Hardware Requirements

Bottango Control Board

To export animations to run standalone on a board, you’ll use a Bottango control board. Bottango Solar has an SD card reader for storing and playing back animations. Bottango Nova does as well, but it is not normally used to control motors directly; instead, it is used as a show controller to serve out animations to multiple boards.

It is possible to export animations to Bottango Impulse on its own, without using Bottango Nova as a show controller or a computer, despite not having an SD card reader. See Exporting to Bottango Impulse for more details. However, since it does not have an SD card reader, the process is more complicated and has limitations to be aware of.

MicroSD Card

Bottango Nova and Bottango Solar can play exported animation files from a microSD card. See SD Card for card size, format, and quality recommendations.

Power Supply

You can power Bottango Solar or Bottango Impulse using only the DC power input. Be sure to choose a power supply that meets the requirements. You can power Bottango Nova using the USB-C port.

External Animation Trigger Hardware (optional)

To trigger animations, you can provide your own custom logic or use the built-in animation trigger buttons on Bottango Solar or Bottango Nova. You can use your own external buttons for triggering, including wiring them up to the header pins for each built-in button. Or you can provide your own unique hardware triggering sensors, buttons, etc. If you want to use your own unique animation triggering hardware, using Bottango Nova as a show controller provides 8 exposed GPIO pins for you to use. You can also use Qwiic peripherals to add additional sensors, buttons, etc on Bottango Solar, Nova, or Impulse.