First Look at the BBC micro:bit

[@Hugatry]

Brilliant device and idea. Great video! We had electronics as a part of shop class at age of 15 or so. Teacher gave us PCBs and components for an astable multivibrator based horn and told us "You've seen where the soldering irons are". If there was a problem, teacher's only solution was "Either you didn't follow the instructions or soldering isn't good enogh. Go do something about it.". Sure thing, soldering wasn't good enough because teacher didn't tell us how to solder. Out of 20 kids, maybe one or two accidentally made few decent solder joints. Everyone had to do some resoldering because either the device didn't work at all, or malfunctioned. That doesn't really encourage kids to start playing with electronics, unlike that micro:bit kit! Such a small board, but it has many things kids can play with even without adding any extra hardware. Included tutorials and that block programming thingy seems like perfect way to begin learning programming.

[@saturn5tony]

That is the greatest thing that can be done for young kids....so cool!

[@saturn5tony]

Thx 4 sharing!

[@EinerDerAnderen]

An accelerometer is indeed just for measuring translational accelerations. For measuring angular rates you would need a gyroscope. There are cases where both of these two inertial measurement units have been combined in one device, but usually you would realize them as two dedicated MEMS structures.

[@nThanksForAllTheFish]

Julian, the accelerometer when it's not being jerked around will measure the magnitude of gravity vector relative to it's 3 orthogonal sensing axes. So, each waveform should read between +1g to -1g when the board is rotated in a way that causes that axis to point from up to down. A 3-axis gyro on the other hand would measure rate of rotation in say yaw, pitch and roll. Forgive me if you already know this.

[@AdamWelchUK]

It's a great device and a well meaning initiative. However unfortunately the distribution and supply to schools hasn't lived up to expectation. In my own school we haven't seen the device as yet and the year is quickly coming to an end - and planning for next years curriculum is almost complete as well. :-(

[@andrewtimms4299]

It would be helpful to know the date when the school children will receive theirs so I can buy one on Ebay the week following.

[@proyectosledar]

very good initiative

[@Educ8s]

Nice video Julian. I just got mine! In my opinion, this little board is fantastic for people just starting to program!

[@Motorman2112]

Every 11 year old? Surely the vast majority of these will end up in the bin or in the back of drawers, why not make them available for anyone from 10-14 (for example) who applies for one? That would get more of them into the hands of people who actually want them without so much waste.

[@nThanksForAllTheFish]

Presumably, they'll make it part of the Yr 7 curriculum.

[@Ts6451]

I suspect the reason for distributing them to everyone is to give all children some basic understanding of coding, and to inspire some of those that currently have no interest(or who do not know they might find it interesting), and so would never apply if it was by application only, to get into coding.

[@strawberryjin155]

When I was in year 7 we used these but I never got to keep one 🙁

[@TaiViinikka]

Blockly and Scratch are the real winners here. These languages function like Lego does for structural engineering. Judging from my 8 year old, the barriers to programming language are about syntax. Kids can quite easily understand loops, conditionality, variables -- the problem (at first) is debugging syntax errors. Once you get past "at first," you're already hooked. I hope the microbit will serve as a physical invitation for kids to start trying stuff with the block-oriented languages.

[@DavidWatts]

Glad you got it mate.

[@JulianIlett]

I did, and it's all thanks to you :)

[@DavidWatts]

Julian Ilett Ha ha, you would have found a way to get one eventually.

[@andymouse]

can I have one please?

[@MishuuuTheWah]

this is really cool i wish i was a kid again haha. i live in Canada and i wish we could introduce this to the schools here. we were experimenting with drone delivery here for amazon in the okanagan. but this would be amazing, so jealous.

[@HPDecals]

Hello Julian, I just want to thank you for your great electronics videos. You have actually inspired me to get back into (micro)electronics Your postbag videos are not only very entertaining but also provide great training for learning the different components on the circuit boards and how they are suppose to behave and interact in a circuit. It is much easier for me to learn like this versus out of a book. So thanks again and keep up the great work!

