What is BEAPER Pico?

BEAPER is short for Beginner Electronics and Programming Educational Robot, and Pico represents its Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller. (BEAPER Pico also has a Arduino Nano ESP32-powered sibling called BEAPER Nano.)

BEAPER Pico is an all-in-one circuit designed primarily to help beginners learn to program microcontrollers using MicroPython. All of the typical beginner circuits are built into BEAPER Pico, making it easier for learners to focus on developing their programming skills without having to simultaneously build, test, debug, and re-build breadboard circuits!

BEAPER Pico grows with learners as they develop their programming skills, and can be assembled into a wide range of projects including a versatile and capable little robot, an IoT (internet of things) device, and a simple game system.

Designed for Education

BEAPER Pico was created for beginners by a high school computer technology teacher, and it’s a great solution for anyone looking to develop a better understanding of basic electronics and microcontroller programming.

Build BEAPER Pico in stages

BEAPER Pico is designed to be assembled in stages using common, through-hole components, so new learners can develop electronic circuit assembly skills as they build BEAPER Pico themselves. The circuit can be built in a variety of starter configurations, each using a subset of the full circuit parts to reduce costs in classroom settings, and allows any components to be added later to expand its capabilities. BEAPER Pico is designed to use a Raspberry Pi Pico with soldered headers – the Raspberry Pi Pico plugs into sockets on BEAPER Pico, which enable it to easily be removed and shared with other projects and on breadboards.

Starter configuration

Beginner BEAPER Pico starter configurations can include pushbuttons, LEDs, a piezo beeper, an ambient light sensor, two potentiometers, and can leverage Raspberry Pi Pico's on-die temperature sensor to help learners start to develop their programming skills using fundamental digital, analogue, and PWM techniques.

Robot configuration

It's easy for beginners to build BEAPER Pico into a robot by adding a low drop-out regulator, a 5V level shifter, and H-bridge motor driver IC right on-board, and the circuit even includes break-away optical line and floor sensor modules that can be populated with IR LEDs and analog phototransistors. The expansion headers centred along one edge of the BEAPER Pico PCB are even designed for common SONAR modules to plug right in.

Advanced capabilities

Advanced users can connect external analogue and digital circuits to BEAPER Pico’s expansion headers, add up to three servos to its 5V servo output headers, attach external I2C modules to the QWIIC connector, and create colourful graphical displays with an on-board 240x240 pixel LCD display module. All of that even before touching the Bluetooth and Wifi capabilities of the Rapsberry Pi Pico W series microcontrollers!

BEAPER Pico is a beginner circuit that beginners won't quickly outgrow!

BEAPER Pico Hardware Features

• 4 user pushbuttons and a hardware reset button
• 4 user LEDs and a power LED
• piezo speaker
• TEPT440 ambient light sensor
• L4940V5 low drop-out 5V regulator
• precision resistor voltage divider circuit
• 74HCT541 octal buffer/voltage level shifter
• SN754410NE quad half-bridge motor driver
• 6-pin screw terminal strip used to connect an external battery and motors
• 4x 3-pin 3.3V digital I/O expansion headers or a 4-pin header socket (using the socket permits an HC-SR04P 3.3V ultrasonic SONAR distance sensor module to be mounted directly on-board)
• 4x 3-pin 5V servo or digital output expansion headers
• QWIIC (JST-SH) I2C bus connector
• SPI header designed to fit a 1.54” TFT LCD display module
• 2x break-away optical sensor modules (one with a single LED and two phototransistors that can become either a light, floor, wall, or robot line-following sensor, and the other with a single LED and phototransistor that can become a light, floor, or wall sensor)

BEAPER Bot

BEAPER Bot is a complete ecosystem of 3D-printable components that make assembling BEAPER Pico into a variety of robots simple, quick, and inexpensive. The BEAPER Bot chassis can be configured as either a rear-drive or front-drive robot, and is propelled by commonly available N20 gear motors and plastic wheels. BEAPER Bot is cleverly designed to be assembled entirely without any screws, bolts, and nuts, and its perimeter dove-tail slots make it easy to attach add-on optical sensor mounts, servo mounts, and other accessories.

Get all of the 3D-printable BEAPER Bot parts on MakerWorld, or re-mix your own parts from the original designs shared on Tinkercad.

Learning activities

A complete set of five introductory learning activities are being developed for MicroPython and will be shared in GitHub. These activities will include:

• Introductory Activity 1 - Input and Output
• Introductory Activity 2 - Variables
• Introductory Activity 3 - Loops
• Introductory Activity 4 - Functions
• Introductory Activity 5 - Analogue Input

Each learning activity is designed to lead learners through one fundamental programming concept, and includes a starter program, program analysis activities designed to serve as a guided exploration of new concepts, and programming activities chosen to provide a range of open-ended challenges to help beginners to reinforce their learning and to expand their newly-learned programming skills.

Additional robot starter programs, LCD starter examples, and wireless starter program templates will also be available to provide beginners with structured program frameworks that can help them tackle more complex programming projects.

BEAPER Pico Ordering options

Since BEAPER Pico can be assembled in a number of different configurations, a variety of ordering options are available. Start with the BEAPER Pico PCB or PCB parts kit, and determine which optional parts are needed for your desired configuration.

BEAPER Pico PCB

BEAPER Pico is available as a bare PCB, or as circuit kit that includes the BEAPER Pico PCB and of all the components that can be soldered directly onto the PCB to fully populate BEAPER Pico's circuits. The kit includes all of the header pins and sockets, but excludes the plug-in devices that fit the sockets, namely the Raspberry Pi Pico, LCD, and SONAR module. A third parts kit including an Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is available, along with the following optional parts that can be added to the BEAPER Pico.

Optional LCD

The optional 1.54", 240x240 pixel TFT LCD includes a soldered-on header strip and plugs directly into the SPI expansion socket on BEAPER Pico. The LCD includes a 3D-printed mounting bracket and the two M2 nylon bolts and nuts needed to mount the LCD panel to the PCB.

Optional SONAR distance sensor module

Robots or other applications that need to use a SONAR module must use a 3.3V HC-SR04P SONAR module (5V HC-SR04 SONAR modules look similar but do not work reliably at 3.3V). The SONAR module is available separately, or as part of a BEAPER Bot robot parts kit, below.

Optional BEAPER Bot robot parts kit

Print your own BEAPER Bot robot chassis and add the robot parts kits to get your BEAPER Pico rolling. The robot parts kit includes two 6V, 200RPM N20 gear motors and white plastic wheels, a stainless steel roller ball assembly, and a 4-AA battery holder. It's also available with an optional 3.3V SONAR distance sensor module or a LV53L0X ToF Laser distance sensor module (coming soon).

Orders are usually shipped within 1-3 days by mail from Canada. Delivery times are generally 2-5 days within Canada, 5-12 days to the USA, and may be as long as 3-4 weeks internationally, depending on the country.

All taxes, tariffs, and other import fees for international orders are not included in the product price and are the sole responsibility of the recipient.