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RoadTest: Sign Up to Roadtest the Cytron MAKER PI RP2040

Author: crisdeodates

Creation date: 24 Jun 2023

Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools

Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True

What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: Cytron Maker Pi PICO, Pimoroni Inventor 2040 W

What were the biggest problems encountered?: Unavailability of onboard WiFi/BLE for IoT projects, no dedicated GPIO breakout, unavailability of motor driver datasheet in English

Detailed Review:

First of all, I would like to thank rscasny, the roadtest program team, and element14 for giving me this awesome chance to roadtest this amazing product. If you are a robotics freak like me, I am sure you are gonna love the Maker Pi RP2040 kit from Cytron. E14 was kind enough to send me a piece for road testing. The kit (https://www.cytron.io/p-maker-pi-rp2040-simplifying-robotics-with-raspberry-pi-rp2040) is so awesome that you can just plug and play most of the components, code easily using CircuitPython / MicroPython (Python) and Arduino (C++), and get started with your robot already.

Unboxing/Out of the box Experience

Let's have a look at the kit and its components:

So in the box, we have got the following components:
1x Maker Pi RP2040
4x Grove to Female Header Cable
1x Mini Screwdriver
1x Silicone Rubber Base (4 nos)

Now, let's have a look at the Maker Pi RP2040. Maker Pi 2040 (datasheet: https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/3685790.pdf) features a Raspberry Pi RP2040 (datasheet: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/rp2040/rp2040-datasheet.pdf, with the following features:

• Dimensions: 88mm(L) x 64mm(W) x 13mm(H)
• Dual-core Cortex M0+ at upto 133MHz clock and 264KB SRAM
• 2MB Q-SPI Flash
• USB 1.1 Interface with Device and Host
• A vast array of power inputs with automatic power input selection
• 5v via USB micro B
• 3.7v via Li-Po/Li-Ion battery port
• 3.6v - 6v via VIN terminal
• Power Switch
• Reset button
• 3x programmable push button (BOOTSEL, GP20-21)
• Piezo buzzer with Mute switch (GP22)
• 13x Blue programmable LED (GP0-7, GP16-17, GP26-28)
• 2x RGB LED (GP18)
• Dual channel H-Bridge Motor Driver to control upto 2x brushed DC motor or 1x stepper motor (GP8-11)
• 4x Servo motor port (GP12-15)
• 7x Grove ports (GP0-7, GP16-17, GP26-28)
• SWD port for debugging
• CircuitPython firmware preloaded

Picture courtesy: Cytron

Picture courtesy: Cytron

Upon unboxing and powering up the kit via USB, the first thing that we see is the execution of the demo code that is shipped with the kit, written in CircuitPython.

It has the following features:

• RGB LEDs will shift colors and are always ON.
• Mario's melody tune will be played via the Piezo buzzer
• Blue LEDs light up in sequence with the Mario tune-like running lights
• M1A, M1B, M2A, and M2B push buttons will emulate DC motor controls at the Motor terminals 1 & 2, characterized by RED LEDs.
• GP20 push button will activate all Leds, drives the motor at 50% speed, rotates the servos to 0 degrees, and gives a piezo 3-tone sound.
• GP21 push button will deactivate all Leds, stops the motors, rotates the servos to 180 degrees, and gives a piezo 3-tone sound.

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Links and documentation

Let's check some links to get started.

Link to this roadtest: https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/rt/roadtests/618/sign_up_to_roadtest_1#pifragment-4106=9&pifragment-4100=4

Maker Pi RP2040 review videos from youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeFKcoZNV6I&ab_channel=CytronTechnologies 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUz60BY0Co0&ab_channel=LearnEmbeddedSystems 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CXirBVwVoU&ab_channel=CytronTechnologies 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE3KMqO27Wk&ab_channel=ScottBeasley 

Cytron Product page: https://www.cytron.io/p-maker-pi-rp2040-simplifying-robotics-with-raspberry-pi-rp2040 

Cytron GitHub link: https://github.com/CytronTechnologies/MAKER-PI-RP2040/tree/main

