micro:bit Blue

The BBC micro:bit is an exciting, programmable device which one million, excited British schoolchildren recently received. It has buttons, a display, an accelerometer, magnetometer, an edge connector to connect electronic things to and... it has Bluetooth.

Bitty Software have apps and coding tutorials for the BBC micro:bit at http://www.bittysoftware.com/

micro:bit Blue was developed by Martin Woolley who, working for the Bluetooth SIG, was part of the micro:bit team and designed the Bluetooth capabilities of the micro:bit. It will let you explore and play with examples of the kind of things Bluetooth makes possible with your micro:bit and hopefully help you get started learning about this key technology too. The menu contains icons for a series of demonstrations which show how every aspect of the micro:bit can be used from another device like an Android smartphone over Bluetooth. Each screen has a help page attached to it which explains what the demo does and how it works.

For micro:bit coding resources which involve Bluetooth, try the Bitty Software web site: http://www.bittysoftware.com/

You can follow Martin on Twitter at @bluetooth_mdw and Bitty Software at @bittysoftware

Here are a few of the things you can do with this application and a BBC micro:bit

- Control a 3D image of a micro:bit on the screen of your phone, rotating it in space by moving your real micro:bit

- Display the compass direction your micro:bit is pointing in and watch it change as you rotate your micro:bit

- Make kittens miaow, puppies woof, tigers growl and wolves howl using your micro:bit's buttons

- Set the display of your micro:bit to a pattern drawn on the screen of your phone

- Send a text message from your phone to your micro:bit and watch it scroll across

- Monitor the temperature of your micro:bit's processor

- Switch on and off a device (e.g. a light) connected to your micro:bit from your phone or tablet

- Remote control a micro:bit controlled car, truck or other vehicle using a familiar looking game pad

- Use your phone as a trivia scoreboard and award coloured stars by pressing buttons on your micro:bit

- Connect your phone to a Bluetooth heart rate monitor and watch a histogram of your heart rate develop as you exercise. Watch the same histogram reflected on the display of your micro:bit so you can wear the micro:bit and keep your phone out of sight in a bag

- Play the Animal Vegetable Mineral guessing game

- Count things with your micro:bit by pressing button A and when done send the accumulated counter value to your phone using button B. Your phone doesn't need to be involved when counting, only when uploading the final value. You could even count squirrels. Or something else :-)

You'll need the right code on your micro:bit. If in doubt, visit http://www.bittysoftware.com/downloads.html#microbit_blue where you'll find some handy hex files available for download.