This Unique Macropad Controls Everything Without a PC

I like macropads and have written about dozens of them. But while they are genuinely useful, they all do pretty much the same thing: launching shortcuts and actions on a connected PC. That is, of course, the whole point. However, you can break outside that paradigm with a little bit of creativity. The Raccoon Lab achieved that when he built this unique macropad that controls everything — no PC necessary.

The idea here was to build a kind of universal macropad that works with anything “smart,” without going through a PC as an intermediary. If you remember those fancy Logitech universal remotes from a decade or two ago, you’ll get the gist. But in this case, The Raccoon Lab went with a macropad form factor and all control commands route through Wi-Fi (unless connected to a PC).

The hardware isn’t much different than what you’d find in a conventional macropad. The Raccoon Lab designed a custom PCB hosting a microcontroller, mechanical key switches, a small LCD screen, a rotary encoder, and RGB LEDs. That PCB fits into a 3D-printed enclosure.

Importantly, the microcontroller is an ESP32, which has Wi-Fi. That lets it connect to a Home Assistant server, which is how it is able to control things outside of a PC. For example, if the user has a thermostat connected to Home Assistant, then they’d be able to set the temperature using the macropad. That makes the macropad’s utility infinitely expandable to anything added to Home Assistant in the future.

But this can also act like a regular old macropad when connected to a PC. In that mode, it performs like any other macropad. The Raccoon Lab even created custom software that runs on the PC. That allows for customization of the macropad (including LED colors) and also the shortcuts, functions, and actions it can perform. The software has a GUI where the user can assign global or program-specific actions to the macropad’s buttons.

It all looks polished and very usable. If you like the concept, you can purchase the design files, code, and build guide from The Raccoon Lab website.