[@JulianIlett]

Thanks Gary - much appreciated :)

[@DavidWatts]

I think the key factor here for kids will be them being able to interact with their micro:bit using their phones. I have fond memories of the BBC Micro and I hope in the years to come kids will look back and feel the same about the BBC micro:bit.

[@aptsys]

Doubtful.

[@DavidWatts]

Dr. Lecter What are you doubtful of? My opinion in general or was it something specific?

[@aptsys]

That kids will look back on this and think it was worthwhile. Seems like a pointless waste of our money when they could be using something more mainstream.

[@theandnewman]

It's a regular 3-way accelerometer, it measures acceleration in X, Y and Z plane, that means left-right, forward-backward and up-down. If you lift it rapidly you should see the blue line go down (or maybe up) and then if you move it down quickly it goes the other way, and you should stop the movement slowly.

[@theandnewman]

Tilt, yaw and roll acceleration is measured with a 6-way accelerometer.

[@dumle29]

It's an accelerometer. It meassures g forces, not movement. in resting, there'll be 1g down, and 0 g on the two horizontal axis. Say Z is vertical, and X and Y is the horizontal planes. The red and green lines reacted, because you rotated those axis towards the gravity, so they read more.

[@BernhardHofmann]

The problem my son had with scratch (a block editor) is that the program quickly becomes unwieldy as it grows. Text based code really isn't that much more difficult and it has the benefit of being comparable with previous versions of the code (you are using source control aren't you). What might be nice is something that produces the text code from the block sketches so that simple sketches can be understood in text and then taken further.

[@user-gr5do8nk7e]

11-year old kids in the UK are really really lucky!

[@boltactionpiano7365]

Accelerometers measure acceleration. Gravity causes acceleration and so that is why it measures you rotating it, it's affecting each of the 3 axis (each line) differently. A gyroscopic sensor is what you were testing. If you shake it in each axis., that will move each line.

[@runnerup15]

The companies producing the parts for these units have the potential to make so much moneyyy. I should start an initiative like this in the US

[@stryk187]

Wow, I've heard of this lil dev board, but I was completely unaware that they're giving them free to EVERY kid in the country, that's incredible! Good on them, that is actually a great initiative, and with the ages these days being less-unfavorable to hackers/makers/"geeks" than they used to be, the kids might actually be interested in this thing, and actually USE it! Good times, for sure. Any estimates on how many units that will take to cover every kid in the UK?

[@The4Crawler]

Great video. I can just see the headlines now, "Student uses a micro:bit to hack into the BBC computer center" :)

[@azyfloof]

That block editor is _very_ reminiscent of the old Lego Mindstorms RIS editor software :D It's a good tool to rapidly get shit done. Is that a Triforce on the BBC manual? And of course the ask you _really_ should be questioning yourself; do you need a TV license to use one of these? (Due, of course, to the unique way in which the BBC is funded :P )

[@pcuser80]

Just as in the eighties with the Acorn BBC micro. Great and fast computer. In these day its a little bit smaller.

[@maicod]

cool board and good incentive to give it to all UK kids aged 11. From what I can see it works more as an Arduino with built in LED matrix than a Raspberry PI. Also very nice block-program-language !

[@faultelectronica]

This is great. It would be brilliant if you could do a series of teaching tutorials for parents who want to teach their children programming the micro:bit. I don't think anybody else has done that yet.

[@magnets1000]

The three accelerometer values will be Roll, Pitch and an Up axis through Z, i.e. hold it level and lift up and down

[@MrGnidlih]

I expected to see yet another centralized failed project but I was wrong. I must say I'm quite impressed. Great initiative.

[@SurajGrewal]

it's accelerometer not gyroscope... it sees movement not rotation

[@YensR]

indeed! Julian would have had to turn it on its side and then rotate around the formerly vertical axis (now horizontal) and he'd have seen gravity's effect on the third line.

[@roybuitenhuis7465]

Well, rotation creates g's as well as long if the center of rotation is not on the accelerometer. Besides movement, it should be able to measure gravity as well, so you can find out the angles relative to earth.

