Get started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico

✍ Scribed by Gareth Halfacree; Ben Everard

• Publisher: Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 139
• Series: THE OFFICIAL RASPBERRY PI PICO GUIDE
• Edition: First
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

THE OFFICIAL RASPBERRY PI PICO GUIDE

Get started with
MicroPython
on Raspberry Pi Pico

by Gareth Halfacree
and Ben Everard

Get started with
MicroPython
on Raspberry Pi Pico

Microcontrollers, like RP2040 at the heart of
Raspberry Pi Pico, are computers stripped back
to their bare essentials. You don’t use monitors or
keyboards, but program them to take their input
from, and send their output to the input/output pins.
Using these programmable connections, you can
light lights, make noises, send text to screens, and
much more. In Get Started with MicroPython on
Raspberry Pi Pico, you will learn how to use the
beginner-friendly language MicroPython to write
programs and connect up hardware to make your
Raspberry Pi Pico interact with the world around
it. Using these skills, you can create your own
electro‑mechanical projects, whether for fun or to
make your life easier.
The robotic future is here – you just have to build
it yourself. We’ll show you how.

raspberrypi.org

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Chapter 1: Get to know your Raspberry Pi Pico 008
Get fully acquainted with your powerful new microcontroller and learn how to attach
pin headers and install MicroPython to program it
Chapter 2: Programming with MicroPython 020
Connect a computer and start writing programs for your Raspberry Pi Pico using the
MicroPython language
Chapter 3: Physical computing 034
Learn about your Raspberry Pi Pico’s pins and the electronic components you can
connect and control
Chapter 4: Physical computing with Raspberry Pi Pico 044
Start connecting basic electronic components to your Raspberry Pi Pico and writing
programs to control and sense them
Chapter 5: Traffic light controller 058
Create your own mini pedestrian crossing system using multiple LEDs and a push-button
Chapter 6: Reaction game 068
Build a simple reaction timing game using an LED and push-buttons, for one or two players
Chapter 7: Burglar alarm 080
Use a motion sensor to detect intruders and sound the alarm with a flashing light and siren
Chapter 8: Temperature gauge 092
Use your Raspberry Pi Pico’s built-in ADC to convert analogue inputs, and read its
internal temperature sensor
Chapter 9: Data logger 104
Turn Raspberry Pi Pico into a temperature data-logging device and untether it from the
computer to make it fully portable
Chapter 10: Digital communication protocols: I2C and SPI 116
Explore these two popular communication protocols and use them to display data on an LCD
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Raspberry Pi Pico specifications 124
Appendix B: Pinout guide 128
Appendix C: Programmable IO 130

✦ Subjects

MicroPython; Raspberry Pi Pico