HardLabs

Smallcontrol

edwindertien·animatronics·picoControl/board/kicadV3.0/smallcontrol.kicad_pcb

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

About the Smallcontrol PCB

Smallcontrol is an open source RP2040/RP2350 PCB design by edwindertien, published on GitHub. It is a 2-layer board measuring 60.1 × 50.7 mm, with 40 components from 29 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family. Other key parts include the 74LVC2G241, MAX485E, fermion-mp3 and LM1117MP-5.0. By type, the board carries 13 connectors, 10 capacitors, 6 resistors, 4 ICs, 2 fuses and 2 diodes.

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.

Smallcontrol, from the project README
From the project README

Main components on the Smallcontrol

74LVC2G241MAX485Efermion-mp3LM1117MP-5.0

Smallcontrol bill of materials (BOM)

40 components, 29 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
74LVC2G241
U1
1
MAX485E
U2
1
fermion-mp3
U4
1
LM1117MP-5.0
U6
1
Pico
M1
1
dynamixel
J1
1
Audio1
J2
1
AX12
J3
1
relay1
J7
1
OLED
J10
1
CSRF
J11
1
lineOut1
J14
1
grove I2C
J15
1
grove Analog
J16
1
PowerIn
J23
2
grove GPIO / waveshare DDSM
J24, J26
1
PowerIn
J25
2
Polyfuse
F1, F2
1
BusPower
JP4
1
RF on-off
SW2
Show 9 more
QtyPartRefs
2
D
D1, D2
5
100n
C1, C2, C5, C8, C15
1
10uF
C3
1
100uF
C4
2
47uF
C6, C9
1
220uF
C7
1
120R
R1
3
10k
R2, R3, R4
2
4k7
R9, R10

Smallcontrol design files

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

Smallcontrol: common questions

What microcontroller does the Smallcontrol use?

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

How big is the Smallcontrol PCB?

The Smallcontrol measures 60.1 × 50.7 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the Smallcontrol?

40 components, from 29 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Smallcontrol 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 Smallcontrol 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 Smallcontrol 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.

More boards in animatronics

Similar boards