Embedded Gleam for Everyone: D. Bettio & G. Cavalieri on Microcontrollers

In 2017, Davide Bettio created AtomVM to run Erlang, Elixir and Gleam code on embedded devices with just a few kilobytes of memory. Fast forward to today, and Giacomo Cavalieri of the Gleam core team has built tooling that flashes a Gleam project onto a board with a single command.

Two dollars, some sensors, and a weekend is all it takes to get started with embedded Erlang development. No more dealing with low-level C, complex drivers, or painful debugging. Gleam's delightful developer experience combined with AtomVM's BEAM bytecode support brings approachable IoT to the masses.

In this episode, Davide and Giacomo share:

• — How AtomVM squeezes the BEAM onto memory-constrained devices
• — Why Gleam and AtomVM are a perfect match for hobbyists and students
• — Davide's "scar story" of a buggy AtomVM-powered home thermostat leaving him debugging in the cold
• — The trade-offs of the AtomVM standard library and how to extend it
• — Writing Gleam bindings for AtomVM features via Erlang FFI
• — Example projects to tackle as an embedded Gleam beginner
• — What's possible with $2 boards, some sensors, and MQTT

Recorded October 12, 2026.