Fisher-Price USB Foot Pedal

Rainbow "Wire Wrap" Thin 30 AWG Prototyping & Repair Wire

Large spool of Rainbow Wire Wrap Thin Prototyping & Repair Wire

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USB Type A to Type C Cable - approx 1 meter / 3 ft long

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If needed/desired:

Flush diagonal cutters

These are the best diagonal cutters, large super-comfortable grip to use and have strong nippers for perfect trimming of wires and leads. I've used my pair every day for years.

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Digital Multimeter - Model 9205B+

This massive multimeter has everything but the kitchen sink included. It's a great addition to any workbench or toolbox. It's low cost, simple to use, and has a big clear...

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Download the latest version of CircuitPython for this board via circuitpython.org

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Fisher-Price Piano Modded with microcontroller exposed

How it works

The piano has five piano keys with a button underneath each. These can be easily tapped into by soldering a wire directly to one of the pins on each button board. When a key is pressed the voltage signal of the corresponding button wire will go high.

By connecting each of these buttons to GPIO pins of a microcontroller like the Adafruit KB2040, you can programmatically detect a button press when the voltage goes from low to high. (ex: 0 → 3.3v)

Disassemble

Start off by removing the 16 Phillips-head screws along the bottom side of the piano.

Gently pull apart the two halves with the top half remaining facedown. This will help prevent the plastic piano keys from falling out of place.

Mount the Microcontroller

There is a lot of free space within this toy to mount your microcontroller. So you have a lot of options. For this guide we'll use a 3D printed mount for holding the KB2040 and cutting a small opening for exposing the USB-C port within the barrel on the far right end.

Download STL Files

The 3D printed mount fits the KB2040 stealthily within either the left or right ends (used to screw the piano to the rest of gym). This way the piano can be easily restored to normal function later down the road and the cuts will remain hidden.

Mounting to the right-side is ideal as it is close enough to reach the existing power wires.

Cut the Case

Using the 3D printed jig you can drill some initials holes on either end and then use flush cutter pliers to trim out the remaining.

Roughly a 9mm x 2.8mm opening for the KB2040's USB-C port.

Fit the Mount

Slide the button end of the KB2040 into the notches of the mount.

Then slide the mount and KB2040 into place to verify the USB-C connector fits within the hole cut.

Connect the Power

To make sure the piano is within a safe operating range for the KB2040 GPIO to read input from, you can power the piano by USB through the KB2040's built-in voltage regulated 3.3v pin.

Start by cutting the red and black wires coming out of the battery compartment.

Cut as close to the plastic as possible to ensure there is enough length to reach the microcontroller.

Then solder the red wire to the 3V pin and the black wire to a GND pin of the KB2040.

Wire the Boot Button (optional)

Optionally the "Try Me" button, which is normally triggered by the packaging, can be repurposed into an externally accessible boot button for the KB2040.

Start by cutting the two wires for the "Try Me" button close to the main PCB of the piano.

Then solder either one of leads to the small circle solder pad on the bottom of the KB2040 and other to one of the ground pins.

Make sure to route the wire going to the underside of the KB2040, through the small slot under the mount.

Having this boot button wired for external access will come in handy later if you would ever like to flash a different firmware without having to completely disassemble the whole piano again.

Wire the Keys

Each piano key button board has three wires connected to it. The lead with the white wire, closest to the button membrane, carries the button's state signal. It is 3.3v when pressed and 0v when released.

For each button, cut a wire long enough to run between it and the mounted KB2040 board. Then solder the wire to the white wire's pin hole.

PIANO KEY

Red ⏺ - 1
Orange ♥ - 2
Yellow ▲ - 3
Green ◾️ - 4
Blue ★ - 5

KB2040 PIN

A0 - Left
A2 - Right
CLK - Start
D2 - Button 1
D3 - Button 2

Solder the other end of the wires to the corresponding KB2040 pin labels in the chart above.

Button 1 (red) to pin A0.
Button 2 (orange) to pin A2.
Button 3 (yellow) to pin CLK.
Button 4 (green) to pin 2.
Button 5 (blue) to pin 3.

