Kitronik Robotics Board for Raspberry Pi Pico

Make the RiPi Pico the brains of your next robotics project with the Kitronik Simply Servos for Raspberry Pi Pico.

The compact Simply Servo board for Raspberry Pi Pico allows for up to 8 servos to be controlled simultaneously, making it ideal for advanced robotics projects with the RiPi Pico. The board should be used with a Pico that has soldered pin headers, the Pico can then slot straight into the board. A Pico with pin headers already attached can be obtained separately here. The board features standard 3-pin servo connectors which allow for servos to be plugged straight in without the need for adaptors or soldering.

As well as supporting 8 servos, the board also features 5 external connections to GPIO pins and a 3V and GND supply from the Pico. This IO breakout the 3 ADC pins and GP0 and GP1. This allows additional IO to be connected to the board and the state of these can then be read or controlled by the Pico.

Power is provided via a terminal block connector, the supply is then controlled by an on/off power switch to the board. There is a green power LED to indicate when the board is turned on. The board produces a regulated 3V supply that is fed into the 40-way connector to power the Pico, removing the need to power the Pico directly. The board's power connections are reverse polarity protected.

Note: This board is capable of continuous use at high currents. During such use, it may become hot. Also due to the additional current draw of a Pico W's wireless features it is not recommended to use the wireless functionality with this board. The Pico's W standard functionality will work as normal only the wireless functions are affected.

Features:

Control up 8 servos simultaneously with the Raspberry Pi Pico.

Ample IO for advanced robotics projects.

The board features standard 3 pin servo connectors.

The board also features 5 external connections to GPIO pins and a 3V and GND supply from the Pico. These IO breakout the 3 ADC pins and GP0 and GP1.

The board features a terminal block power input connector, with on/off switch and power status LED.

The board will power all of the attached servos and provide the attached Pico with a regulated 3V supply.

Additionally, there is built-in reverse polarity protection.

Kitronik has developed a MicroPython module & sample code.

Compatible with:

Raspberry Pi Pico

The Kitronik Autonomous Robotics Platform Pico, a fun and hands-on introduction to Robotics with the Raspberry Pi Pico. The Kitronik Autonomous Robotics Platform for Raspberry Pi Pico is a fun and hands-on introduction to buggy robotics. The easy to follow booklet provided with the kit guides you through all of the steps required for you to take control of your robot. The Robotics Platform has been designed to grow with you and provided additional servo and ultrasonic sensor connectors for more advanced projects. This buggy requires a Raspberry Pi Pico with pin headers attached.

The kit is supplied with the autonomous robotics platform chassis, 2 wheels and tyres, a Kitronik line-following sensor board, and an ultrasonic sensor. The kit requires no soldering and only minimal mechanical assembly. Fit the tyres to the wheels, push the wheels onto the pre-mounted motors and both the line following sensor and ultrasonic distance sensor plug straight into the board. Once put together, push the Raspberry Pi Pico into the onboard connector, add 4 x Alkaline AA batteries to the battery holders underneath and you are done. Your robot buggy is ready for instruction.

The included booklet guides you through every step of getting to know your robot. It contains a detailed assembly guide, info on preparing the Raspberry Pi Pico, instructions for installing an editor (Thonny), and instructions on how to write code for every feature of the Robotics Platform. No corner of the board is left unexplained. As well as the easy-to-follow getting started guide, Kitronik have also produced online tutorials which go into more detail on coding the key features of the board. The links to the tutorials can be found in the resources section at the foot of this page.

For those that like to modify their robot buggies, the buggy has 4 x threaded mounting points added to the chassis, 3 x M3 & 1 x M4. These mechanical fixing locations enable the addition of user-designed features, such as cosmetic chassis parts and/or additional robotic features, such as appendages. Kitronik have produced a dxf file showing the location and thread size of each of these mechanical fixing locations, it can be downloaded in the resources section below. The zip file also contains a jpg for those that don't have access to CAD or viewing software.

To help make programming the robot as simple as possible, Kitronik has developed a set of Micropython modules, which can be found here. More information on this can be found in the booklet supplied with the kit. If you aren't familiar with GIT, we've created an online beginners' guide to help you get up to speed. You can find the guide here (https://kitronik.co.uk/GitGuide).

Features:

A fun and hands-on introduction to buggy robotics.

The Robotics Platform has been designed to grow with you, start small then add complexity later.

The kit ships with a detailed guide booklet backed up with freely available online tutorials.

The autonomous robotics platform introduces the user to light, movement, and sensing so the robot can be as hands-on or hands-off as want it to be.

Program your buggy to react to the world around it.

Learn to code with MicroPython, using our simple-to-follow guides and the beginner-friendly Thonny editor.

Just add the Raspberry Pi Pico, some alkaline batteries, and some code and watch your buggy come to life!

This buggy is not supplied with a Pico, you can obtain a Raspberry Pi Pico here.

It also features 4 x threaded mounting points added to the chassis, 3 x M3 & 1 x M4.

Contents:

1 x Autonomous robotics buggy chassis PCB.

2 x Kitronik 5 spoke wheels and tyres.

