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16-Key Capacitive Touch Unit (MEGA328P)
The M5Stack 16-Key Capacitive Touch Unit is a Makey Makey-inspired input device built around an ATmega328P microcontroller. It detects capacitive touch acros...
The M5Stack 16-Key Capacitive Touch Unit is a Makey Makey-inspired input device built around an ATmega328P microcontroller. It detects capacitive touch across 16 key pads, allowing you to turn everyday objects — fruit, foil, water, or anything conductive — into touch-sensitive buttons. A built-in buzzer provides audio feedback for each key press.
The unit connects to M5Stack Core devices via the Grove A port (I2C, address 0x51) and is programmable using Arduino IDE or UIFlow (Blockly/Python). Two Lego-compatible mounting holes are included for easy integration into builds.
Key Features
- 16 Capacitive Touch Keys – Each key responds to conductive objects or skin contact
- ATmega328P Controller – Onboard processing with upgradeable firmware
- Built-in Buzzer – Audio tone feedback for each key (fruit piano, etc.)
- Grove A (I2C) – Connects to M5Stack Core via I2C at address 0x51
- Multi-Platform Development – Arduino IDE and UIFlow (Blockly/Python)
- Lego Compatible – Two mounting holes for Lego integration
Pin Mapping (Grove A)
- GPIO22 – SCL
- GPIO21 – SDA
- 5V – Power
- GND – Ground
Ideal For
- Fruit pianos and interactive music projects
- Creative input devices using everyday objects
- STEM education and capacitive touch experiments
- M5Stack-based interactive installations
Package Contents
- 1× 16-Key Capacitive Touch Unit (MEGA328P)
- 1× Grove cable
Resources
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- ATmega328P
- An 8-bit microcontroller chip used on many Arduino Uno-compatible boards. Knowing the controller uses an ATmega328P helps you understand its memory, speed, pin compatibility, and the Arduino sketches it can run.
- Grove
- Grove is a plug-in connector ecosystem for sensors and modules that avoids soldering and jumper wires. Grove compatibility matters because it can make it quicker to add supported I2C devices, as long as the cable and voltage are suitable.
- I2C
- I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.
- IDE
- Short for Integrated Development Environment, a program used to write, run and manage code. It matters because some learners prefer a traditional coding workspace instead of a guided notebook-style lesson.
- microcontroller
- A microcontroller is a small computer on a chip that runs your program and controls connected inputs and outputs. For this product, it is the part that reads buttons and sensors, drives the display and speaker, and communicates over Bluetooth.
Find this product in
Sensors & Input
Related Tutorials
Free guides on learn.littlebird.com.au
