With the Supercon 2024 SAO Contest in full-swing, and more ideas than time... how am I going to control these SAOs that are designed to utilize I2C without having a badge pre-programmed?

With an intermediate SAO brain, of course! There are so many good microcontroller choices. The ESP32 options are compelling with Wifi and BT built-in. But since we know the badge is going to be based on a Pico W, the RP2040-Zero will be in this SAO Demo Controller. 

Here is my first proof of concept, powered and programmed through the USB-C port:

And here it is being powered by one of my most favorite badges:

Now that the concept is proven, time to whip up a little design in KiCAD....