Inspiring educators and parents to teach kids about coding and robotics in a fun way with Scratch, the micro:bit and Lego.
Hello,
I am a former science and technology journalist who organises workshops about coding and robotics for kids. My videos feature creative/interesting ways to use the BBC micro:bit together with cardboard, wood or Lego to make funny bots and games. You'll also find some older videos about the mBot and the Ranger from MakeBlock.
I also have a blog and a website (mainly in Dutch): programmeren-met-scratch.blogspot.nl/ and tinker-club.blogspot.com/
On Scratch you can find me here: scratch.mit.edu/users/PinkyPepper/ and here scratch.mit.edu/users/Juf-Pinky/
This is my Twitter account: twitter.com/PinkyPepper_
For Dutch people: Neem gerust contact met mij op als je interesse hebt in roboticaworkshops of lesmateriaal over Scratch, Lego en/of de micro:bit.
Bedankt voor je reactie. Ik gebruik deze verlengkabeltjes voor de geekservo's: www.kiwi-electronics.com/nl/servo-verlengkabel-50cm-10317 Die sluit ik niet direct op de micro:bit aan, maar op het Simple servo board van Kitronik (waar je de micro:bit als controller in kan schuiven).
Thanks! It was so nice to see all the builds that were made and to see the things that kids tried to make their bot walk funny. Some of them tried lots of different type of legs.
The normal mBot doesn´t provide a port for an encoder motor as far as I know. I didn't buy the newer version of the mBot. But just shooting, without adjusting the height might be possible with the dc motor normally used for the wheels. I haven't tried that.
I am not sure, but the motor I used did turn pretty fast. What other type of motor would you like to use? The servo motors that I've used don't go that fast. I can't remember the speed of the encoder motor. I am not working with MakeBlock robots anymore, only with micro:bit robots.
@pinkypepper Thank you so much for your reply. I am currently doing a ball shooter project and using the DC Encoder motor of 185 RPM, gear ratio of 1.46, and variability of 10%, but not powerful enough to hit the ball into the 30cm high basket that is 50cm away from it. I've even tried to change the code several times but it's still the same Also, I noticed my motor seemingly can't go backwards smoothly when I set the rotation to -5000 degrees, it glitches. Please, would you know the code block that I can use to reverse the rotation of the motor in a fluid way?
@@johnadeyemi3674 I am sorry. I haven't used mBlock in the past five years. And I have never used the new coding environment with my Ranger. So I can't give you advice. Have you tried posting your question on the MakeBlock forum? I was wondering whether you also usea very light ball like I did.
@@pinkypepper I didn't even know there was a makeblock forum. I'll definitely post my question there. The ball I used is a regular ping pong ball. I'm truly appreciative of your reply. Thank you so much 😊
Cool! You can see some examples of what other people made if you scroll down at this page: tinker-club.blogspot.com/p/two-player-maze-game-for-microbit.html Good luck! If you would be willing to share what you've made, I would love to see it.
@PinkyPepper I was unable to download the code from the google drive. Did you choose to take that down ? I teach school and use microbits would love to have it if you could make that available to me please !
I used a micro bit once at my school and loved it so i have one on the way its being delivered currently my friend and me like coding and he might get one. I was looking for things to do with my micro bit and these ideas are really cool
Thanks! Good luck with your micro:bit. Learning to code is a nice adventure. And with the micro:bit you can make lots of cool stuff. This two player maze can be made with only the micro:bit and some cables: tinker-club.blogspot.com/p/two-player-maze-game-for-microbit.html
Thanks! Sorry for my late reply. I don't have any tutorials or parts lists available for the add ons that you see in this YT video. I do have an English tutorial for a fun micro:bit maze game that your students might like. You can find it here: tinker-club.blogspot.com/p/two-player-maze-game-for-microbit.html
I am using three micro:bits that communicate via the radio function of the micro:bit. Futhermore, I use the pins of the micro:bit to connect the alligator clips that go to the aluminium foil beneath the pins. Does this answer your question?
@@missgreenwood805 If you're new at this, I would like to suggest to start with an easier project. I hoped a bowling game was easy to make when I started, but the coding turnt out to be more complicated than I expected. Regarding the connections: each bowling pin has to touch a piece of aluminium foil that's connected to the ground and a piece that's connected to pin 0, 1 or 2 of the micro:bit. Every bowling pin needs to be connected to a seperate pin of the micro:bit. I am sorry, but I don't have a drawing. I didn't turn this project into a lesson for my own workshops because the coding became too complex for the grade levels that I teach.
