Raspberry Pi Pico – RP2040 Microcontroller Development Board
Step into high-performance, low-cost embedded design with the breakthrough Raspberry Pi Pico. This is the debut microcontroller board designed directly by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, built around their custom-engineered, powerhouse RP2040 silicon chip.
Whether you are building complex robotics, handling dense sensor arithmetic, or learning embedded programming, the Pico delivers incredible processing speed, flexible expansion, and an extensive global documentation ecosystem. It is the perfect, budget-friendly brain for your next smart hardware project.
Key Features
Custom Raspberry Pi Silicon: Powered by the dual-core RP2040 processor, offering flexible clock speeds up to 133 MHz for efficient, multi-threaded task management.
Revolutionary Programmable I/O (PIO): Features 8 dedicated PIO state machines. These allow you to create custom peripheral interfaces (like extra UARTs, custom display drivers, or PWM channels) completely in software without taxing the main CPU.
Castellated PCB Design: Built with castellated holes along the edges, allowing you to plug it into breadboards with standard headers or solder it directly as a surface-mount module onto custom manufacturing PCBs.
Drag-and-Drop Flashing: Programming is as simple as holding the BOOTSEL button, plugging it into your computer via Micro-USB, and dragging your compiled binary file onto the mass storage drive.
Flexible Software Support: Fully compatible with official C/C++ SDK frameworks, MicroPython, CircuitPython, and the Arduino IDE.
Technical Specifications
Feature | Specification |
Microcontroller | Raspberry Pi RP2040 (Dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+) |
Clock Speed | 133 MHz (Flexible/Overclockable) |
Onboard Flash Memory | 2 MB (QSPI) |
SRAM | 264 KB Multi-bank High-Performance SRAM |
Operating Voltage | 3.3V Logic Level |
Input Voltage Range (VSYS) | 1.8V – 5.5V DC (Highly versatile for battery operation) |
Digital GPIO Pins | 26 Multifunction Pins |
Analog Input Pins (ADC) | 3 Channels (12-bit, 500 ksps resolution) |
Hardware Peripherals | 2x UART, 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 16x PWM Channels, 1x Real-Time Clock (RTC) |
Onboard Layout | 1x User LED (GPIO 25), Boot Selection Button |
Pinout & Power Architecture
The Raspberry Pi Pico breaks out 26 of its 30 RP2040 pins to standard 0.1-inch header spacing to cover your full interfacing requirements:
Advanced Onboard Power Supply: Features a high-efficiency buck-boost DC-DC regulator chip. This allows you to power the Pico smoothly from varying battery sources (like AA cells or Li-Po batteries) anywhere between 1.8V to 5.5V.
Internal Temperature Sensor: The 12-bit ADC includes an internal channel mapped directly to an onboard temperature sensor, making core diagnostic checks straightforward.
Low-Power Sleep Optimization: Supports low-power Sleep and Dormant states to conserve power during long-term battery monitoring deployments.
Common Applications
Industrial & Home Automation: Actuating automated switching systems, custom machinery controls, and multi-sensor smart home arrays.
Advanced Robotics: Managing tight control loops for high-speed robotic arms, line followers, and precise stepper motor controllers.
Custom USB Peripherals: Building DIY hardware macro-pads, customized gaming controllers, or keyboard emulators via its native USB 1.1 Host/Device support.
Developer Integration Tip: The Raspberry Pi Pico ships with unsoldered header pads to give you maximum mechanical design freedom. When programming with MicroPython, simply download the latest .uf2 file from the official Raspberry Pi database to get running in minutes.
Package Includes:
1 x Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 Development Board