Ships starting mid-September 2026. PIKKed is made to order — boards are being ordered and produced now.

What is it?

PIKKed lights up the exact component to place next, so you never guess and you never place the wrong part. Import your Gerber, BOM, and position files straight from your EDA tool into the free browser app, snap on a plate, and follow the glow, cell by cell, all the way down the board.

This is pick-to-light — a Poka-Yoke technique built to make mistakes physically impossible, used across manual industrial assembly wherever getting it right, every time, actually matters. It normally lives inside expensive kitting stations on factory floors. PIKKed brings the same mistake-proofing to the bench next to your soldering iron.

The first light-guided pick & place built for the hobby bench.

What makes it special?

• You never choose blind. The board tells you which part and where — not your memory, not a printed BOM you're cross-checking by hand.
• Color-coded, not just lit. Cells glow in different colors by component type, so you get a visual read before you even glance at the display.
• Fill Mode does the kitting math for you. Tell PIKKed how many boards you're building, and it calculates exactly how many of each part belong in every cell — then walks you through loading the plate correctly.
• Handles real boards, not just small SMD. Connectors, electrolytics, anything too big for the grid gets marked EXTERNAL. PIKKed still lists it in the right order on the display — it just skips lighting a cell for it.
• Built for boards bigger than one plate. Jobs can span multiple plates, and PIKKed tells you exactly when to switch.
• Fully offline once loaded. No PC, no network at the bench — load the job once and place the whole board from the device alone.

How it works

1. Design — import Gerber + BOM + positions in the free browser app, assign parts to cells, set the pick order. Nothing to install.
2. Transfer — send the job to PIKKed over USB-C.
3. Fill — enter how many boards you're building. Fill Mode calculates the quantity for every cell and guides you through loading the plate, one bay at a time.
4. Place — the next cell lights up in the color for that part type. Multi-plate jobs prompt you when it's time to swap; oversized EXTERNAL parts show on the display in order, without a light. Pick, place, step to the next.

Controls & display

Three mechanical keys (Cherry MX switches) run the whole sequence:

The OLED always shows the reference designator (e.g. Y1), how many of that value you've placed versus how many you need, the component's value, its footprint, and which plate it's on.

Plates

Snap-on 3D-printed plates for every part size:

• Fine Passives — the finest 9×6 grid, built for resistors, capacitors, and other small SMD
• Mixed-SMD — fine cells plus a few larger bays for bigger passives and small ICs
• Fine-pitch ICs — merged bays sized for cut tape and trays of QFN/QFP
• Connectors & THT — big compartments for headers, connectors, and through-hole parts

Need something specific? Lay out your own grid in the free configurator and download a print-ready STL.

Specs

• Addressable RGB, one per cell — colors change by component type
• Grid up to 9×6 (~1 cm cells); merge cells for larger parts
• OLED display + 3 Cherry MX mechanical switches
• USB-C for job transfer and power
• Multi-plate jobs with on-screen switch prompts
• Fill Mode with automatic per-cell quantity calculation from board count
• EXTERNAL marking for parts too large for the grid
• 3D-printed enclosure and plates
• Free browser app — Gerber + BOM + position import, no install
• Weight: ~125 g (board + one plate)

What's in the box

PIKKed board, assembled and tested. Default 9×6 plate. Quickstart card.

Shipping

First units ship mid-September 2026 — boards are being ordered and produced now. Shipped tracked from Italy.

Import duties/taxes for non-EU orders, including the US, are the buyer's responsibility and are not included in shipping.

FAQ

• Do I have to retype my BOM? No — import Gerber, BOM, and positions, and PIKKed builds the job from your real files.
• Does it need a computer while I'm assembling? No. Load the job once; the device runs the whole sequence on its own.
• What if a component is too big for the grid? Mark it EXTERNAL. PIKKed still lists it in the correct order on the display — it just won't light a cell for it.
• What if my job needs more parts than one plate holds? PIKKed supports jobs spanning multiple plates and tells you exactly when to switch.
• How does Fill Mode work? Enter the number of boards you're building; PIKKed calculates the exact quantity for every cell and guides you through loading the plate correctly.
• Can I design my own plates? Yes — the free configurator outputs a print-ready STL for any layout you need.
• Which browser do I need? Any Chromium-based browser for USB transfer; the design app itself runs anywhere.
• Will I be charged customs fees? Possibly, if you're outside the EU. Import duties and taxes are the buyer's responsibility and aren't included in the shipping price.

About the maker

PIKKed is designed and built by AlienLogic, an independent electronics studio working across custom PCB design, embedded firmware, and developer tooling. Hardware and firmware are closed source, built and supported in-house by the same person — for a sense of the engineering behind it, more of the maker's work is public on GitHub under chmod775.

Stop losing a board to one part in the wrong footprint. Let the light do the checking.

Web App — https://www.alienlogic.it/pikked/ · GitHub — github.com/chmod775

Made to order — first units ship mid-September 2026 · tracked from Italy · firmware updates via drag-and-drop [UF2] · RoHS-compliant · sold as a development / lab tool.