The parts at time 4:40 are from the MakeBlock Mini Pan-Tilt Kit. Here's an example of a shop that sells that kit: www.robots4all.be/Mini-Pan-Tilt-Kit?Product=154387677&Lng=en . It's made for the mBot, but you can also use it with the :Move Motor of Kitronik.
Hi PinkyPepper; can you show how you added the 10 add-ons so that I can show students in school? I would greatly appreciate it.! Like all your videos! Mike
Hi Mike, thanks! You can add these add-ons to the :Move Motor of Kitronik just by using a bolt. You can also see that in this Tweet: twitter.com/PinkyPepper_/status/1529903077599346690. This is their official add-on: kitronik.co.uk/products/5696-move-motor-klaw-kit Do you have a :Move Motor or do you have another micro:bit robot?
How do you do the first one? I can't find any other videos about having a controller type thing connected to it. Do you have any videos that you could recomend me?
I am sorry, I don't have a video for how I made this controller. I do have a video on how I made a foot pedal. This controller is a bit similar, only it has four buttons. twitter.com/PinkyPepper_/status/1138450509277343747 Does that help? You sort of need to make four buttons to make a controller with which you can drive a micro:bit robot in four directions.
Thanks a lot. If you check step 7 on my blog, you can find the code. You have click "edit" to go to MakeCode for the micro:bit to see the full code for this project.
Boa sorte! Ansioso para ver o que você vai fazer. I made this one with paper, micro:bit and servo motors: twitter.com/PinkyPepper_/status/1332438389140885505
I am sorry, I don't have any tutorials in English. All my lessons are in Dutch, because I organize workshops for Dutch kids. Is there anything specific you would like to know about the last one? Here's a quick explanation about the gripper. To use a second micro:bit as a remote control for the gripper, I send a number to the micro:bit of the robot to close it a bit and another number to open it a bit. The code of the micro:bit robot uses a variable for the position of the servo motor of the gripper. This variabele gets increased or decreased depending on the number that is sent by the remote, thereby opening or closing the gripper.
Hi, I coded it with Mblock 3, which is based on Scratch 2.0. This coding editor only runs on a laptop and uses a 2.4Ghz or a bluetooth dongle to communicate with the robot. I think there is an app too for coding it, but I haven't used that myself.
Hi! Nice video! I was wondering how I could make my OWN microbit controller. I was thinking about using cardboard and I tried twice and they didn't work out. Its not really a controller, more like a 6-inch long strip of cardboard to hold. The main idea is for better grip and also to keep the battery in a solid spot. I want the microbit to be under the cardboard and the only thing that should show.are the LEDs, the buttons, and the logo (since I have a V2). How would I go about making this? (Its really hard to make precise cuts) Plus, to mount the microbit, would it be safe to use paper clips in the small mounting holes (they are near the buttons).
Hi, cool project. I wouldn't use paper clips. I use a lot of elastic bands to mount the micro:bit on something. I've seen lots of people use tape too. You can also make this battery holder out of paper and use glue to attach the paper of the holder to the rest of your controller: microbit.org/get-started/user-guide/battery-pack-holder/ Maybe use a smal pringles box and attact your micro:bit to that.
@@pinkypepper Oh the reason I don't want to use elastic bands or tape is because I want it easy in and out (so that rules out tape) and plus I don't want anything blocking the LED display, so that rules out elastic bands) plus I have tried elastic bands and they aren't too secure.
@@pinkypepper Actually I made a 6x2 inch cardboard strip and made holes for the buttons and the display! I'm planning on using that battery pack holder in combination with the thing I made and it'll become a sweet handheld console/gaming controller!
@PinkyPepper I really admired the video. If it isn't too much trouble could I ask a question? For the first showing for the robot did you use an encoder motor and if so what speed did you set it to?
Thanks. For shooting the ball, I used a DC motor. I used an encoder motor for adjusting the slope of the shooter, which is made out of cardboard. The encoder motor block you see in the shooting code in this video (1:05) is one of the encoder motors that are connected to the wheels, if I remember it correctly. So what the code beneath "When green flag clicked" does, is turn on the dc motor that shoots the ball, then turn on one of the encoder motors of the wheel to move the mBot Ranger and then turn on the dc motor to shoot a ball again. Hope this answers your question.
@@pinkypepper Thanks for the reply, I'm truly grateful but I have another minor question. If I used an encoder motor at 180 rpm instead of a dc motor, would you believe the ball would still travel the same distance?
Thanks! Yes, that's possible, but you do need a transistor and 5V to give the motor enough power to turn. A motor driver makes it less complicated for kids to work with motors when using the micro:bit.
