion devices every year due to its versatility and low-power characteristics, and continues to add additional functions to open up new and diverse application fields.

Design trends for embedded HMI (Human-Machine Interface) are also continuously evolving.

As products become smarter and offer more functionality, end users expect engaging experiences and easy, intuitive access to product features through HMIs.

TouchGFX solutions provide an excellent solution for implementing these requirements through graphical UI.

■ Do you have any memorable ideas from the TouchGFX contest?pan>

Alexandre Renoux, Manager: Among last year's winners, the one who submitted a robotic arm project remains in my memory.

Not only did he create a robot arm using a 3D printer on his own, but he also successfully developed code to make the robot arm operate smoothly and developed an advanced GUI based on his knowledge of robotics and programming.

With the winner’s consent, we also exhibited the prototype at K-TEC 2023, ST’s biggest tech conference of the year, which was a very impressive experience.

We look forward to seeing novel projects emerge from this year's contest, following last year's.

■ Can college students easily use the NUCLEO-64 STM32WB55 board?

Vice President Lee Jun-ho: The STM32 development environment is basically user-friendly and can be easily used by anyone by utilizing the STM32Cube ecosystem.

I also think that you will learn naturally through the webinars and video materials provided by ST, and through completing the 4-stage quests and missions.

■ What we want from the participants

Alexandre Renoux, Manager: We hope that you will experience ST’s user-friendly yet powerful development environment and the latest technologies in UI and wireless connectivity, and that you will be able to freely develop your creative ideas.