education

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Raspberry Pi RP2040 gets into BBC Micro:bit lookalike board

Raspberry Pi RP2040 gets into BBC Micro:bit lookalike board

Raspberry Pi RP2040 BBC Micro:bit board

ELECFREAKS Pico:ed V2 is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 board heavily inspired by the BBC Micro:bit with an edge connector exposing rings suitable for crocodile clips, a 17×7 LED matrix display, and designed for the classroom. We’ve seen several BBC Micro:bit clones – or rather adaptations – over the years with boards such as the SiFive Learn Inventor, Elecrow Mbits, and  HiHope “Big Brother” board. The Pico:ed V2 adds to the list, and the main differences are that it is based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller instead, and does not come with wireless connectivity relying on a USB interface only. ELECFREAKS Pico:ed V2 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI flash Display – 17×7 dot-matrix display USB – 1x micro USB 1.1 port for power, data, and programming I/Os 25-pin notched “Wavy” connector with up to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments on Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC – A Raspberry Pi 400 alternative powered by Rockchip RK3399

Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC – A Raspberry Pi 400 alternative powered by Rockchip RK3399

There’s now a Raspberry Pi 400 alternative with the Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC that offers a very similar design, but it is powered by a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor. Like the Raspberry Pi model, the Orange Pi 800 comes with 4GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, two USB 3.0 ports, and one USB 2.0 port, but it also adds 64GB on-board flash storage and features one full-size HDMI port capable of 4Kp60 resolution plus a VGA port, instead of two micro HDMI ports. Orange Pi 800 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores up to 1.8GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.4GHz, and an Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 VGA port up to Full HD resolution Audio 3.5mm […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on OpenHarmony development board borrows BBC Micro:bit edge connector

OpenHarmony development board borrows BBC Micro:bit edge connector

HopeRun’s HiHope development board features a HiSilicon Hi3861V100 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller compatible with OpenHarmony OS and looks very much like the BBC Micro:bit educational board notably with its edge connector. The board is also designed for youth education (in China) and comes with similar sensors, but there are some differences such as a 0.96-inch OLED instead of an LED matrix and support for offline voice recognition. There’s no wireless connectivity apart from NFC support. HiHope board specifications: MCU – HiSilicon Hi3861 32-bit microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 352 KB SRAM and 288 KB ROM, 2 MB flash memory Display – 0.96-inch OLED display with 128×64 resolution (SSD1306) Connectivity – NFC with R/W mode, card emulation,  and bidirectional mode USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Sensors – Temperature & humidity sensor, light sensor, microphone, 6-axis motion sensor Expansion – Edge connector with 5x rings (3x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on SyncBot educational mobile robot supports NVIDIA Xavier NX or Intel Tiger Lake controller

SyncBot educational mobile robot supports NVIDIA Xavier NX or Intel Tiger Lake controller

Syncbotic Syncbot is a four-wheel autonomous mobile robot (AMR) platform for research and education that can be fitted with an NVIDIA Xavier NX or an Intel Apollo Lake/Tiger Lake-based controller running Ubuntu 20.04 operating system with ROS 2 framework, and comes with an motion control MCU board with an EtherCat master and running Zephyr OS. The robot comes with four 400W TECO servo motors, can handle up to 80kg payloads for sensors and a robotic arm, features 12V and 24V power output for sensors, four USB 3.0 ports, and can also be equipped with an eight-camera kit with Intel RealSense and ToF cameras. Syncbot AMR specifications: Robot Controller Platform (one or the other) SyncBotic A100 evaluation ki (Apollo Lake E3940) SyncBotic SBC-T800 series (Intel Tiger Lake UP3) SyncBotic SBC W series (Intel Tiger Lake UP3, waterproof version) SyncBotic NSync-200 series (NVIDIA NX) Dimensions – 200 x 190 mm STM32-based Motion […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Elecrow’s Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit ships with 32 electronics modules, 32 project tutorials

Elecrow’s Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit ships with 32 electronics modules, 32 project tutorials

We’ve just reviewed the Raspberry Pi 4-powered CrowPi L laptop and Crowtail Starter kit used to teach programming and electronics, but Elecrow has now launched the “Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit” with 32 electronics modules, a smart kit car, and 32 tutorials that should be a more affordable way of teaching electronics and programming. However, it does so in a different way, as instead of using visual programming and Python, the Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit’s lessons rely on MicroPython, and the projects are different with for example parts to build an obstacle avoidance, line tracking, or remote controlled car.   Package content: Optional Raspberry Pi Pico board with Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller Breadboards 2x 400 holes solderless breadboards 1x 170 holes solderless breadboard Display modules 1602 LCD display module (Blue) OLED module 4-bit digital LED display module Lights 10x 5mm LEDs in green, red, blue, yellow, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on myBuddy 280 dual arm robot features Raspberry Pi 4 SBC and ESP32 controllers

myBuddy 280 dual arm robot features Raspberry Pi 4 SBC and ESP32 controllers

Elephants Robotics myBuddy 280, aka myBuddy 280 Pi, is a dual-arm collaborative robot for education with a 7-inch display powered by Raspberry Pi 4 SBC, and also features three ESP32-based M5Stack core modules that help with the internal communication between the motors and the Raspberry Pi board. It builds upon the earlier myCobot 280 Pi robot with a single arm, with the same 280mm working range, but the new robot offers two arms, and a total of 13 degrees of freedom (DoF).  The robot is also equipped with two 2MP HD cameras for computer vision, a standard 3.3V expansion I/O interface, a LEGO expansion interface, and can be fitted with a variety of adapters such as suction pumps, grippers, little hands (see below), etc… myBuddy 280 specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB or 4GB RAM) single board computer to control the display and communicate with the ESP32 modules IoT […]

Posted on by Sponsored Post - Comments Off on OPS-compliant digital signage player features Amlogic S905X3 CPU (Sponsored)

OPS-compliant digital signage player features Amlogic S905X3 CPU (Sponsored)

DataMax DM29 is a digital signage player and mini PC compliant with the OPS (Open Pluggable Specification) standard and powered by an Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor coupled with 4GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The Android 9 system also features an HDMI 2.1 port capable of up to 4Kp60 video output, Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band WiFi, and 3G or 4G LTE cellular connectivity, as well as a pair of USB 3.0 ports. The system can be powered from an OPS-compliant display or via PoE. DataMax DM29 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.9 GHz with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 2.0 System Memory – 4GB dual-channel LPDDR4 or DDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, microSD card socket, M.2 SSD socket Video & audio output – HDMI 2.1 up to 1080p120 or 4Kp60 Video Decoding – 10-bit H.265, VP9, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on CrowPi L Review – Part 2: Learn programming and electronics with a Raspberry Pi 4 laptop

CrowPi L Review – Part 2: Learn programming and electronics with a Raspberry Pi 4 laptop

In the first part of our review of CrowPi L Raspberry Pi 4 laptop for education, we checked the hardware and accessories such as the CrowTail starter kit with various sensors and other electronics modules, and showed how to install or remove the Raspberry Pi 4 SBC from the laptop shell. I’ve now had more time to play with the educational software, so I’ll report my experience with the laptop when learning game design and hardware control with Letscode visual programming IDE, as well as the Python lessons for more advanced students. Reinstalling CrowPi OS image It’s the rainy season here in Thailand meaning it’s both hot and humid, and even though I’m not entirely sure it’s related, I recently had to reinstall Raspberry Pi OS on one of my Raspberry Pi with a corrupted SD card. It happened again with the CrowPi L after I left it in its […]