LEGO brick with Raspberry Pi RP2040 runs Doom

James Brown (aka Ancient) has built a tiny computer inside a LEGO brick with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and a 0.42-inch OLED display. And yes, it runs Doom.

So finally, the LEGO minifigures have access to a computer suitable for their size :).

LEGO Brick Raspberry Pi RP2040

James did not post a lot of information to reproduce the build by yourself, but he still released the “uGrey” code, written in Micropython, to display greyscale on a monochrome OLED.

We can learn from the design in a mesmerizing video (embedded at the end of this post) showing how he made a Raspberry Pi RP2040 computer fit into a LEGO brick. The tiny design is comprised of five main boards/modules:

  • Raspberry Pi RP2040 module
  • The micro USB module
  • Two side modules with other components
  • A 0.42-inch OLED display with 72×40 resolution (SSD1306)

RP2040 LEGO brick PCB

Since soldering the four modules together by hand only would be really challenging, James relied on 3D printed jigs to help with soldering the 3D electronics design. He then soldered the OLED display and made sure everything worked as expected. Note the two bits at the top are capacitive touch buttons.

OLED Display for LEGO Brick

The next step involves another 3D-printed jig together with LEGO rods serving as a mold to embed the electronics into a resin-based dark LEGO brick that is transparent enough for the display.

LEGO brick resin jig

The system can then be powered by a LEGO power brick. Watch the video below to see how the unit was assembled, and  a short demo at the 11:48 mark.

YouTube video player

 

Via Hackster.io

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6 Replies to “LEGO brick with Raspberry Pi RP2040 runs Doom”

  1. I love seeing such tiny products making use of all 3 dimensions; it reminds me some of my PCB-less SMD assemblies that made people ask me “how did you do that” 🙂 Here it’s really dense, well done!

    1. Oh and by the way the entire video is really worth watching! The device is created like a jewel, it’s very interesting to watch how it’s done.

  2. James Brown (aka Ancient)

    A person with such a combination of names shouldn’t use any kind of alias or handle.

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