With a summer of events ahead of us, we’re sharing Phil King’s review of Pimoroni‘s new range of wearable devices — because the maker community is never content with a Sharpie and a sticker for a name badge. Happy Maker Monday!

Pimoroni’s new range of RP2350-based badgeware (priced from £50/$55, lanyard included) offers a major upgrade over the originals. There are three models to choose from: the Badger (with an e-ink screen), Tufty (with a colour LCD screen), and Blinky (with an LED matrix). The first two follow on from their RP2040-powered predecessors, while the Blinky is an interesting new addition to the line.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that these badges are taller than the earlier versions, accommodating larger displays (whose exact size varies slightly between models). The five user buttons are positioned similarly along the bottom and right-hand edges, but are bigger and chunkier than before, making them easier and more comfortable to press.

The badgeware devices feature a slick and sturdy design with an integral translucent, ‘jewel-coloured’ polycarbonate case clipped to the rear — they even have four white LEDs to light the cases up. Inside, there’s a 1000mAh LiPo battery that’s easily recharged via a USB-C port, which is also used to connect the badge to a computer for programming.

Also on the rear, alongside tiny Home/Boot and Reset/Sleep buttons, you’ll find a Serial Wire Debug (SWD) port and an I2C port for connecting Qwiic/STEMMA QT breakouts or the optional STEM Kit, which features a mini joypad, a multi-sensor stick, and two JST-SH cables.

Take your pick

Of the three models, Tufty catches the eye first with its vibrant colour LCD screen, measuring 2.8 inches with a resolution of 320 × 240 pixels. As with the other two badges, powering Tufty up reveals a launcher menu of apps that you can navigate using the user buttons. Along with mass storage mode, there are 13 pre-installed examples (all written in MicroPython) to play with, including a few simple games, a clock, a Pomodoro timer, ‘Sketchy Sketch’ drawing, impressive graphical demos, and (naturally) an ID badge.

The Badger model features a 2.7-inch (264 × 176 pixel) monochrome e-ink display, which should prove much easier on the battery, although it takes about a second per screen refresh. There are only four pre-installed apps: the ID badge, a clock, a hydration meter, and a fun 3D mini adventure called The Compendium.

Blinky features a bright white LED matrix (872 pixels) that extends around the user buttons. Its pre-installed apps include an ID badge (in the form of scrolling text in a choice of fonts), a clock, graphical demos, a snake game, and a 3D game (as on Tufty) where you steer a spacecraft through gaps in walls.

Make it your own

When a USB cable is inserted into the badge’s USB-C port, there are two ways to connect it to a computer. If you want to reflash the MicroPython firmware (a special Pimoroni flavour), holding the Home/Boot button and tapping Reset puts the badge into mass storage mode. Otherwise, tapping just Reset twice opens a folder with the device name on the computer desktop, allowing you to view the file system and apps. This enables you to alter the secrets.py file to connect to your wireless network, as well as add your own (50 × 50 PNG) avatar and social media details for the ID badge app.

By opening an IDE such as Thonny, you can program the device in MicroPython, just as you would a standard Raspberry Pi Pico. You can adapt an existing app or create a new one from scratch using the comprehensive API, which includes functions for images, text, shapes, vectors, fonts, algorithms, and more — see badgewa.re/docs for detailed documentation.

Whichever model you choose, it’s a sturdy smart badge featuring a powerful RP2350 microcontroller, a built-in battery, wireless connectivity, and an excellent API for coding custom apps.

Specs

Display: 2.7-inch, 264 × 176 pixel e-ink (Badger); 2.8-inch, 320 × 240 pixel colour IPS LCD (Tufty); 39 × 26 pixel (minus islands) white LED matrix (Blinky)

Features: RP2350A microcontroller, 16MB QSPI flash storage, 8MB PSRAM, 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth, 5× user buttons, Home/Boot and Reset/Sleep buttons, polycarbonate case with LED lighting

Power: 1000mAh LiPo, rechargeable via USB-C port

Dimensions: 84 × 76 × 20mm

Issue 164 of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine is out now!

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