DFRobot Launches the All-In-One UNIHIKER, a Single-Board Arm Computer with Display and RISC-V MCU

DFRobot has announced the launch of a new all-in-one single board computer (SBC) development platform, designed for plug-and-play programming and bringing its own 2.8" touchscreen along for the ride: the UNIHIKER.

"DFRobot is thrilled to announce the launch of our latest single-board computer, UNIHIKER, which is a new category of single-board computer. It is equipped with a 2.8" touch screen and features incredibly ease of setup and programming, supported by multiple programming software," claims DFRobot's Liang Li. "With its feature-rich and user-friendly design, UNIHIKER is the perfect development tool for learning, coding, and creating. We are excited to see UNIHIKER inspire innovation and progress in these fields and beyond."

The heart of the UNIHIKER is a Rockchip RK3308 with a quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 application-class processor running at up to 1.2GHz, paired to 512MB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage pre-loaded with a Debian Linux-based operating system and expandable via a microSD card slot. There's a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 radio module and a GigaDevice GD32VF103 RISC-V microcontroller coprocessor for real-time work — interfacing neatly with the on-board button, microphone, light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, LED, and piezoelectric buzzer.

For more hardware there's an edge connector at the bottom of the PCB, borrowing a design not a million miles away from the popular BBC micro:bit though lacking its wearables-friendly oversized alligator clip holes. There's also the aforementioned 2.8" touchscreen display, dominating the front of the device, with a 240×320 resolution. Finishing off the board is a USB Type-C connector for data and power, a USB Type-A port for peripherals, and three/four-pin "Gravity" ports for other hardware.

The idea behind the platform is to get users up and running quickly. The flash memory comes loaded with a Jupyter Notebook configured for the device's on-board hardware, programmable directly in-browser; support is also included for development using VS Code, Thonny, or a standard text editor. Python is the language of choice, here, using an integrated control library dubbed PinPong for ease of access to the hardware — with MQTT support and a web interface to boot.

More information on the UNIHIKER is available on the official website, while DFRobot has opened orders on its store at $79.90.