Raspberry Pi Pico enters the microcontroller market

This new product takes Raspberry Pi into the microcontroller market, in a game-changing $4 development kit.

Raspberry Pi Pico is built around the brand-new Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller, delivering a flexible, highly affordable development platform that can also be directly deployed into end products, reducing time-to-market.

RP2040 offers high performance for integer workloads, a large on-chip memory, and a wide range of I/O options, making it a flexible solution for a wide range of microcontroller applications.

Key features include:

• Memory: 264kB of on-chip SRAM; 2MB of on-board QSPI Flash.
• Interfacing and mechanicals: 26 GPIO pins, of which 3 can be used as analogue inputs. 0.1” through-hole pads with castellated edges for SMT assembly.
• Power: On-board power supply to generate 3.3V for RP2040 and external circuitry. Wide input voltage range, from 1.8V to 5.5V, giving designers the flexibility to select their preferred power source.
• Developer tools: Simple drag and drop programming via micro-USB. 3-pin Serial Wire Debug (SWD) for interactive debugging. Comprehensive C SDK, mature MicroPython port, and extensive examples and documentation.

At the heart of the Raspberry Pi Pico is RP2040, a Raspberry Pi-designed microcontroller. It features two ARM Cortex-M0+ cores clocked at 133 MHz; 264 kB of on-chip SRAM; 30 multifunction GPIO pins; dedicated hardware for commonly used peripherals alongside a programmable I/O subsystem for extended peripheral support; a four-channel ADC with internal temperature sensor; and built-in USB 1.1 with host and device support.

Lee Turner, Global Head of Semiconductors and SBC at Farnell, said: “Since the launch of the first Raspberry Pi in 2012, this market-leading brand has become synonymous with ease of use and value for money. Raspberry Pi Pico is the newest and smallest addition to the Raspberry Pi family, bringing with it the potential to transform the microcontroller market in the same way that the original Raspberry Pi board did for single board computing. At just $4, Pico provides incredible flexibility and opportunity for design engineers. We are delighted to be at the beginning of another exciting journey with our partners at Raspberry Pi.”

James Adams, Chief Operating Officer, Raspberry Pi Trading, said: “This is the start of an exciting new era for Raspberry Pi. With Raspberry Pi Pico, and RP2040, we have been able to draw on insights drawn from a decade of using other vendors’ microcontrollers, and to create an innovative silicon platform for our customers. People have used Raspberry Pi to create a broader spread of projects and products than we could have imagined a decade ago; we’re sure the same will be true of Raspberry Pi Pico.”

Farnell is the largest manufacturer and distributor of the Raspberry Pi and has sold more than 15 million units to date. The distributor stocks the complete range of Raspberry Pi single board computers enabling customers to build a wide range of devices for home, professional, education or commercial use.

The Raspberry Pi Pico will be available from Farnell in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in Asia Pacific