[@SurajGrewal]

but yaw won't effect it significantly small radius of rotation thus small centrifugal force

[@ConexSpot]

This was an excellent demonstration. Thank you.

[@igotes]

Hard to tell how this will create "a nation of programmers". I was writing crappy BASIC programs on the BBC Micro at school when I was six or seven. Not because the school made me do it, but because I found it interesting. I got some Usborne books from the library and gave it a go. It annoyed me that the teachers forced me to go into the playground to "play" when I'd rather stay in the classroom and mess about with computers. Anyway, reminiscing aside, I think it's a good thing, and I'm glad the comments to this video aren't full of nonsense like "they should have just given them arduino/raspberry pi/whatever". Time will tell if it actually generates some interest in writing software.

[@rapturas]

I work in a high school in the UK and we've not heard about this before.

[@callumkingunderwood]

its an accelerometer, it only reads translations not rotations, you'll notice whenever you are tilting the device 2 bars are going because there is a change in 2 axis. A bit of trig between readings of 2 axis and you can use an accelerometer for reading angles of course, but otherwise you appear to be treating it as a gyroscope.

[@acgandhi]

He is actually treating it like a accelerometer, since he moves it back and forth in an axis when he tests it.

[@callumkingunderwood]

Amar Gandhi originally he tilts it while commenting he cant work out what the blue axis corresponds to

[@surajbhawal2474]

that 13 pound price tag is way to much... hey Julian do you know if they are planning to provide with schools of other countries a bit cheaply than that price tag?

[@stuartthegrant]

A very nice idea, however perhaps a PI, or Arduino would have been better choices. Or with the experiance gained with the BBC mod B, a computer with keyboard and screen even better still. I know I am old fashioned and cost is a factor.So good luck BBC micro:bit I hope you encourage as many youngsters as did the model B.

[@slap_my_hand]

4:52 wtf? Kodu and the BBC Micro? That sounds so fucking awesome. Why didn't i get something like this when i was 11 years old?

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

The Pi seems more advanced with more possibilities. I was planning on getting one of these but seeing this makes me wonder what the advantage would be over the pi I already have, certainly this is geared towards beginners so you probably don't get very low level acces, which is just plain boring.

[@mirageinthedesert5448]

Luckily I was in year 7 when this was released I've bought some components and will be making a project on my programming channel

[@VTF5252]

Can't believe you've not seen block programming before. The first programming I did was Scratch in school. It can make rather basic games and such, but uses all block programming. I think they are borrowing code from scratch as the blocs look exactly like the scratch ones.

[@JulianIlett]

I went from BASIC to assembly language programming in the 80s. Then to PIC assembly language in the 90s. A bit of JavaScript, Java and PHP in the 00s. Then to C on the Arduino this decade.

[@maicod]

I started with the VIC20 and learnt BASIC sitting on the ground in front of our CRT and later assembly (on the C64)

[@EdCranium]

Really looking forward to you doing more on the micro:bit. Mine's on order. The block editor is the same as "Scratch", the MIT project for the young. Here's their "Maze" program demo which demonstrates it's similarity. scratch.mit.edu/projects/10128431/#editor

[@vinco1]

Could you please show us all of your power banks in a video? I have burned my Xiaomi 10400mah one, so I'm looking for an replacement. I'll just deasemble the Xiaomi one, and use the batteries in another one. But it took me wery long to find, (and watch) some of your power bank reviews or postbags. Thank you for reading this comment.

[@jhwieder2112]

Hi, love your videos, all very informative. As a science teacher across the pond, is there a way that my school could purchase these, along with the teacher manual? As an aside, your "Arduino under $5" video prompted me to do the same next semester with my class. Regards from NY.

[@txm100]

That bluetooth pairing war horribly complex.

[@JulianIlett]

It was fine until nothing happened and I was left wondering what to do. This app needs a few tweaks.

[@kyoudaiken]

I realy don't like BlueTooth, because the range is crap. Even my 6 meters long living room is too much for it... Free air, connection lost. WTF? Adhoc WiFi please!

