HardLabs

Controlbox

edwindertien·animatronics·picoControl/board/kicadV2.0/controlbox.kicad_pcb

Controlbox PCB layout, top view — open source RP2040/RP2350 board by edwindertien

About the Controlbox PCB

Controlbox is an open source RP2040/RP2350 PCB design by edwindertien, published on GitHub. It is a 2-layer board measuring 139 × 55.2 mm, with 81 components from 43 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family. Other key parts include the PCA9685PW, MAX485E, LM7805_TO220 and fermion-mp3. By type, the board carries 25 connectors, 18 resistors, 17 capacitors, 9 jumpers, 6 ICs and 2 fuses.

It belongs with the robotics & motion designs in this gallery.

From the project

RP2040-based receiver firmware for controlling animatronic vehicles via ELRS/CRSF radio. Built with PlatformIO + EarlPhilhower Arduino core.

RP2040-based receiver firmware for controlling animatronic vehicles via ELRS/CRSF radio. Built with PlatformIO + EarlPhilhower Arduino core.

All GPIO relays are low-active: LOW = ON, HIGH = OFF. Initialised HIGH at startup.

Never define BOARDVx inside a vehicle's own #ifdef` block — duplicate defines cause the wrong chip to be selected.

Core 1 runs CRSF and nothing else. platformSetup1() and platformLoopCore1() are empty for all vehicles. Audio SoftwareSerial calls must never run on Core 1 — they are blocking and halt CRSF reception.

Controlbox, from the project README
From the project README

Main components on the Controlbox

PCA9685PWMAX485ELM7805_TO220fermion-mp3

Controlbox bill of materials (BOM)

81 components, 43 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
PCA9685PW
U1
1
MAX485E
U2
1
LM7805_TO220
U3
2
fermion-mp3
U4, U5
1
~
U6
1
Pico
M1
2
lineOut1
J1, J14
1
Audio1
J2
2
R1
J3, J16
2
L1
J4, J17
1
APC220
J5
1
NRF24L01
J6
1
relay1
J7
1
relay2
J8
1
general
J9
1
OLED
J10
1
CSRF
J11
1
MotorL
J12
1
MotorR
J13
1
grove I2C
J15
Show 23 more
QtyPartRefs
3
JST-2-switch
J18, J19, J22
1
DMX
J20
1
RJ45_LED_Shielded
J21
1
PowerIn
J23
1
grove GPIO
J24
1
PowerIn
J25
2
Polyfuse
F1, F2
2
power
JP1, JP2
6
Jumper_2_Open
JP3, JP5, JP8, JP9, JP10, JP11
1
BusPower
JP4
1
RotaryEncoder_Switch
SW1
1
RF on-off
SW2
1
D
D1
11
100n
C1, C2, C5, C7, C9, C11, C13, C14 +3
1
10uF
C3
1
100uF
C4
3
47uF
C6, C8, C10
1
1uF
C12
1
120R
R1
9
10k
R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R17 +1
2
4k7
R9, R10
2
220R
R11, R12
4
R
R13, R14, R15, R16

Controlbox design files

The KiCad project lives in the edwindertien/animatronics repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Controlbox: common questions

What microcontroller does the Controlbox use?

The Controlbox is built around the Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family.

How big is the Controlbox PCB?

The Controlbox measures 139 × 55.2 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the Controlbox?

81 components, from 43 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Controlbox design files?

From the edwindertien/animatronics repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Controlbox design in my own project?

The repository has no license, so all rights stay with edwindertien. Use it as a reference, and ask the author before reusing the design.

Can I test firmware for the Controlbox without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug RP2040/RP2350 firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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