Beginning MicroPython with the Raspberry Pi Pico: Build Electronics and IoT Projects

by Charles Bell

Program the Raspberry Pi Pico, the latest microcontroller board from raspberrypi.org, with MicroPython. This book will take you on a tour of the Raspberry Pi Pico, including how to get started using the microcontroller, seeing which alternative microcontrollers are available, and how to connect and run simple code examples.
You’ll program example projects in MicroPython using Python on your PC as a learning platform. Then build your hardware skillset working with electronics and breadboard circuits. You'll implement example projects with all steps explained, including hardware connections and executing the project. Then apply them to real-world, approachable projects using the accessible Raspberry Pi Pico!
The book shows how the cloud is used for IoT data and find out what popular cloud systems currently exist for IoT. Finally, you'll use ThingSpeak for hosting IoT data including connecting your Pico to the Internet.
Beginning MicroPython with the Raspberry Pi Pico allows you to build up your skills to more advanced IoT projects and Cloud systems!
What You Will Learn
Who This Book Is For
Beginners interested in learning to work with the Raspberry Pi Pico using MicroPython on microcontrollers with little to no experience in programming, hardware, or electronics. The book should also appeal to those who wanting to gain experience with building electronic solutions with microcontrollers.

658 pages, Paperback

Published July 24, 2022

About the author

Dr. Charles Bell is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences. His research explores how out-of-school suspension, seclusion, restraint, and school safety measures impact students, parents, and teachers. He also examines social factors that contribute to violent student-student and student-teacher altercations. Dr. Bell's work has been published in several scholarly and public-engagement outlets, including Urban Education, Children and Youth Services Review, Disability Studies Quarterly, Journal of Crime and Justice, The Conversation, Kappan, and Sociology Compass. The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) selected his first book, Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021), as a finalist for the 2021 C. Wright Mills Book Award.

Dr. Bell is a subject-matter expert on school discipline, violence, and safety projects at the National Center for School Safety. He has collaborated on projects with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has served as an expert witness in state and federal school-discipline cases. He has also served as a keynote speaker for universities and regional associations.

Dr. Bell has been interviewed and cited by several news outlets, including NBC News, NPR, the Detroit News, WGLT, Atlanta Black Star, Lakeshore PBS, Detroit PBS, WCBU Peoria, WMBD Central Illinois, and Al Jazeera America.

His second book, No Restraint: Disabled Children and Institutionalized Violence in America’s Schools, focuses on how school seclusion and restraint impact families of children with disabilities. New York University Press published No Restraint on February 24, 2026.