SnekBoard Controls LEGO Motors and More

This open source board is designed to hook up to Lego Power Functions motors and switches.

Jeremy Cook
5 years agoRobotics

Arduino C and MicroPython are great for most microcontroller projects, but what if you have only a few kB of flash and RAM to work with? For these cases, you might check out Keith Packard’s “Snek.

This language — think Snek ~ snake ~ Python — according to his description, “borrows semantics and syntax from Python, but only provides a tiny subset of that large language. The goal is to have Snek programs able to run in a full Python (version 3) implementation so that any knowledge gained in learning Snek will transfer directly to learning Python.”

Packard’s been able to get Snek running on two Arduino boards, plus several from Adafruit, and now he’s developed an actual “SnekBoard” capable of controlling LEGO Power Functions motors and switches.

Measuring only 48 mm × 48 mm (the same size as 6 x 6 Lego studs), the board is equipped with a Microchip SAMD21G18A processor, giving it plenty of flash (256kB) and RAM (32kB) to get things going. It also features support for LiPo power, with a USB charger, as well as a 9V boost power supply, making it compatible with LEGO construction sets voltage-wise. Two NeoPixels, eight GPIOs, a blue LED, and a DRV9938 motor controller chip round the build out.

The board looks like it could be really useful, especially when working with LEGO components. When you’re ready to program in Python 3, or if you already know it, you won’t have to learn a new language from scratch!

Packard plans to launch a campaign on Crowd Supply soon, so sign up now to stay notified.

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
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