Demo code: https://github.com/CytronTechnologies/MAKER-PI-RP2040/blob/main/Examples/CircuitPython/Out-of-the-box%20Demo%20Code/code.py 

Additional links:

• RP2040 Datasheet
• Maker Pi RP2040 Datasheet
• Maker Pi RP2040 Schematic
• 3D CAD for Maker Pi RP2040
• Getting Started with RP2040 (Raspberry Pi official page)
• Getting Started with Maker Pi RP2040 & Example Code
• Maker Pi RP2040 VS. Maker Pi Pico comparison table
• CircuitPython for Maker Pi RP2040

Maker Pi RP2040 sample projects:

1. https://www.cytron.io/tutorial/hungry-robot-powered-by-maker-pi-rp2040-and-circuitpython
2. https://www.cytron.io/tutorial/object-sense-with-servo-using-maker-pi-rp2040
3. https://www.cytron.io/tutorial/build-otto-diy-robot-using-maker-pi-rp2040

Here are some additional links to purchase the Maker Pi RP2040.

This can also vary according to your geographical area.

1. Farnell: https://it.farnell.com/cytron/maker-pi-rp2040/maker-pi-board-32bit-arm-cortex/dp/3942216
2. Cytron: https://www.cytron.io/p-maker-pi-rp2040-simplifying-robotics-with-raspberry-pi-rp2040
3. DigiKey: https://www.digikey.it/it/products/detail/cytron-technologies-sdn-bhd/MAKER-PI-RP2040/14557836
4. Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5129
5. Mouser: https://www.mouser.it/ProductDetail/Seeed-Studio/102991562?qs=QNEnbhJQKvYxwOsRFdzkDQ%3D%3D 
6. Pi Hut: https://thepihut.com/products/maker-pi-rp2040
7. Seeed studio: https://www.seeedstudio.com/MAKER-PI-RP2040-p-4961.html
8. Kitronik: https://kitronik.co.uk/products/5351-cytron-maker-pi-rp2040-simplifying-robotics-with-raspberry-pi-rp2040
9. RobotShop: https://www.robotshop.com/products/maker-pi-rp2040-simplifying-robotics-w-raspberry-pi-rp2040
10. ROBU.IN: https://robu.in/product/cytron-maker-pi-rp2040-simplifying-robotics-with-raspberry-pi-rp2040/

Similar development kit(s)

Cytron Maker Pi PICO

This board is similar in many ways to yet another kit from Cytron, called the Maker Pi PICO (https://www.cytron.io/p-maker-pi-pico), and is more focused on beginners for learning and prototyping.

Cytron Maker Pi PICO vs Cytron Maker Pi RP2040

Here is the comparison between the Maker Pi RP2040 and Maker Pi PICO.

Picture courtesy: Cytron

Pimoroni Inventor 2040 W

The Pimoroni Inventor 2040 W (https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inventor-2040-w?variant=40053063155795) is a great board which is very similar in features to the Maker Pi RP2040.

It has a compact form factor, C++/ MicroPython support, dual motor driver (DRV8833), and WiFi connectivity.

Amazingly, it also got 6 GPIO breakouts, 2 x Qw/ST connectors, a speaker connection, 12 x addressable RGB LEDs/Neopixels, and battery connectors.

I would believe this is a very strong competitor to the Maker Pi RP2040 as it hosts many features that the latter lacks.

Picture courtesy: Tom's Hardware

Board walkthrough

Let's have a closer look at the board.

Picture courtesy: Cytron

Vin Terminal: Any power source within the 3.6 - 6V range can be connected.

LiPo Battery Connector: A Single Cell LiPo or a Li-Ion Battery can be connected and rechargeable via USB. The documentation mentions the following: “The battery is protected from overcharged and over-discharged. If the board cannot be turned on when the battery is connected, please charge the battery to activate the battery protection circuit.”

Power LED: It is turned ON when the board is powered up and the ON/OFF switch is in the ON position.

On/Off Switch: This can be used to turn the kit on or off. This is a handy feature for hobbyists.

Debug Port: This is connected to the debugging port on the RP2040 SoC.

Micro USB Port: This USB port can be used for uploading programs from a PC via CircuitPython, Arduino, etc. It also doubles up as a power source for the board.

