The Raspberry Pi Pico is turning up in many imaginative projects, and the latest to the list is a long-range wireless chat “Doomsday Communicator” from Bobricius that features a simple QWERTY keyboard and a small IPS LCD display.

Bobricius’ Raspberry Pi PICOmputer is the latest in their ARMACHAT long-range radio messenger boards. Powered by a single 18650 Lithium-Ion battery, ARMACHAT boards send messages over a radio connection, with frequencies and license requirements varying depending on where you are in the world. They can also be used in a mesh network with other users, handy if there’s ever an apocalypse.

The PICOmputer uses the power of the Raspberry Pi Pico to drive a 240 x 240 pixel IPS LCD which is directly connected to the SPI interface of the Pico via the main PCB. A series of tactile switches provide a QWERTY keyboard which will do the job. Cleverly, Bobricius uses an additional PCB that fits over the keys to protect them from damage and stop “the wobble” of the keys from creating a typo. There’s a GPIO breakout along the top of the board, just in case we need to add any extra features. Based on previous models, we assume that the 18650 Lithium-Ion battery is charged in situ and that the PICOmputer has a charging circuit to accomplish this safely.

There isn’t much information right now, and it is early days to estimate a release date. Based on the previous models, we expect prices to be around $140.