SiFive Learn Inventor is a Wireless RISC-V Development Kit Inspired by BBC Micro:bit

SiFive Learn Inventor is a RISC-V educational board partially inspired by BBC Micro:bit board with the same crocodile clip-friendly edge connector, and an LED matrix. The board is also fully qualified to work with the Amazon FreeRTOS real-time operating system.

Shaped in the form of a hand, the board features SiFive FE310 RISC-V processor found in the SiFive HiFive1 board, as well as ESP-WROOM-32 WiFi + Bluetooth module.

SiFive Learn Inventor specifications:

• SoC – SiFive FE310-G003 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMAFC) processor @ 150 MHz with 64KB of internal SRAM
• Storage – 512 KB flash
• “Display” – 6×8 “widescreen” array of RGB LEDs with 262,000 colors each; LEDs can expand off-board onto external arrays via the edge connector
• Wireless Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 4.2 LE via an ESP32 module (ESP-WROOM-32)
• USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming/debugging
• Expansion
  • A/D Converters (four) accessed via on-board coprocessor
  • BBC Micro:bit compatible edge connector with I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO, 3.3V, and GND signals
• Sensors – eCompass module with 3-axis acceleration and magnetometer, ambient light sensor, thermometer accurate to 1°C over -40° to +85°C range
• Misc – Real-Time Clock, two user push-buttons, hard reset button
• Power Supply
  • 5V via micro USB port
  • Battery operation via 3x AA batteries (recommended)
  • Low power operation is enabled through multiple power domains and a low-power standby mode
• Certifications – RoHS / CaProp 65 / WEEE / REACH / EPEAT.

SiFive Learn Inventor runs open-source software with support for FreeRTOS, MicroPython and an SDK all free to download. However, at this stage, I could only find source code and documentation for FreeRTOS on Github, as well as on an AWS page. Programming can be done via a simple drag-and-drop interface over via USB, WiFi, or Bluetooth.

While BBC Micro:bit board mostly targets students, SiFive Learn Inventor is also expected to be used by developers and researchers to “support the adoption of RISC-V based IoT devices”.

The board is sold on Pimoroni for 40.80 GBP ($53.7 US) including 20% VAT.

Via Heise. Thanks to Rainer for the tip!

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