Reset Button: This button can be pressed to reset the RP2040.

Boot Button: Press and hold this button while resetting the RP2040 will enter the bootloader mode. This can be used to load the MicroPython / CircuitPython or custom C/C++ firmware very easily via a mounted drive that is enabled in this mode.

Grove Ports: This can be used to connect to the extensive variety of Grove modules available. There are 7 Grove Ports and each port can be used for multiple functions. 

RGB LEDs: They are WS2812 intelligent control LED lights and are user-programmable. The only drawback is that both of them are connected to GP18 and hence cannot be controlled individually.

Programmable Buttons: Both the programmable buttons connected to GP20 and GP21 are accessible from the user program. 

Piezo Buzzer: It is connected to GP22 and can be used to play tone or melody.

Buzzer Mute Switch: This can be used to mute the piezo buzzer.

GPIO Status LEDs: These are connected to the Grove ports and can act as LED indicators. These will turn on when the corresponding GPIO state is high.

Motor Test Buttons: These are a very good addition to this kit. These buttons can be pressed to test the functionality of the motor driver. Also, these can simulate the motor control signals without the need for connecting actual motors. They are very helpful in testing. By default, motors will run at full speed.

Servo Ports: These are the connectors for 4 x RC servo motors. Their corresponding signals are connected to GP12, GP13, GP14, and GP15 respectively. For the servos, the V+ voltage is equal to the power source voltage.

Motor Status LEDs: They will automatically turn on when the motor is running. They are very useful for motor control simulation and testing.

DC Motor Terminals: They connect to the motor terminals. The motor voltage at full speed is equal to the power source voltage and the motor direction is dependent on the polarity of the signal at the terminals. M1A is connected to GP8, M2A is connected to GP10, M1B is connected to GP9, and M2B is connected to GP11. The maximum DC Motor Current (Per Channel) is 1A continuous and 1.5A peak. The DC Motor Driver's PWM Frequency is 20KHz. 

* Please note that the actual motor direction is depending on the motor connection. Swapping the connection (MxA & MxB) will reverse the direction of the motors.

INFO: The motor driver is the MX1515H driver, manufactured by Sinotech Mixic Electronics. It is a dual-channel DC motor driver.

Datasheet: https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf/909509/SinotechMixicElectronics/MX1515/1

Software Setup

Here I will walk you through the setup to program the Maker Pi RP2040 via CircuitPython and Arduino.

CircuitPython / MicroPython Setup

The board comes pre-configured with CircuitPython firmware and has a demo code. 

CircuitPython is developed by Adafruit and they have a plethora of resources (https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-circuitpython/installing-circuitpython) to manage and update the firmware.

In short, the steps are as follows:

1. Download the latest firmware UF2 file for CircuitPython (https://downloads.circuitpython.org/bin/cytron_maker_pi_rp2040/en_GB/adafruit-circuitpython-cytron_maker_pi_rp2040-en_GB-8.1.0.uf2) or MicroPython (https://micropython.org/download/rp2-pico/rp2-pico-latest.uf2).
2. Connect the Maker Pi RP2040 to your computer via the USB interface.
3. Enter the bootloader of RP2040 by holding down the boot select button, and pressing and releasing the reset button while doing it. Continue to hold the boot select button until the bootloader drive named RPI-RP2 appears on your computer. 
4. Drag and drop the downloaded firmware file to this drive. On completion, the boot drive will disappear and a new drive will show up on your computer called CIRCUITPY.
5. Now you are ready to edit the CircuitPython files on the CIRCUITPY drive.

Arduino Setup

Arduino IDE (https://www.arduino.cc/en/software) is required for this method of programming.

Since we don't have official Arduino support for the Maker Pi RP2040, we will follow the steps based on Arduino Pico a.k.a Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino core (https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico), which is a port of the RP2040 to the Arduino ecosystem.

The steps are as follows:

1. Open up the Arduino IDE and go to File -> Preferences.
2. In the dialog that pops up, enter the following URL in the "Additional Boards Manager URLs" field: https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json 
   
   
   
   
3. Hit OK to close the dialog.
4. Go to Tools -> Boards -> Board Manager in the IDE
5. Type "pico" in the search box, select “Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040” and click "Install" to install the Arduino support for RP2040 boards.
   
