Zumo 2040 robot connectivity

Robotics and electronics discussion Electronics
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I would like to connect the Zumo 2040 robot over a wireless connection to a Raspberry Pi for my project. I also would like to add a custom peripheral that requires one GPIO input. I have a Bluetooth HC-05 which should work over the Uart using the two free GPIO pins but that then means I have to go without the battery level monitor or buzzer to free up another GPIO for my peripheral if I understand correctly (by cutting the appropriate jumper). Ideally (I know!) I’d like everything and not have to go without the loss of the buzzer or battery monitor. I am exploring using i2c for my peripheral which may be a solution although I still won’t have a free GPIO input for i2c interrupts so I’d have to poll my peripheral. I am though now looking at the USB connection to see if, for example, a BBC microbit could be attached…

Have I missed anything obvious please? And does the usb c on the zumo 2040 support host mode under micropython to anyone’s knowledge please?

Thanks! And apologies for a long post.

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Postscript: maybe I will try i2c from the BBC microbit to the zumo2040…then I may be able to run my peripheral off the microbit and use its Bluetooth for wireless connectivity to the raspberry pi.

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Hello.

If you have not already, I suggest reviewing the “Adding electronics” section of the Zumo 2040 user’s guide. I suspect the best method would probably be to use a Bluetooth device that can communicate with the Zumo 2040 over I2C, such as a Micro:bit like you proposed.

I would be interested to hear what you ultimately end up going with.

- Patrick