The next step in Python electronics. 40 MicroPython lessons on a Raspberry Pi Pico WH, with a screen, sensors, RFID and a servo, aboard a ship that will not stop breaking.
Price: $97 · Sold out
Rated 4.5 out of 5 from 31 customer reviews.
You join the crew of the Nebula Raider as its newest cadet, and nothing on board works for long. The comms need a screen. The cargo needs tracking. The engine room runs hot, the restricted areas need a door code, and the ship's stowaways, small alien rats called Piinkos, need watching.
Each day is a job aboard the ship, done with a circuit you wire and code in MicroPython. Ten chapters take you from your first day as a cadet to your promotion to commander.
Thirty days aboard, each one a job the ship needs done. Photos from the lessons.
A mission opens with the job the ship needs done, then lists the parts, shows the wiring diagram and gives you the MicroPython code. You run it, test it against what the ship needs, and many missions end with ideas to take it further.
The 30 days aboard the ship are written lessons. The setup and the nine Python projects are on video.
Put MicroPython on the board, install Thonny and blink a light. Every mission after this builds on that setup.
“top quality kit like all the other kits they make. If you finish the basics with Neon City then step up to Nebula Raiders to learn more Python coding with a fun story.” — Joshua S.
“Great kit, the story line is engaging for my kids and keeps them focused on solving the problems presented” — William B.
“I have wanted to learn python and start on a raspberry pi. This is a great way to get started and the price was right,.” — Raymond P.
The Pico WH, an 830-point breadboard, jumper wires and the micro-USB cable, plus every screen, sensor and switch the missions use. You bring a computer running Windows, macOS or Linux.
These ship too. No current mission uses them, so they are yours for builds of your own.
Both Python kits run on the same board. Neon Realm starts from zero; Nebula Raiders is the next step. 30 Days Lost in Space teaches C++ on a different board.
| Python Starter Kit: Neon Realm | Advanced Python Kit: Nebula Raiders | 30 Days Lost in Space | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course | Neon Realm | Nebula Raiders | 30 Days Lost in Space |
| Board | Raspberry Pi Pico WH | Raspberry Pi Pico WH | HERO Board |
| Language | MicroPython | MicroPython | C++ |
| Level | Beginner | Intermediate | Beginner |
| Lessons | 20 | 40 | 31 |
| On video | 15 of 20 | 11 of 40 | All 31 |
| The story | Kai and a drone named Orion signal the Resistance in Neon City | A new cadet keeps a breaking ship running, all the way to commander | Crash-landed on an alien planet, you repair the ship to fly home |
| You build | Signal lights, a light-sensing alarm, PWM lighting, a Wi-Fi temperature page | An RFID scanner, a keypad door code, an LED-matrix arcade game, a trap detector, a servo food dispenser | A passcode lock, a security panel with alarm, OLED graphics, a launch countdown |
| Key parts | LEDs, push buttons, photoresistors, resistors | LCD screen, RFID reader, keypad, motion and distance sensors, servo, 8x8 LED matrix | OLED screen, 16-button keypad, 4-digit display, rotary encoder, buzzer |
| USB cable | Not included | Included | Included |
No, but it helps if you have never written Python. Neon Realm is the beginner course and starts from zero. Nebula Raiders is marked intermediate and brings in new screens and sensors as it goes. It still starts with setup on video: firmware, Thonny and a first blink.
No. The setup and the nine Python projects are on video. The 30 days aboard the ship are written lessons, most with the story, the parts list, a wiring diagram and the code.
A computer running Windows, macOS or Linux for Thonny, the editor the lessons use, and an internet connection for the lessons. The micro-USB cable is in the box. The setup video notes that Chromebooks are not supported.
It switches a relay when the water sensor reads low. No pump is included; the lesson has you use a small motor in its place.
Online, in the Nebula Raiders course on craftingtable.com. Start with the Getting Started lesson.
No. One payment. No subscription, and nothing expires.
Forty lessons aboard the Nebula Raider, from new cadet to commander.
Ships to the US, Canada, the UK and Australia: $12.35 flat shipping in the US, $18 to Canada, the UK and Australia. Send any physical order back within 30 days of delivery and we refund it when it arrives. Opened and used is fine; it just needs all of its parts. The customer pays return shipping, and the original shipping charge isn't refunded. Questions: support@craftingtable.com.
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