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🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳

Badger 2040 W (Pico W Aboard)

by Pimoroni

A programmable badge with fast updating E Ink® display and wireless connectivity, powered by Raspberry Pi Pico W.

Badger 2040 W is a maker-friendly all-in-one badge wearable, designed for efficient identification of humans and other lifeforms. It's great for powering by battery, as it can go into an ultra low power sleep mode when the screen's not being refreshed. And because it's a handy microcontroller with built in screen that can fit right in your pocket, we bet you could use it for a bunch of other cool experimental projects too.

On the front, you'll find the black and white 2.9" e-paper screen, a selection of buttons to poke at and a slot to clip it onto a lanyard. On the back, there's a battery connector, a reset button and a Qw/ST connector for plugging in Qwiic or STEMMA QT breakouts. And now that it's got a Raspberry Pi Pico W Aboard it can communicate wirelessly with other devices and retrieve tasty data from the internet, hoorah!

Here are some things you could do:

🕵️‍♀️ Switch between images, pronouns or secret identities at the push of a button.

🌡 Make yourself into a mobile weather station or air quality monitor (by adding a sensor breakout).

🕸 Retrieve news, bus timetables, pollen counts, tide tables or other vital information from online APIs.

Want to show your Badger W the world? We've put together a convenient Badger W + Accessory Kit which contains an AAA battery pack, a lanyard and everything else that's needed to take Badger on the go. Alternatively, for a lightweight rechargeable option, you could power it with a Galleon LiPo battery.

What's new for Badger W

We've made a bunch of improvements to the OG Badger (in addition to the 2.4GHz wireless connectivity).

  • Inspired by our other Pico W Aboard products we've added an onboard RTC (Real Time Clock) so that Badger W can keep track of the time whilst it's asleep, and means it can wake up on a timer, as well as on a button press.
  • Our C++/MicroPython software libraries for Badger W now use our in-house tiny graphics library, PicoGraphics. This means it's much easier to get images onto your Badger and code is simple to port between different Pimoroni displays.
  • All the pre-loaded MicroPython BadgerOS examples now show up properly on Badger W's filesystem so you can tinker with them easily - great for figuring out how things work! We've added a few new examples to BadgerOS that do wireless stuff.

Pico W x E Ink®

We're big fans of electronic paper at Pirate HQ - it makes for a lovely, crisp, high contrast display that's nice and readable and it doesn't squirt unnecessary blue light into your environs like LCDs do. It's also ultra low power (EPD displays only consume power while they're refreshing), and the images on the display stick around for a really long time whilst the display is unpowered.

Using a Raspberry Pico W means we can drive the hardware in fun, experimental, low level ways. We've written custom drivers for the EPD display that prioritise low power consumption whilst enabling lightning fast refresh rates.

Features

  • 2.9" black and white E Ink® display (296 x 128 pixels)
    • Ultra wide viewing angles
    • Ultra low power consumption
    • Dot pitch - 0.227 x 0.226 mm
  • Raspberry Pi Pico W Aboard
    • Dual Arm Cortex M0+ running at up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM
    • 2MB of QSPI flash supporting XiP
    • Powered and programmable by USB micro-B
    • 2.4GHz wireless
  • Five front user buttons
  • Reset button
  • White LED
  • JST-PH connector for attaching a battery (input range 2.7V - 5.5V)
  • Qw/ST (Qwiic/STEMMA QT) connector
  • Dedicated RTC chip (PCF85063A) for deep sleep / wake *
  • Fully-assembled (no soldering required)
  • Schematic
  • Dimensional drawing
  • C++/MicroPython libraries

Badger W + Accessory Kit includes

  • Badger 2040 W
  • 2 x AAA battery holder
  • 2 x AAA batteries
  • Velcro square
  • Black lanyard (made from recycled plastic bottles!)
  • USB-A to USB micro-B cable

Software

Our C++/MicroPython libraries include support for the Badger W display. You'll get best performance using C++, but if you're a beginner we'd recommend using our batteries included MicroPython build for ease of getting started.

You can draw on the screen using our lightweight PicoGraphics library, which includes functions for displaying text, shapes and images (plus individual pixels of course), and we've provided some examples to get you started.

Badger W ships pre-loaded with MicroPython and our BadgerOS suite of examples. To enable Badger W to connect to the internet, you'll need to edit WIFI_CONFIG.py using Thonny and add your Wi-Fi details. To return to the launcher from an example, hold down the A and C buttons at the same time.

MicroPython

C/C++

Connecting Breakouts

The Qw/ST connector on Badger W makes it super easy to connect up Qwiic or STEMMA QT breakouts. If your breakout has a QW/ST connector on board, you can plug it straight in with a JST-SH to JST-SH cable.

Breakout Garden breakouts that don't have a Qw/ST connector can be connected using a JST-SH to JST-SH cable plus a Qw/ST to Breakout Garden adaptor. Want to use >2 breakouts at the same time? Try this adaptor!