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CircuitPython is a derivative of MicroPython designed to simplify experimentation and education on low-cost microcontrollers. It makes it easier than ever to get prototyping by requiring no upfront desktop software downloads. Simply copy and edit files on the CIRCUITPY drive to iterate.

CircuitPython Quickstart

Follow this step-by-step to quickly get CircuitPython running on your board.

install_circuitpython_on_rp2040_RP2040_UF2_downloaded.jpg

Click the link above to download the latest CircuitPython UF2 file.

Save it wherever is convenient for you.

To enter the bootloader, hold down the BOOT/BOOTSEL button (highlighted in red above), and while continuing to hold it (don't let go!), press and release the reset button (highlighted in red or blue above). Continue to hold the BOOT/BOOTSEL button until the RPI-RP2 drive appears!

If the drive does not appear, release all the buttons, and then repeat the process above.

You can also start with your board unplugged from USB, press and hold the BOOTSEL button (highlighted in red above), continue to hold it while plugging it into USB, and wait for the drive to appear before releasing the button.

A lot of people end up using charge-only USB cables and it is very frustrating! Make sure you have a USB cable you know is good for data sync.

install_circuitpython_on_rp2040_RP2040_bootloader_drive.jpg

You will see a new disk drive appear called RPI-RP2.

Drag the adafruit_circuitpython_etc.uf2 file to RPI-RP2.

The RPI-RP2 drive will disappear and a new disk drive called CIRCUITPY will appear.

That's it, you're done! :)

Safe Mode

You want to edit your code.py or modify the files on your CIRCUITPY drive, but find that you can't. Perhaps your board has gotten into a state where CIRCUITPY is read-only. You may have turned off the CIRCUITPY drive altogether. Whatever the reason, safe mode can help.

Safe mode in CircuitPython does not run any user code on startup, and disables auto-reload. This means a few things. First, safe mode bypasses any code in boot.py (where you can set CIRCUITPY read-only or turn it off completely). Second, it does not run the code in code.py. And finally, it does not automatically soft-reload when data is written to the CIRCUITPY drive.

Therefore, whatever you may have done to put your board in a non-interactive state, safe mode gives you the opportunity to correct it without losing all of the data on the CIRCUITPY drive.

Entering Safe Mode

To enter safe mode when using CircuitPython, plug in your board or hit reset (highlighted in red above). Immediately after the board starts up or resets, it waits 1000ms. On some boards, the onboard status LED (highlighted in green above) will blink yellow during that time. If you press reset during that 1000ms, the board will start up in safe mode. It can be difficult to react to the yellow LED, so you may want to think of it simply as a slow double click of the reset button. (Remember, a fast double click of reset enters the bootloader.)

In Safe Mode

If you successfully enter safe mode on CircuitPython, the LED will intermittently blink yellow three times.

If you connect to the serial console, you'll find the following message.

Copy Text

Auto-reload is off.
Running in safe mode! Not running saved code.

CircuitPython is in safe mode because you pressed the reset button during boot. Press again to exit safe mode.

Press any key to enter the REPL. Use CTRL-D to reload.

Auto-reload is off.
Running in safe mode! Not running saved code.

CircuitPython is in safe mode because you pressed the reset button during boot. Press again to exit safe mode.

Press any key to enter the REPL. Use CTRL-D to reload.

You can now edit the contents of the CIRCUITPY drive. Remember, your code will not run until you press the reset button, or unplug and plug in your board, to get out of safe mode.

Flash Resetting UF2

If your board ever gets into a really weird state and CIRCUITPY doesn't show up as a disk drive after installing CircuitPython, try loading this 'nuke' UF2 to RPI-RP2. which will do a 'deep clean' on your Flash Memory. You will lose all the files on the board, but at least you'll be able to revive it! After loading this UF2, follow the steps above to re-install CircuitPython.

Download flash erasing "nuke" UF2

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Text Editor

Adafruit recommends using the Mu editor for editing your CircuitPython code. You can get more info in this guide.

