A new Pi Pico W firmware project, bt2i2c, takes keystrokes from a standard Bluetooth keyboard and sends them over the I2C bus—making keyboard input easier to integrate with I2C-based microcontroller projects, complete with optional display feedback on connecti
If you’ve ever worked with I2C, you know the appeal: a small set of wires, a manageable chunk of code, and suddenly your microcontroller can talk to sensors, displays, and input devices without turning your desk into a wiring nightmare.
That’s why bt2i2c is drawing attention. The project by Roberto Alsina flashes firmware to a Pi Pico W so it can connect to a standard Bluetooth keyboard and forward keystrokes over I2C. In practice. your project doesn’t have to “think” about Bluetooth at all—the input appears as if it’s coming from a BlackBerry BBQ20/BBQ10 keyboard at I2C address 0x1F.
Once that mapping is in place, there’s already plenty of existing code to build on, because the keyboard behavior the project emulates has a known profile. Alsina also points out that the setup doesn’t strictly require anything beyond the Pi Pico W and the I2C connection.
The extra detail is a display. While it’s optional, connecting a ST7789 display to the Pi Pico over SPI gives a way to see connection status visually—handy when you’re pairing a keyboard and you want to know, right away, whether the link is actually up.
Part of the appeal here is familiarity. Plenty of makers have built “writerdeck” style setups on chips like the ESP32, and the bt2i2c approach slots into that same instinct: bring the responsiveness of a real keyboard to a small board that’s doing the rest of the work.
Right now, the core promise is simple and practical—Bluetooth keyboard input, delivered through an I2C interface the rest of your project already knows how to use.
Pi Pico W I2C Bluetooth keyboard bt2i2c Roberto Alsina ST7789 SPI microcontrollers maker projects