Snekboard microcontroller designed for LEGO projects

Snekboard is an open hardware development board that’s designed to let you hook up to LEGO Power Functions motors and switches so you can build robots out of LEGO and control them with CircuitPython or the simpler Snek programming language. Measuring just 48 x 48 mm the same size as 6 x 6 LEGO studs the small yet powerful develop on board can be used to control a wide variety of different functions and is powered by a 3.7 V, 900 mAh single-cell Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery.

Snekboard includes everything you need on a single board a power supply, motor controllers, a processor, and connectors. You will not need to buy additional boards or connect an external battery box. The small battery fits underneath the board and charges via a USB connection while Snekboard is being programmed from the host.

Features of the open hardware microcontroller specifically designed for controlling LEGO projects include :

– Processor (SAMD21G18A): ARM Cortex M0 with 256 kB of flash and 32 kB of RAM. The same chip found in many Arduino boards, including some from Adafruit.
– Power: LiPo battery and support for USB charging, protected by an automatic power selector with a current limit. LEGO motors for the last many years have run on 9 V. So as not to require 9 V worth of batteries, Snekboard makes use of a boost regulator to run off of a single-cell LiPo battery, which has the same connector found on those sold by SparkFun and Adafruit.
– Motor Controllers (TI DRV8800): Four controllers provide up to 2.8 A for LEGO motors and servos.
– IO: Eight GPIOs with 3.3 V and GND available to each.
– LEDs: Two NeoPixel RGB LEDs and one blue LED.
– Extra Flash: 2 MB of additional flash storage which CircuitPython uses for libraries and programs.

The Snekboard by Keith Packard is now available to purchase priced at $79 from the Crowd Supply website with worldwide shipping available and free shipping throughout the United States. Any orders placed this week will start shipping during early May 2020.

Source: Snekboard microcontroller designed for LEGO projects


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