Alternatively, you can use any text editor that saves simple text files.

Download the Project Bundle

Your project will use a specific set of CircuitPython libraries, and the code.py file. To get everything you need, click on the Download Project Bundle link below, and uncompress the .zip file.

Drag the contents of the uncompressed bundle directory onto your board's CIRCUITPY drive, replacing any existing files or directories with the same names, and adding any new ones that are necessary. The CIRCUITPY drive appears when you plug the KB2040 into the computer via USB.

Download Project Bundle

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Robert Dale Smith for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
# The Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym has five buttons that are
# active high. Pressed = 1, Released = 0. This code turns that into
# keyboard key press, key combos, and/or key press/combo macros.

import time
import board
import usb_hid
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
from adafruit_hid.keyboard_layout_us import KeyboardLayoutUS
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull

# Set up a keyboard device.
kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)
layout = KeyboardLayoutUS(kbd)

# Setup the buttons with internal pull-down resistors
buttons = []
for pin in [board.A0, board.A2, board.CLK, board.D2, board.D3]: # kb2040 pins
    button = DigitalInOut(pin)
    button.direction = Direction.INPUT
    button.pull = Pull.DOWN
    buttons.append(button)

# Each button corresponds to a key or key combination or a sequence of keys
keys = [
    Keycode.A,
    (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.TAB),
    [
        Keycode.UP_ARROW,
        Keycode.ENTER
    ],
    [
        Keycode.END,
        (Keycode.SHIFT, Keycode.HOME),
        (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.C),
    ],
    [
        (Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.A),
        'Hello World',
        Keycode.PERIOD
    ]
]

while True:
    # check each button
    for button, key in zip(buttons, keys):
        if button.value:  # button is pressed
            if isinstance(key, tuple):
                kbd.press(*key)
                kbd.release_all()
            elif isinstance(key, list):
                for macro_key in key:
                    if isinstance(macro_key, str):  # print a string
                        layout.write(macro_key)
                    elif isinstance(macro_key, tuple):  # press combo keys
                        kbd.press(*macro_key)
                        kbd.release_all()
                    else:  # press a single key
                        kbd.press(macro_key)
                        kbd.release_all()
                    time.sleep(0.1)  # delay between keys
            else:  # press a single key
                kbd.press(key)
                kbd.release_all()
            time.sleep(0.1)  # debounce delay

    time.sleep(0.1)

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Robert Dale Smith for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
# The Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym has five buttons that are
# active high. Pressed = 1, Released = 0. This code turns that into
# keyboard key press, key combos, and/or key press/combo macros.

import time
import board
import usb_hid
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
from adafruit_hid.keyboard_layout_us import KeyboardLayoutUS
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull

# Set up a keyboard device.
kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)
layout = KeyboardLayoutUS(kbd)

# Setup the buttons with internal pull-down resistors
buttons = []
for pin in [board.A0, board.A2, board.CLK, board.D2, board.D3]: # kb2040 pins
    button = DigitalInOut(pin)
    button.direction = Direction.INPUT
    button.pull = Pull.DOWN
    buttons.append(button)

# Each button corresponds to a key or key combination or a sequence of keys
keys = [
    Keycode.A,
    (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.TAB),
    [
        Keycode.UP_ARROW,
        Keycode.ENTER
    ],
    [
        Keycode.END,
        (Keycode.SHIFT, Keycode.HOME),
        (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.C),
    ],
    [
        (Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.A),
        'Hello World',
        Keycode.PERIOD
    ]
]

while True:
    # check each button
    for button, key in zip(buttons, keys):
        if button.value:  # button is pressed
            if isinstance(key, tuple):
                kbd.press(*key)
                kbd.release_all()
            elif isinstance(key, list):
                for macro_key in key:
                    if isinstance(macro_key, str):  # print a string
                        layout.write(macro_key)
                    elif isinstance(macro_key, tuple):  # press combo keys
                        kbd.press(*macro_key)
                        kbd.release_all()
                    else:  # press a single key
                        kbd.press(macro_key)
                        kbd.release_all()
                    time.sleep(0.1)  # delay between keys
            else:  # press a single key
                kbd.press(key)
                kbd.release_all()
            time.sleep(0.1)  # debounce delay

    time.sleep(0.1)

How It Works

The code uses the digitalio library to read the piano key button presses, then the adafruit_hid library is used to send USB keyboard commands.

