WuKong 2040 breakout board review

At under £10, the WuKong 2040 certainly keeps prices low while still packing a huge array of features on a small board. Buzzers, buttons, LEDs, motor controllers, a traditional GPIO breakout to hook up more, and the ability to power it all with a rechargeable battery so you can take it anywhere.

Code by numbers

Programming a Pico attached to the board is quite simple, making use of standard MicroPython, CircuitPython, and C libraries to work, and each pin and component labelled with the corresponding GPIO to which it’s connected. Examples are given in CircuitPython on the website, which can be fairly easy to translate to MicroPython if needed, and give you a nice little overview of what you can do with the board.

For those wanting a more practical application of the board, it also comes with a little add-on that makes the base compatible with many kind of brick building systems like LEGO – a good way to create a fun robot completely powered by custom code you made yourself.

Verdict

9/10

Small, reasonably priced, and packed with functionality, this board is a fun way to learn and grow with Pico.

Specs

Size: 55.8 × 87.8 × 36.3 mm, 50 g (without Pico or battery)

Power: 18650 lithium battery

60-minute battery life

2.8 V ~ 4.2 V

Interfaces: 2 × buttons, 2 × LEDs, 1 × buzzer, motor interface, GPIO interface, I2C interface