    Notes

    • Measurements: 85.6mm x 48.7mm x 10mm (L x W x H, including connectors). The mounting holes are M2.5 and 3.0mm in from each edge. The corner radius is 3mm.
    • Badger W is fairly accommodating about input voltage (2.7V - 5.5V), so it's possible to use a variety of different batteries and battery packs. A 2x AAA battery pack fits behind Badger W nicely (double/triple AA and AAA battery packs will also work though). If you're using rechargeable (NiMH) batteries , we'd recommend using a 3x AAA battery pack.
    • Alternatively, you can plug a LiPo/LiIon battery into the battery connector, with the following caveats. Please only consider this if the person wearing the badge is an adult and knows what they're doing with LiPos!
      • A solid enclosure or backplate to protect the battery from damage whilst being worn is a very good idea (or you could use one of our Galleon hard case LiPo batteries).
      • There's no battery protection included on Badger W, so you should only use it with LiPo batteries that include internal protection (all ours do).
      • Badger W doesn't have battery charging circuitry onboard (this is so it's safe to use with either alkaline or LiPo batteries). You'll need an external LiPo charger to charge the battery (like a LiPo Amigo).
    • * Badger W's onboard RTC (Real Time Clock) means it can go into a super deep sleep mode that only draws about 20uA of power, turning off the power that drives the Pico W and the display completely. It can be woken back up by the RTC or the front buttons. You can also read the RTC to keep track of the time and date, of course!

    About Pico W Aboard

    Our new Pico W Aboard products come with a built in Raspberry Pi Pico W. This means you get all the advantages of a RP2040 microcontroller - a speedy fast dual-core ARM processor, a dynamic, growing ecosystem and a choice of different programming methods to experiment with. Most excitingly though, Pico W has wireless connectivity, so your Pico/RP2040 devices can communicate with each other, and the internet! 🌍

    View all Pico W Aboard!

    25 customer reviews

    7 months ago
    It's a very nice little gaming console with a decent display and an aluminium case that looks and feels quite sturdy and durable. You can find some games for it on the internet - but the real fun could be writing those by yourself. When I tried I found a reason that makes me write this four-star-only rating. To access the debug pins of the built-in RP2040 you have to open and remove the case. It would have been much nicer if there was one removable panel with those pins behind...
    by Thomas about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    7 months ago
    Well built, feels very premium. There's a decent little community making games for it, and it can run things like an NES emulator without too much issue. I am not currently a skilled enough C++ developer to make anything worth playing for it, but I did manage some basics reasonably quickly.
    by Ed about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    9 months ago
    I'm really impressed by what this tiny thing is able to do! I was able to write a simple game in a matter of hours... You can even upload a NES emulator on it.
    by Benoît about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    2 years ago
    An awesome system based on RP2040. Build quality is very solid and the device has a very nice weight to it. Battery life is also very good. Comes with a nice platformer pre-installed. I haven't made anything with it yet but look forward to adapting my Pico Display games to this one.
    by Mircea about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    I am very happy and also surprised, I received all the material in eight days from the order, congratulations! Everything arrived in perfect condition and Pimoroni products are always of excellent quality. Thank you!
    by Giuseppe about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Small, cute and very nice hardware. Especially aluminium body is great.
    by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Great device but haven't got it working on my linux mint install yet.
    by Daniel about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Very clicky buttons, bright screen and looks good in motion. The build feels very solid.
    by Matthew about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Very comfortable in hand. Seem sturdy enough to lend it to my small children. I am in the process of porting one of my web game to it. Very easy to program for it, or, if that's not your thing, to load the few available games on it.
    by Julien about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Amazing little gizmo. Really well made and feels solid. Need to learn about writing my own games and such for it but the hardware and possibilities are fantastic
    by Fiona about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    It’s a nice little handheld with a good sdk though I wish the debug pins were more accessible
    by Henry about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Simply amazing! The quality of this product is off the charts! The rest is up me, getting my programming skills to a level where I can make a game worthy of the system.
    by Luke about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    The ordering experience was very quick. The delivery to the USA was fairly quick using Royal mail during this time of Covid.
    by Gelsomino about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    This is an incredibly well made system. I hope to be able to develop some nice games with it.
    by Michael about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    First impression of the RP2040-based tiny game console PicoSystem is really positive. Ridgid build quality, robust FPS and responsive buttons!
    by Johannes about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Oh yeah going to get my game programming on. Default games on the Pimironi website are good too. 10/10 would recommend.
    by Rohan about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    System works well, instructions are good. I had issues with tool chain on windows for raspberry pico sdk. Once I switched to Debian in virtual box everything worked fine. I recommend using putty and ssh for programming to get copy paste functionality and winscp to copy files. The hardware is very well built and I highly recommend it.
    by Todd about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Amazing little video game machine in your pocket where programming is as easy as editing a text file on a USB drive!
    by Chipp about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    It looks like a commercial games device, it looks really good. Solid build and I cannot wait to start building games and apps for it.
    by Stephen about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    The build quality is extremely good. Especially the aluminium case makes it feel great. The screen has a good quality but it’s pretty small which kind of makes the charm of the PicoSystem. The 32blit SDK is great for developing own games and it has an active community behind it. There are also other SDKs available which I haven’t had experience with yet. Overall the PicoSystem is great for getting into retro game development.
    by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    A very cool little device. I love the metallic body and front plate.
    by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Great little device! It feels super solid and high-quality, and looks fantastic. The RP2040 is very nice so far, and importantly, both the PicoSDK and the PicoSystem SDK are very easy to use, especially the examples in the PicoSystem repo. If you've dabbled in retro console game dev, the PicoSystem is something like a GBA packed into the size of a GB Micro, and has similar limitations in RAM and ROM, just with a smaller screen (but roughly twice the pixels of the original GB at 240x240 vs 160x144), same button count as the original GB, a much faster CPU, and MUCH better documentation. Highly recommend it; it's a lot of fun.
    by Ulises about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Very nice build quality, but the game library is quite lacking right now.
    by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    Fantastic pocket-ready build, both C++ and CircuitPython ready. 32blit SDK has been great to work with so far!
    by John about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
    3 years ago
    The fit and finish in the PicoSystem is outstanding and the SDK tools provided to get started provided everything I needed to start tinkering.
    by Matthew about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io

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