Libraries

First, the necessary libraries and modules are imported.

import time
import board
import usb_hid
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
from adafruit_hid.keyboard_layout_us import KeyboardLayoutUS
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull

import time
import board
import usb_hid
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
from adafruit_hid.keyboard_layout_us import KeyboardLayoutUS
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull

Keyboard Setup

Next, we create instances of Keyboard, and KeyboardLayoutUS.

# Set up a keyboard device.
kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)
layout = KeyboardLayoutUS(kbd)

# Set up a keyboard device.
kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)
layout = KeyboardLayoutUS(kbd)

Digital In Out

We'll create an array named buttons. This array will store instances of the DigitalInOut class, each configured to correspond with one of the five KB2040 pins connected to the piano keys.

Each pin direction will be set to INPUT. The piano keys are active high. Meaning the voltage goes from 0 to 3.3v when a button is pressed and returns to 0 when released. So the default state of each pin is set to Pull.DOWN.

# Setup the buttons with internal pull-down resistors
buttons = []
for pin in [board.A0, board.A2, board.CLK, board.D2, board.D3]:
    button = DigitalInOut(pin)
    button.direction = Direction.INPUT
    button.pull = Pull.DOWN
    buttons.append(button)

# Setup the buttons with internal pull-down resistors
buttons = []
for pin in [board.A0, board.A2, board.CLK, board.D2, board.D3]:
    button = DigitalInOut(pin)
    button.direction = Direction.INPUT
    button.pull = Pull.DOWN
    buttons.append(button)

Key Commands

The keys array contains five elements, one for each piano key button.

Each item can be either a single keyboard key press, a combination of simultaneously pressed keys, or a sequenced macro of individual or combo key presses.

This is where you can customize the individual piano keys' commands to fit your own needs.

For example:

Single - press a single key
- example: Keycode.A
Combo - press a combination of keys simultaniously
- example: (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.TAB)
Macro - press a sequence of single keys or combos one after the other
- example: [ Keycode.UP_ARROW, Keycode.ENTER ]
Macro with a combo, a string, and a single key
- example: [ (Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.A), 'Hello Worl', Keycode.D ]

# Each button corresponds to a key or key combination or a sequence of keys
keys = [
    Keycode.A, # single key
    (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.TAB), # key combo
    [
        Keycode.UP_ARROW,
        Keycode.ENTER
    ], # macro of single key presses
    [
        Keycode.END,
        (Keycode.SHIFT, Keycode.HOME),
        (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.C),
    ], # macro with single key and combo keys
    [
        (Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.A),
        'Hello World',
        Keycode.PERIOD
    ] # macro with combo, string, and single
]

# Each button corresponds to a key or key combination or a sequence of keys
keys = [
    Keycode.A, # single key
    (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.TAB), # key combo
    [
        Keycode.UP_ARROW,
        Keycode.ENTER
    ], # macro of single key presses
    [
        Keycode.END,
        (Keycode.SHIFT, Keycode.HOME),
        (Keycode.COMMAND, Keycode.C),
    ], # macro with single key and combo keys
    [
        (Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.A),
        'Hello World',
        Keycode.PERIOD
    ] # macro with combo, string, and single
]

Main Loop

The main loop of the program first checks the button.value of each of the five buttons wired up to the GPIO pins of the KB2040.

Each button's corresponding keys array key is checked to see if it is either a tuple ( ), a list [ ], a single key Keycode., or a string of key characters 'Hello World'.

Tuples, values wrapped in parentheses ( ) will send simultaneous button combo presses. Lists, values wrapped in square brackets [ ] will send a macro sequence of individual or combo keys one after the other.

Keycode. values or strings wrapped in single quotes ' ' can be used for pressing one or more keys in sequence.