Each month, we're going to shine a light on a kit or accessory that you can use to enhance your micro:bit projects. This month our featured product is the Grove Inventor Kit, developed by Seeed Studio.
What is it?
The Grove System is a modular, standardized connector prototyping system that takes a building block approach to assembling electronics. It can be applied to the micro:bit through use of a specially designed Grove shield, which forms the core of this inventor kit. The shield significantly expands the functionality of the micro:bit by breaking out the device's connection pads into four Grove ports, allowing for easy integration with the wider Grove system - including a wide variety of sensors, actuators, displays and communication devices.
Power for the Grove shield can be supplied either by the battery of the micro:bit device itself, or through an on-board USB port, which provides a regulated 3.3v supply, capable of delivering more power to the connected devices than the micro:bit would be capable of by itself.
The kit also features a colourful lesson book containing twelve projects for students to try out, plus all of the components required to complete them. The focus is on learning and ease of use, with no soldering or jump wires required. Instead, magnetic edge connectors can be used to 'snap' different components together safely and securely.
Features
- Innovative Grove extension shield to expand the functionality of the micro:bit
- 8 carefully selected modules to take full advantage of the Grove shield's potential
- Twelve fun and accessible projects ideal for micro:bit beginners
- Magnetic edge connectors for easy prototyping with no soldering or jump wires
- On-board USB port to power up your micro:bit
- A well documented instruction manual
Kit Contents
- 1 x Grove Shield for micro:bit
- 1 x Grove Rotary Angle Sensor
- 1 x Grove Speaker
- 1 x Grove Ultrasonic Ranger
- 1 x Grove Light Sensor
- 1 x Waterproof LED Strip (Length: 1m, 30 LEDs total)
- 1 x Grove Gesture Sensor
- 1 x Grove 4 Digit Display
- 1 x Grove Red LED
- 1 x Micro USB Cable (Length: 48cm)
- 1 x Instruction Manual
- 10 x Alligator Clips
- 7 x Grove Cable
Requirements
- 1 x micro:bit
Additional Resources
The good people at Seeed Studio have also come up with a range of additional resources to make getting started with the Grove Inventor Kit even easier.
Road Test Reviews
Have you used the Grove Inventor Kit at home or in the classroom? Share your thoughts on this month's featured accessory in the comments section below...
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