Day 1 : Introduction to Raspberry Pi Pico

In order to continue this course, please have a Raspberry Pi Pico and electronic components available:

Raspberry Pi Pico: Raspberry Pi Pico Amazon Link

Electronic Components: Electronic Components Amazon Link

Understand and learn the basics to how a raspberry pi pico works along with the different components that can be connected.

What is a Circuit?

A circuit is an unbroken loop of conductive material that allows charge carriers to flow through continuously without beginning or end.

If a circuit is “broken,” that means its conductive elements no longer form a complete path, and continuous charge flow cannot occur in it.

A raspberry pi pico can be used to create circuits that can perform different tasks

What is the Raspberry Pi Pico?

Microcontroller

The Pico is not a full-fledged computer like a regular Raspberry Pi
Instead, it uses a special kind of chip called a microcontroller.
Microcontrollers are like mini computers that can control different parts of a project. They are used in things like robots, remote-controlled cars, and even in household appliances.

Programming

You can use a programming language called MicroPython, which is similar to the Python language
It allows you to write instructions that the Pico will follow, telling it how to interact with different sensors, buttons, lights, and more.

Electronic Projects

The Pico has a bunch of small pins on it that you can connect to different electronic components, such as LEDs (lights), buttons, sensors, and even displays.

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Community and Resources

Many people use the Raspberry Pi Pico, and there is a big community of learners and makers who share their projects, ideas, and knowledge.

Instructions:

1. Remove your Raspberry Pi Pico from the packaging and rotate it to match the orientation of the Pico from Figure 1

2. Identify the Pins on the side your personal PICO and match them up to the one on the diagram

The light green pins, those light green ones are known as GPIO Pins
- GPIO Pins (General Purpose Input Output Pins) are a way to program and control different components from the Raspberry PI PICO
The black pins, are known as Ground Pins (GND), these pins provide a reference voltage and are crucial to complete circuits. They also allow for static discharge in electronic circuits.

Figure 1

3. Another key component of this course is the usage of a breadboard

A breadboard allows for easy and quick creation of temporary electronic circuits or to carry out experiments with circuit design.
Breadboards enable developers to easily connect components or wires thanks to the rows and columns of internally connected spring clips underneath the perforated plastic enclosure.
Will connect to the Raspberry Pi Pico

Please watch this video in order to understand how the flow of energy in a breadboard works! Make sure to open your electronic components box and remove your breadboard. Understand your breadboard while watching the video.

4. Next carefully remove the electronic components within your box and read the descriptions of the diferent components that are detailed below. Make sure to throughly understand the purpose of each component.

LED: Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are electronic components that emit light when an electric current passes through them. They have two metal legs one short and one long.

Jumper Wires: flexible wires with connectors at each end, used to establish electrical connections between components on a breadboard or in a circuit. They provide a convenient way to connect different parts of a circuit

Push Button: A push button is a momentary switch that can be pressed to complete an electrical circuit temporarily. It is commonly used for input control or as a user interface component.

Resistor: A resistor is a passive electronic component that restricts the flow of electric current in a circuit. It is used to control current, voltage levels, or provide load protection.

Active Buzzer: An active buzzer is a sound-producing component that generates sound when an electric current is applied. It can produce different tones or frequencies.

Motor: A motor is an electro-mechanical device that converts electrical energy into motion. It is commonly used for driving mechanical systems and robotics.

7-Segment Display: A 7-segment display is a digital numeric display that consists of seven individual LED segments arranged in a specific pattern. It is commonly used to show numbers and characters.

LED Matrix: An LED matrix is an arrangement of multiple LEDs in a grid formation, allowing for the display of patterns, characters, and images by turning individual LEDs on and off.

RGB LED: An RGB LED is a type of LED that contains three separate light-emitting elements (red, green, and blue) in one package. By controlling the intensity of each color, it can produce a wide range of colors.

LED Bar Graph: An LED bar graph is a linear array of multiple LEDs arranged in a bar shape, which can be used to display a visual representation of data or levels.

Potentiometer: A potentiometer, also known as a variable resistor, is an adjustable electronic component used to control or vary the amount of resistance in a circuit. It is often used for volume control or analog input.

Additional Terms to know:

Source - A device that supplies electrical power to a circuit in the form of a voltage source or a current source (ex. battery)

Load - Any component of a circuit that consumes power or energy (ex. LED Light)

Resistance - A material's opposition to the flow of electric current

Installation:

Next we need to connect our raspberry Pi Pico to a computer. Connecting to a computer allows you to be able to give instructions to the PICO in order to control electronic components. Please locate a laptop or desktop computer to use for programming your raspberry Pi PICO.

1. Navigate to https://thonny.org/ and install the Thonny application for your computer type

2. Open the Thonny application and reach the screen as shown in Figure 2

3. Find Run in the top navigation bar and click Select Interpreter

4. On the pop up screen select the Interpreter tab and choose MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico)

5. Select Ok and close out of the pop up screen and back to the screen from Figure 2

6. Next let us connect the Raspberry Pi Pico to Thonny

Mac Users:

7. Take out the chord that came with the Raspberry Pi Pico and connect the HDMI side to the Pico

Find an adapter (if need be) to connect to a Mac port

8. Next, hold down the power button on the Pico (shown in Figure 3)

9. While holding down the power button, connect the HMDI side of the chord to the computer

Figure 2

Windows Users:

7. Take out the chord that came with the Raspberry Pi Pico and connect the HDMI side to the Pico

8. Next, hold down the power button on the Pico (shown in Figure 3)

9. While holding down the power button, connect the HMDI side of the chord to the computer

Figure 3

Power button to hold down when connect the Raspberry Pi Pico to your computer

10. Navigate to https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/microcontrollers/micropython.html and download the micropython uf2 file from the website

11. Next open your computer finder/application navigator (Seen in figure 4)

12. Locate where your raspberry pi pico is located and drag the micropython uf2 file in the location (Seen in Figure 5)

13. Return back to Thonny and hit the green play button and make sure no error messages appear

Figure 4

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Figure 5

Congrats, you have just successfully installed and connected your Raspberry Pi Pico onto your computer!

Day 1 Complete