That is Mr. Lap's journey of nearly 10 years of persistent research, from individual circuit board design orders online to providing technical support for students participating in local science and technology competitions.
Go back to hometown to start a business
Graduated with a degree in Mechatronics from the University of Technology - Danang University, Mr. Le Van Lap used to work in FDI companies in the southern provinces, specializing in research, machine improvement and product design to support the operation of automated production lines.
After a while, Mr. Lap realized that his hometown still lacked applied technical research activities, especially in the field of technologyeducation . In 2020, he decided to return to Tam Ky, focusing his time on online work, receiving electronic control circuit designs from small orders on the Global Electronic Engineer Connection channel.
The first projects he received were only worth about 20 - 30 USD, sometimes simple circuit boards used to control LED lights or light sensors... Next were multi-layer circuit boards, integrated with microcontrollers, precise motor control in industrial equipment worth several thousand USD.
[VIDEO] - Mr. Le Van Lap shares the reason for returning to his hometown to start a business in the electronics industry:
Mr. Lap shared: “I make a lot of remote control circuits, temperature and humidity sensor circuits, and automation equipment in factories. Each project is an experience, some are tested and then broken, having to be repaired over and over again. But the more I do, the more skilled I become, I learn how to optimize, know how to avoid errors, understand more about the system, not just drawing circuits anymore.”
In nearly 10 years of working, Mr. Lap has designed hundreds of circuit boards with many different functions, from motor control, sensors, LCD displays to modules used in smart home devices, agricultural machines... Currently, he also manages the page "KiCad Vietnam" with more than 3,000 members, specializing in supporting young people to learn and exchange knowledge about PCB (printed circuit board) design completely free of charge, serving the community.
Nowadays, technology develops very fast, but the gap between urban and rural areas is still quite large. I choose to work quietly, designing small circuit boards to make technology simple, close and importantly, anyone can try it, even high school students.
Mr. Le Van Lap
STEM Education Equipment Project
During the time providing technical support to groups of students participating in STEM and Robocon competitions at school level, Mr. Lap noticed that many students had to use separate circuit boards to assemble robots. Each function was a small circuit, with many tangled wires, which were easy to loosen, difficult to control, and especially easy to confuse.
From that reality, he began to research and integrate the main functions into a single circuit board. After nearly a year of improvement, the Circle-bit Robot Programming Kit was born. This is an integrated circuit controller used in STEM teaching, capable of connecting to many types of sensors, motors, displaying and communicating data via industrial standards such as I2C, SPI, CAN or Bluetooth, Wifi.
The board has a compact size of only 50x50mm but has up to 30 expansion pins, allowing students to comfortably connect peripheral devices while still maintaining neatness and ease of operation.
“Previously, you had to buy a lot of individual circuits. Each circuit only did one thing, one read the sensor, one controlled the motor, one saved data… There were many wires, they were easily broken and very difficult to repair. I integrated them into a small device, cheaper, and easier to assemble. The most important thing is to help students not get confused, focus on programming thinking instead of struggling with hardware,” said Mr. Lap.
[VIDEO] - Mr. Le Van Lap shares about the Circle-bit Robot Programming Kit product:
With flexible integration features, strong connectivity and user-friendly programming software (Arduino, drag-and-drop interface, etc.), the Circle-bit Kit product won third prize at the "Search for Quang Nam Startup Talent" contest in 2025, becoming one of the typical startup projects in the field of STEM educational equipment developed by Da Nang people.
According to the project description, the product can be expanded for use in IoT models, smart device control, automation, and advanced robot programming research. The expected selling price of each kit is only about 150,000 VND, a cost suitable for high school students.
“I am completing the technical documentation, preparing to file an intellectual property registration for the design and looking for opportunities to commercialize the product. In the long term, I want to develop more integrated circuits that are closer to life, such as vegetable growing sensors, smart irrigation systems, and control models for grassroots innovation competitions,” Lap added.
Mr. Lap supported a group of students from Le Quy Don High School (Tam Ky ward) to win the Encouragement Prize at the 3rd "MUCE Open Robot Creation" contest - 2025 organized by the Central University of Construction, Da Nang branch.
Another group at Nguyen Du Secondary School (Ban Thach Ward) with his technical support also won the Design Award at the Open STEM Day 2024 - 2025 organized by FPT High School Da Nang.
Source: https://baodanang.vn/khoi-nghiep-tu-bo-mach-nho-den-uoc-mo-lon-3296998.html
![[Maritime News] More than 80% of global container shipping capacity is in the hands of MSC and major shipping alliances](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/402x226/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/7/16/6b4d586c984b4cbf8c5680352b9eaeb0)
Comment (0)