1 x Kitronik line following sensor board.

1 x Ultrasonic Sensor.

Dimensions:

PCB Length: 126mm.

PCB Width: 80mm.

Wheel Diameter (with tire): 67.5mm.

Compatible with:

Raspberry Pi Pico

The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is a faster, more capable microcontroller board powered by the RP2350 chip. Featuring dual-core performance, expanded memory and built-in USB support, it’s the perfect choice for beginners, makers and classroom projects.

The Raspberry Pi Pico W, also with pre-soldered headers, allows users to easily add wireless connectivity to builds and IoT projects. The board has been pre-fitted with a pre-soldered 40-way header connector, for greater ease of use in hobbyist and industrial applications.

At the heart of this microcontroller is RP2040, a Raspberry Pi-designed chip. The Raspberry Pi Pico, it's; small, fast, highly affordable, and incredibly versatile. Brought to you by the same team that delivered the Raspberry Pi computer. The powerful, Pi-designed, RP2040 Dual ARM Cortex-M0+ @ 133MHz chip features 256KB internal RAM. This is paired with 2MB of onboard QSPI Flash memory for code and data storage. The board is fully loaded with the hardware and flexible I/O options that make it perfect for beginners and experts alike.

Unlike the Raspberry Pi computers, like the Raspberry Pi 4, the pico has no operating system. Instead, the board is programmed to do only the tasks that are required of it in the project it will be used for. It can be programmed with the C/C++ SDK or with MicroPython. Code on your Desktop Computer/Pi and then transfer via USB to the Pico.

The Raspberry Pi Pico W, also with pre-soldered headers, allows users to easily add wireless connectivity to projects. This makes it perfect for wirelessly controlled builds and IoT projects.

On-board single-band 2.4GHz wireless interfaces (802.11n) via Infineon CYW43439 wireless chip. With WPA3 & soft access point supporting up to 4 clients.

The Raspberry Pi Pico board is a new cutting-edge microcontroller that features the Pi-designed ARM-based dual-core RP2040 chip.

The RP2040 is a Dual ARM Cortex-M0+ @ 133MHz chip.

256kB on-chip SRAM.

Support for up to 16MB of off-chip Flash memory.

Pre-soldered header pins so no user soldering is required.

Micro USB port, power and data (USB 1.1 with device and host support).

Drag & drop programming via USB.

Low-power sleep and dormant modes.

Accurate clock and timer on-chip.

Temperature sensor.

Accelerated floating-point libraries on-chip.

Flexible IO, including; 26 multi-function GPIO pins, 2 × SPI, 2 × I2C, 2 × UART, 3 × 12-bit ADC, 16 × controllable PWM channels.

8 × Programmable I/O (PIO) state machines for custom peripheral support.

Code it with C/C++ SDK or with MicroPython.

The Pico W is supplied with pre-soldered header pins that are compatible with breadboards and standard jumper wires.

Note:A USB cable is NOT supplied. One is available separately here

This 90RPM in-line geared TT hobby motor is a great cost-effective solution for adding some movement to your buggy/robot builds. It can be used with our matching wheels and with our motor driver boards, such as our Motor Driver Board for Raspberry Pi Pico and the Compact Motor Driver Board for the BBC micro:bit, to name just two. Note: when using a microcontroller, do not drive these motors directly with the microcontroller, always use them in conjunction with a motor driver board.

Despite their low price point, these brightly coloured 120:1 motors are quite durable and are likely to last through multiple builds with ease.

Although there is a gearbox between the motor and the shaft, there are no rotary encoders. When connected to an appropriate motor driver, like the two listed above, you get forwards/backwards/stop. Simple yet effective. With 2 motors connected to a motor driver, you can also have directional control by turning off one motor and not the other. As is sometimes the case with servos and motors, there can be some small RPM differences between motors which can be overcome when coding, a little trial end error and the odd pause is usually all it takes.

These hobby motors have an operating voltage of between 3V and 6V, with 4.5V being nominal. This makes them suitable for powering with batteries. At 4.5V, they have a speed of 90RPM no-load and 72RPM at load. Torque at the nominal 4.5V is 0.3Kg/cm and they have a stall torque rating of 1.4Kg/cm. See Datasheet for more information.

Note:When using a microcontroller, do not attempt to drive these motors directly with the microcontroller, always use them in conjunction with a motor driver board.

Features:

A cost-effective movement solution for your buggy/robot builds.

Use in conjunction with a microcontroller, motor driver board, and wheels.

A simple yet durable design with a ratio of 120:1.

They are rated for an operating voltage of between 3V and 6v, with 4.5V being nominal.

They can be powered with batteries.

At 4.5V, they have a speed of 90RPM no-load and 72RPM at load.

Torque at the nominal 4.5V is 0.3Kg/cm and they have a stall torque rating of 1.4Kg/cm

Decoratively coloured!

Contents:

1 x In-Line Geared TT Hobby Motor.

Dimensions:

Length: 64.2mm.

Width: 22.5mm.

Height: 18.8mm.

Compatible with:

Raspberry Pi Pico

Micro:Bit