New product: Zumo 2040 Robot!

We’re happy to announce the release of the Zumo 2040, our newest RP2040-based robot built on our Zumo tracked chassis!

The Zumo started out as just that chassis: a simple mechanical base designed to be the foundation of a small tracked robot (and the right size for Mini-Sumo competitions). Later, we made the Zumo Robot Kit for Arduino that lets you build a complete robot with just the addition of an Arduino board, and a while after that, we released the Zumo 32U4 featuring a main board with an integrated AVR microcontroller.

Pololu Zumo chassis kit, assembled top view, shown with motors and original white sprockets.

Assembled Zumo robot for Arduino with an Arduino Uno (with original white sprockets).

Assembled Zumo 32U4 robot.

This new Zumo 2040 is the next big step in the evolution of the Zumo family, swapping out the Zumo 32U4’s 8-bit processor for a Raspberry Pi RP2040, a 32-bit dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller running at 125 MHz, along with 16 MB (128 Mbit) of flash memory. The more powerful processor (the same as on the Raspberry Pi Pico) enhances both what the Zumo can do and how you can work with it.

Assembled Zumo 2040 robot.

We particularly like how easy it is to get started programming the Zumo 2040 with MicroPython: just like with our 3pi+ 2040 Robot, you can simply connect the Zumo to a computer with a USB-C cable and start editing the included example Python programs with a text editor.

MicroPython drive showing Zumo 2040 demo programs.

The blink.py demo program in a text editor.

There are lots of pre-loaded examples that demonstrate how to use the various features on the Zumo 2040. Here’s one that uses the Zumo’s proximity sensors to locate and turn to face an opponent or other object (in this case, a 3pi+):

Although I summed up the history of the Zumo platform in a few major milestones above, that doesn’t really tell the whole story; there have been other smaller changes along the way (both accompanying and between the big releases) that have made it more of a continual process of improvement. For example, although the Zumo originally came with the white sprockets that you see in some of those pictures, we now ship the chassis and all of the robots and kits with black spoked sprockets that make assembly and disassembly easier (and look cooler). And a couple years ago, we revised the Zumo 32U4 with a better display (in the form of the Zumo 32U4 OLED), an upgrade that has carried over to this new Zumo.

The Zumo 2040’s new I2C0 connector is one such smaller improvement, but it’s something that I hope will make a difference when it comes to expanding the robot with additional electronics. This is a 4-pin JST SH-compatible connector that provides access to the RP2040’s I2C0 bus, and it has a pinout compatible with Sparkfun’s Qwiic and Adafruit’s STEMMA QT connection systems, so that should make it easier to add I²C sensors and other devices to the Zumo.

The I2C0 connector on the Zumo 2040.

Heat-seeking Zumo? An IR camera plugged into the Zumo 2040’s I2C0 connector enables thermal imaging capabilities.

The Zumo 2040 robot is available as a kit (with motors not included so you can select your own to customize performance) or as a fully assembled robot with your choice of 50:1, 75:1, or 100:1 motor options.

Related products

	Zumo 2040 Robot Kit (No Motors)
	Zumo 2040 Robot (Assembled with 50:1 HP Motors)
	Zumo 2040 Robot (Assembled with 75:1 HP Motors)
	Zumo 2040 Robot (Assembled with 100:1 HP Motors)