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  • Author Author: shabaz
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Micro Bit

shabaz

Interesting little microcontroller board, to be developed as part of a BBC plan to distribute them for free to 1M 11-year old children according to this news announcement.

(Image source: bbc.co.uk)image

Apparently this is not the actual incarnation that will be distributed - it will also feature Bluetooth.

The shape looks interesting - like a robot with eyes : ) or a little professor.

 

I think it is a good concept - it is a nice blend of toy-like appearance combined with educational material. Some kids will use it for

cute animations on the LED matrix, and learn in the process! Others will probably fit (say) wires to what looks like screw terminal holes to connect

up multiple ones perhaps - no soldering needed : ) Like an electronic origami perhaps.

(image source: naturallyeducational.com)image

 

<Edit: added some more pics from BBC news site>:

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Parents

  • I've been looking at pictures of it - the processor seems to be an Atmel mega32U4 which is a huge disappointment to me. I was expecting an ARM Cortex M0 at the very least.

    Does anyone have a definite spec for the processor ?

     

    MK

  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Rather doubt that it is a simple mega32u4 since they are having languages like Python/Scratch supported with bluetooth 4.1 ble(which has a stack like). This would be more like A5/M3 ish size processors. Would you agree?

    Clem

  • in reply to clem57

    From the BBC website:

     

    When it launches in September it will be compatible with three coding languages - Touch Develop, Python and C++.

    The device is tiny - fitting easily into the palm of a hand. Children will be able to create text via a series of LED lights and they will also be able to use it to create basic games.

    The final version will have a Bluetooth link enabling it to be hooked up to other devices such as a Raspberry Pi.

     

    From the picture on wired :

     

    image

     

    So clear it will have Bluetooth (but quite possible no more than basic low speed comms). From other sources and comments I think the coding will be done on another computer and the resulting code downloaded to the micro bit - as with Arduinos. From all the pictures I've seen it looks like a mega32.

    Strange choice, the mega32U4 is £2.69 each, 500off, for £2.41 (same quantity) you could have an STM32F401 with 256k of flash and 64kof ram, FPU, 32 bitness etc.

     

    From techcrunch.com , quoting BBC:

     

     

     

    The Micro Bit will be a small, wearable device with an LED display that children can programme in a number of ways. It will be a standalone, entry-level coding device that allows children to pick it up, plug it into a computer and start creating with it immediately.

    It is designed to be a starting point to get younger children interesting in coding so they can move onto other, more complex devices in future. And the Micro Bit can even connect and communicate with these other devices, including Arduino, Galileo, Kano and Raspberry Pi, as well as other Micro Bits. This helps a child’s natural learning progression and gives them even more ways of expressing their creativity.

  • in reply to clem57

    Hi!

    I wonder if it may well remain an ATmega, since their current exercises using the graphical language are not stretching the mega. They can instead have a lot of the intelligence in the dev environment running in the cloud for example.

     

    I wonder if they will really support Python (i.e. was the news article correct or not - for example the article mentioned raspberry pi foundation as a partner but RPF isn't listed in the partners list in the BBC press release - although RPF may have relationships with the official partners, or RPF may have been accidentally missed out on the list). I know Python is a popular language for some tasks, but it wasn't always, and perhaps 11-year olds can benefit from the Micro Bit with other languages such as the graphical one (e.g. scratch) anyway. The Python Software Foundation is listed as a 'Product Champion', not a Partner. The bluetooth device may have a separate processor.

     

    This is all speculation though, (and Atmel is not listed as a Partner either, so it is clear things are in flux) so you may be right.

  • in reply to clem57

    Just found the ARM press release:

    Internet of Things: ARM and the BBC collaborate... | ARM Connected Community

    It confirms BT LE, and OTA upgrades, and that it will be ARM based (guessing Freescale since they mention them specifically).

Comment Children
  • in reply to shabaz

    Thanks for that link -

    It seems that we are in vaporware territory - the prototype in all the pictures is definitely an Atmel AVR, but now it seems that ARM are claiming it as an MBED device with Freescale (now of course Frescale/NXP) and Nordic (presumably for the radio) as partners.

     

    My heart is sinking - at first it seemed a nice idea but it's a long way off - and with all these axes being ground who knows what it'll end up like.

     

    MK

  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Hi Michael,

     

    The good thing is that a normally very hard bit (the children-friendly app, in-browser simulator and the educational PDF material) seems to be quite far progressed. I think they can easily launch that this year from the looks of it, from what I've heard. It is nicely laid out, and being the BBC, they can refer teachers or children off to training bitesize videos throughout the material.

    The material is targeted toward the current hardware I'm guessing - but hopefully would be near-identical for the final board design if they keep the same 5x5 matrix, etc, and hide most differences so to speak.