The Nordic Thingy:53™ is an easy-to-use IoT prototyping platform. It makes it possible to create prototypes and proofs-of-concept without building custom hardware. The Thingy:53 is built around the nRF5340 SoC, our flagship dual-core wireless SoC. The processing power and memory size of its dual Arm Cortex-M33 processors enables it to run embedded machine learning (ML) models directly on the device.

The nRF Edge Impulse app enables users to connect their Nordic Thingy:53 to their Edge Impulse studio account through a mobile device. It allows them to wirelessly transfer sensor data over Bluetooth LE to the mobile device and upload it to the cloud for training and download trained ML models to the Thingy:53 for deployment and inferencing. The app also acts as the GUI for viewing inferencing results from a running ML model.

The Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) radio allows updating firmware and communication over Bluetooth LE, and the radio also supports other protocols like Bluetooth mesh, Thread, Zigbee, and proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols. The Thread protocol compatibility also makes it a great choice when developing products for the new Matter ecosystem. Matter is a standardized application layer for connected home applications, using the Internet Protocol (IP) as the network layer. 

The Thingy:53 also includes many different integrated sensors, like environmental-, and color and light sensors, accelerometers, and a magnetometer, which all can be taken advantage of without additional hardware. It is powered by a rechargeable Li-Po battery that can be charged via USB-C. There is also an external 4-pin JST connector compatible with the Stemma/Qwiic/Grove standards for hardware accessories.

Every Thingy:53 comes pre-installed with the firmware to work with the nRF Edge Impulse app for iOS and Android. Also released with the Thingy:53 is the nRF Programmer app for updating the device firmware directly over the air from a mobile device.