RS DesignSpark announces Arduino UNO Q Community Challenge winner

RS DesignSpark launched the global Arduino UNO Q Community Challenge to encourage its members - engineers and makers - to explore the growing potential of edge AI, by designing a solution to themed challenges using the Arduino UNO Q next-generation board. It combines the classic Arduino form factor with powerful modern capabilities, and is the first Arduino board to feature a dual-brain architecture. This makes it ideal for robotics, IoT systems, computer vision, and smart automation projects that need both AI processing and rule-based control.

Participants were invited to develop innovative solutions, choosing one of three themes: AI at the Edge - Smarter Everyday Objects; Sustainability through Intelligence - Solutions for Greener Living; and Human Machine Harmony - Assisted Tech Reinvented.

RS DesignSpark director Pete Wood said: "The competition attracted a strong field of entries, showcasing creative and practical applications of the Arduino UNO Q platform. The standard of submissions was very high, presenting a challenging final decision for the judges."

The winning submission, Smart Water Guardian AI, uses artificial intelligence to identify subtle changes in water quality before conditions become unsafe. Traditional water monitoring systems typically generate alerts only after specific limits have been exceeded. Smart Water Guardian AI analyses multiple water quality indicators together over time and provides a proactive approach, enabling earlier intervention and supporting more effective water management.

The project demonstrated considered use of the Arduino UNO Q architecture by distributing tasks across its two processing environments. Real-time sensing and control are managed by the microcontroller, while the Linux-based processor handles data analysis and AI inference. Through the platform's Bridge functionality, both systems work together seamlessly, enabling responsive, local processing without relying on cloud infrastructure. This edge-based approach delivers the flexibility required for advanced analytics while maintaining real-time performance.

Andrea Richetta, principal product evangelist at Arduino, said: "This is the first time I have seen this type of project using the UNO Q. The submission showed strong technical execution and offered comprehensive supporting documentation and presentation. The project demonstrates how emerging technologies like the Arduino UNO Q can be applied to solve real-world challenges in an accessible and impactful way."

While Smart Water Guardian AI serves as a proof of concept, it already combines several advanced technologies, including multi-sensor monitoring, time-series analysis, on-device AI, visualisation, and alerting capabilities. The concept offers significant opportunities for future development, including expanded training datasets, model refinement, real-world testing, and deployment across distributed monitoring networks.

Wood concluded: "Congratulations to Biaou David Barthelemy Kochoni on this well-deserved achievement. His success reflects not only the strength of his project, but also the innovation and creativity demonstrated throughout this year's Arduino UNO Q Community Challenge."

Kochoni is currently pursuing a master's degree in Signal Processing and Instrumentation Engineering at Jean Monnet University in France.