Setting up the Robo Pico

This guide will show you how to set up your Robo Pico and some simple troubleshooting tips if you cannot connect your Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W to your laptop.

Connect Your Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W to the Board

Robo Pico needs to be powered up by a Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W in order to access and utilize all the features that are on the board. The Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W comes with pre-installed CircuitPython firmware.

1. Connect your Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W to the female headers on the board just as shown in the figure below.

2. Use a USB micro B cable to connect your Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W to the computer. Turn on the power switch on Robo Pico.

Note: Always turn on the switch if you want to flash the code to your Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico W.

3. You will be able to see a CIRCUITPY drive on your computer.

4. Before you start to code, make sure that the “CircuitPython (generic)” has been chosen as the interpreter (if applicable) in your coding software. And the required lib bundle can be found here.

What if?

A. The CIRCUITPY drive doesn’t appear?

1. Make sure that the USB micro B cable used is a data cable not charging cable.
2. Press the “Reset” button on the board and take a look again. If the CIRCUITPY drive still doesn’t appear, you might need to reupload the CircuitPython firmware to your Raspberry Pi Pico / Pi Pico W again (follow the steps shown in B).

B. I have changed the firmware for other programming languages (eg. Arduino IDE etc.)?

There are two ways to change back to CircuitPython:

1. By paste the CircuitPython .uf2 file to Raspberry Pi Drive.
2. Installing CircuitPython by using Thonny IDE.

1. To install CircuitPython on the Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W, you need to download the .uf2 file for Pico or Pico W.

Start with switching off your Robo Pico (It will together switch off Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W). Hold down the BOOTSEL button, and while continuing to hold it (don't let go!), switch on Robo Pico. 

Continue to hold the BOOTSEL button until the RPI-RP2 drive appears!

Drag the adafruit_circuitpython_etc.uf2 file you have downloaded to RPI-RP2. The RPI-RP2 drive will disappear and a new disk drive called CIRCUITPY will appear.

2. Alternative method to install CircuitPython is by using Thonny IDE.

Similar to the previous step, you need to start by switching off your Robo Pico (It will together switch off Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W). Hold down the BOOTSEL button, and while continuing to hold it (don't let go!), switch on Robo Pico. Continue to hold the BOOTSEL button until the RPI-RP2 drive appears!

Open Thonny, on the bottom right, select 'Install CircuitPython...' and choose the CircuitPython variant. Click install, and a new disk drive called CIRCUITPY will appear.

You should get the output 'Done!' and a new disk drive called CIRCUITPY will appear.