Prokyber's Ch32-Ant Is a Sub-$5 RISC-V Dev Board Built Around the WCH CH32V003 Microcontroller

Czech hobbyist electronics firm Prokyber has launched a new, sub-$5 breadboard-friendly development board for those looking to play around with the RISC-V architecture: the Ch32-Ant.

"It was created, because I needed a cheap development board with a STEMMA QT connector," the board's designer explains. "The [WCH Electronics] CH32V003 seemed like the perfect MCU [Microcontroller Unit] for the task. It's Arduino-compatible, supports USB (pure software USB), and is cost-effective."

The Ch32-Ant is a compact design built with breadboard use in mind, though featuring a STEMMA QT connector for solderless expansion — found on the short side of the board, opposite a USB Type-C connector for data and power. It's built around WCH Electronics' CH32V003F4U6, an ultra-low-cost 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller running at up to 48MHz and with 2kB of static RAM and 16kB of on-chip flash. It's also switchable between 3.3V or 5V logic levels, for those who need it.

This isn't Prokyber's first shot at a low-cost RISC-V development board: back in October last year the company unveiled the ESP32-C6-Bug, based around Espressif's ESP32-C6FH4 microcontroller. For those who picked one up, there's good news: the Ch32-Ant is pin-compatible with the earlier ESP32-C6-Bug, making it a drop-in cost-reduced replacement for those who can get away with lower performance and who don't need wireless radios.

The Ch32-Ant is available to order now on Prokyber's Tindie store at $4.99; a schematic is linked from the store page.