Raspberry Pi Pico – A New 4$ Microcontroller from Raspberry Pi Lets you Easily Build Hardware Projects using MicroPython

Published  January 21, 2021   0
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RP2040 Raspberry Pi Pico
RP2040 Raspberry Pi Pico

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the launch of its new development board, the Raspberry Pi Pico. Being one of the first microcontroller-class products from Raspberry Pi, this compact and low-cost board is built on a brand-new chip called RP2040 which was developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation itself. The RP2040 is a Dual-core Cortex-M0+ processor with 2MB Flash, 264KB SRAM, and 133MHz flexible clock. Whether you’re looking for a standalone board for deep-embedded development or a companion to your Raspberry Pi computer, or you’re taking your first steps with a microcontroller, this is the board that could be for you.

This new board is not a replacement for the classic Pi3 or Pi4 but is more like an additional add-on module, which allows you to interface hardware sensors and actuators to your project. The board does not have a lot of computing power but it makes up to it by providing rich GPIO peripherals and on top of that, it can be easily programmed by using both Micro python/C by simply connecting the pico board to a computer or to a Raspberry Pi. In short, this new board makes up for the muscle power that our classic Pi’s were missing, by providing 26 multifunction GPIO pins comprising of 3 Analog inputs, 16xPWM, 2xUART, 2xSPI, 2xI2C, etc. A more detailed specification of the pico board is listed below.

Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040) Specifications

  • Dual-core ARM Cortex M0+ processor, flexible clock running up to 133 MHz
  • 264kB of SRAM, and 2MB of onboard Flash memory
  • Castellated module allows soldering directly to carrier boards
  • USB 1.1 Host and Device support
  • Low-power sleep and dormant modes
  • Drag & drop programming using mass storage over USB
  • 26 multi-function GPIO pins
  • 2×SPI, 2×I2C, 2×UART, 3×12-bit ADC, 16×controllable PWM channels
  • Real-time clock (RTC)
  • Temperature sensor
  • Accelerated floating-point libraries on-chip
  • 8×Programmable IO (PIO) state machines for custom peripheral support
  • Dimensions: 51mm x 21mm

The Raspberry Pi Pico is currently available for purchase for 4$, the board can be programmed using popular Thonny IDE and other SDK and toolchain for pico can also be found on the raspberry pi website. There is also a neat Pico getting started guide for beginners to get building with pico out of the box.