John Edgar Park’s latest Raspberry Pi creation takes a bold step into the wastelands of the Fallout universe. Using primarily Feather components from Adafruit, Park has created a wearable, RP2040-based Pip-Boy. This watch-sized Pip-Boy resembles a gadget used in-game to display plot points, vitals and inventory data.
Park has created a prop gadget that looks the part but currently doesn't provide much in the way of features beyond rotating images on the display. That said, the best Raspberry Pi projects are open source and this project is one of them. Plans are in the works to share a build guide at Adafruit. Adding new features with additional modules would be more than feasible thanks to the Stemma QT port.
The Pip-Boy is housed inside a custom 3D-printed shell that uses threaded inserts and screws to hold everything together for a solid, professional finish. The retro-looking display is a rounded rectangle TFT IPS module from Adafruit. It’s controlled using an Adafruit Feather RP2040 along with a Joy FeatherWing module which includes a D-Pad, Joystick, Select button, and Reset button for user input.
A FeatherWing Tripler Mini Kit, which replicates the Feather pinout for two additional devices, offers protoboard support for the Feather modules and is used here to connect a slide switch for power. Everything is powered by a 3.7V LiPo battery for portability. Software-wise, the visuals are managed using a custom CircuitPython script. It accepts user input and changes the display output.
To get a closer look at this Pip-Boy project, check out the original thread shared to Twitter by John Edgar Park and be sure to follow him for more cool creations.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