   
   
   
6. Enter the bootloader of RP2040 by holding down the boot select button, and pressing and releasing the reset button while doing it. Continue to hold the boot select button until the bootloader drive named RPI-RP2 appears on your computer. 
7. Go to Tools -> Boards, select “Cytron Maker Pi RP2040” and select the “UF2 Board” as the port.
   Please note that the port can vary as per your operating system. Ensure that you select the correct port.
   
   
   
   
8. Bring up the Arduino sketch, for eg, the default Arduino blink sketch.
9. Compile and upload it to the board.
   
   
   
   
10. Once the flashing/uploading is complete, the blue LED at GP3 will start blinking.
    
    
    
    

Testing

Here we will test the interfacing of Maker Pi RP2040 with various sensors and actuators. Due to my current setup and resource limitations, I am not able to do an extensive hardware test. However, I will be able to perform the same soon and will be updating the road test as it is completed.

Servo Test

The demo code shipped with the Maker Pi RP2040 is already capable of driving the servo back and forth between 0 and 180 degrees.

The video depicts the corresponding servo rotation when the buttons corresponding to GP20 and GP21 are pressed. 

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Piezo Test

As mentioned prior, the Maker Pi RP2040 comes with an inbuilt piezo buzzer capable of producing melody tunes in different octaves.

Some sample tests that were performed are provided below.

Maker Pi RP2040 playing the Pirates of the Caribbean melody

Here I used CircuitPython and the simpleio python package to drive the piezo buzzer across various tones and octaves.

I also programmed the GPIO Status LEDs to act as a chaser circuit based on the strength of the tone. ENJOY 

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Maker Pi RP2040 playing the Game of Thrones melody

Here I again used CircuitPython and the simpleio python package to drive the piezo buzzer across various tones and octaves.

I also programmed the GPIO Status LEDs to act as a chaser circuit based on the strength of the tone. ENJOY 

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Grove sensor interfacing

The Maker Pi RP2040 is capable of interfacing with the vast array of Grove sensors available.

Though I am yet to test these, they will be completely interfaced and will be updated soon.

Conclusion

The Maker Pi RP2040 was a very fun and interesting board to work with. The readily available out-of-the-box CircuitPython programming will allow anyone to directly jump into using and tinkering with the kit. This allows a robotics project to be realized with little to no effort. The availability of good documentation is also a plus as it allows in-depth programming and interfacing. The peripheral interfacings are also well set.

The major pros and cons of the kit are summarized below.

Pros

1. Simple, robust, and cheap RP2040 robotics kit.
2. CircuitPython programming is available out of the box.
3. Very easy kit to work with, even for robotics beginners.
4. Very good first impression and out-of-the-box experience.
5. Availability of good documentation and community support.
6. Allows Python (CircuitPython & MicroPython) and C++ (Arduino) programming.
7. A vast array of peripherals is available onboard and also available via grove ports.
8. The addition of Motor test buttons and test LEDs is a great feature to simulate motor controls.

Cons

1. The absence of wifi/ble for IoT robotics is a major drawback. Maker Pi Pico has the option to add an ESP-01 and also there is already availability of other RP2040 boards with onboard WiFi/BLE.
   Workaround: Grove UART wifi (https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-UART_Wifi_V2/) or Grove Serial BLE could be used (https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-BLE_v1/)
2. The absence of a dedicated GPIO breakout might be a disadvantage for some hobbyists. Although this can be resolved to an extent using the bundled grove to female header cables.
3. The RGB LEDs cannot be controlled individually. Both are connected to GP18.
4. There were no documented details of the motor driver (MX1515H) used and the datasheet available is only in Chinese.

Things left to do

I would like to continue tinkering with the Maker Pi RP2040 and use it for some more interesting robotics projects. Although my current work setup doesn’t allow it to be completed immediately, it will be done in due time.

I would also like to set up the kit with micro-ROS (https://micro.ros.org/) and use it in the upcoming project.

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