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Crickit, the Python-oriented RPi HAT add-on for robotics!

By on December 21, 2018
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The Adafruit Crickit (Creative Robotics & Interactive Construction Kit) HAT is designed for controlling motors, servos, or solenoids using Python 3. The board is limiting to powering 5V devices and requires a 5V power supply.

The Crickit HAT is a way to make robotics and interactive art projects with your Pi. Plug the Crickit HAT onto your Pi using the standard 2×20 GPIO connector and start controlling motors, servos or solenoids. You also get eight signal pins with analog inputs or PWM outputs, capacitive touch sensors, a NeoPixel driver and 3W amplified speaker. It complements and extends your Pi, doing all the things a Pi can’t do, so you can still use all the goodies on the Pi like video, camera, internet and Bluetooth…but now you have a robotics and mechatronics playground as well!

Specifications listed for the Adafruit Crickit HAT include:

  • 4x analog or digital servo control, with precision 16-bit timers
  • 2x bi-directional brushed DC motor control, 1 Amp current-limited each, with 8-bit PWM speed control (or one stepper)
  • 4x high-current “Darlington” 500mA drive outputs with kick-back diode protection — for solenoids, relays, large LEDs, or one uni-polar stepper
  • 4x capacitive touch input sensors with alligator pads
  • 8x signal pins, which can be used as digital in/out or analog inputs
  • 1x NeoPixel driver with 5V level shifter connected to the seesaw chip (not the Pi), so you won’t be giving up pin 18. It can drive over 100 pixels.
  • 1x Class D, 4-8 ohm speaker, 3W-max audio amplifier connected to the I2S pins on the Pi for high-quality digital audio — even works on Zeros
  • 1x micro-USB to serial converter port for updating seesaw with the drag-n-drop bootloader, or plugging into a computer; it can also act as a USB converter for logging into the console and running command lines on the Pi.

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