MicroFlex Line of Boards Offer Five Powerful MCUs in Small Form Factors

There is no shortage of microcontroller (MCU) boards on the market today. Beginning from when the Arduino was originally launched it seems like every year brings more powerful and feature rich development platforms. Some of the most recent devices that have gained much praise and acceptance within the maker communities have been the ESP devices and the more recent RP2040 from Raspberry Pi. A new project now live on Kickstarter is looking at offering four different ESP devices and the RP2040 device in small PCB form factors.

The boards measure around 21mm x 26mm, or about the size of a silver coin. In addition, they come on a PCB with castellated pins similar to what is found on the RP2040 development boards. As a result, headers can be soldered to the board for easy use with breadboards or they can be soldered directly onto another PCB as a module. To program and communicate with the MCUs the boards feature a USB type-C connector and on-board buttons for boot select and reset. LEDs are also included on the boards, one of which is dedicated for power identification and another RGB LED for debugging purposes. Of the 20 castellated pins, three are dedicated for power while the remaining seventeen are used to breakout the GPIO pins and MCU peripheral interfaces.

The five MCU offerings are the ESP32 S3, ESP32 S2, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6, and the Pico RP2040. The various offerings enable users to choose an MCU that can fit their preferred coding skills and environment. For instance, users can program in C/C++, MicroPython, the Arduino IDE or use the ESP-IDF. Each MCU also offers its own unique features and capabilities. WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth capabilities, Zigbee, as well as various digital and analog interfaces are available depending the MCU being used.

The boards are being launched with the intended use being educational purposes and DIY electronics. Some example applications include robotics, sensor networks, smart home devices, IoT solutions, and wearable electronics. Various auxiliary options are also available along with the MCU boards to help get users up to speed and prototyping quickly. In addition to a starter kits and various sensors, a micro development kit is also being offered. The micro development kit is a PCB board which features buttons, LEDs, a 170-pin breadboard, a 1.3” LCD, a buzzer, potentiometer, and additional power supply breakout pins. Overall it offers a platform to allow for users to experiment with various circuits and test their code.

Interested parties can check out the Kickstarter page and make a pledge if interested. A single board will cost between $7 to $10, while a combination of all five boards along with the micro development kit can be had for about $58.