[@MrGnidlih]

Not for an 11-year old:)

[@TheKetsa]

I was hoping you would tell us what are those chips on the board ? As for this initiative : What is wrong with arduino ? not expensive enough ?

[@RWoody1995]

They need something they have control over i guess, easier to support it to have their own thing than to try and promote someone elses product and just make a kid friendly IDE for it.

[@reggiebacci]

That was my first thought, to be honest, but from what Julian was saying - they wanted something bluetooth / Android / iphone compatible that didn't require a USB connection to a PC. As far as I can tell - the only Arduino board that might have fitted the bill was the old (and dead) ArduinoBT from 2006. That said, if you're gonna design a proprietary board anyway they could have mashed an HC-05 onto a pro-mini somehow.

[@lonnymoore2622]

the code bug also uses that kind of programing it is a blast too play with

[@joebro391]

I think the shaking portion of the demo was meant to assimilate a pair of die haha

[@BoomBrush]

Wow, this is kinda neat giving free units. Shame Australia doesn't do this :

[@marekcoufal570]

is there any way to buy it in Czech republic?

[@DocM221]

Will the microbit charge lithium battery packs itself?

[@MarkTheMorose]

Needs more Fred Harris.

[@mrjohhhnnnyyy5797]

There's similar "block code" available for a while by now for android, I forgot how it's called though. But it looks very, very similar.

[@tyttuut]

MrJohhhnnnyyy MIT App Creator?

[@mrjohhhnnnyyy5797]

The Tyttuutface Yes

[@sourdoug]

I wonder if you can get one of these in the United States?

[@iainmclaughlan1557]

These are great, I love coding this. So much fun.

[@SiskinOnUTube]

PiZero would have been a better cheap gift to the kids. But we shouldn't snipe at Santa. I do remember wishing I had a phone (landline) when I was a kid. Now it looks like - No computer/phone, then you have a "flashy thing". Maybe you can write code by post in that event.... Micro:bit BBC TV Wood Lane London W12 8QT

[@uktoker71]

Be interesting to see how it can interact with a Raspberry Pi 3 over Bluetooth.

[@TheDutyPaid]

I bought mine from a kid on the bus for £5 lol

[@robh1908]

Is that the same Dr. Who BBC?

[@pepper669]

I fixed all my crocodile clamps by sliding off the rubber sleeve, adding a bit of scotch magic tape around the bare clamp and sliding the sleeve back on.

[@JulianIlett]

I like that.

[@leberkassemmel]

Well, BBC tried this many years ago with the BBC Micro.

[@HarvssLadd]

There are tons of programming programs that use the block programming like Scratch and googles App Inventor. I think children should be pushed towards more actual coding. I never got to do this kind of stuff in secondary school and I've only just got to college!

[@adamgretzinger963]

I wish my government was this forward thinking, what a great idea. I'm ordering a couple of these for myself and a few people.

[@blackIce504]

That is so cool, i wish Australian Gov was forward thinking.

[@michaelstevens630]

Goodness available for £13 The pi Zero and if add a few peripherals can come in under budget. I understand is a full solution but when backed by the BBC with a major £100 million pound and acknowledged IT project fail behind them does make me wonder a little "BIT"

[@josipzlk8019]

we played with those blocks in school before we started doing C

[@barbadolid5170]

Who is the maker this time, Acorn or Sinclair?

[@JulianIlett]

Great story: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jomlqYlsYt-Uo68

[@VictorGarciaR]

great idea, but what about the teachers?? Every kid has one... but you need to teach coding to the teachers first ! Without the support this is useless

[@triestelondon]

These are kids born in the 21st century, they've been using computers since they were 2 or 3. They need teachers, for this level of coding, as much as older generations needed teaching about Meccano or building Airfix kits.

[@John_Ridley]

Incorrect. I work with high school students in FIRST Robotics, so it's already self-selected to tech oriented kids. "Using" computers means absolutely nothing when it comes to understanding or programming computers. Recent studies have shown that the current generation is actually LESS knowledgeable about the inner workings of computers than the last few generations. Computers have gotten to the point where they are appliances. You don't have to know how they work at all in order to use them, and most users (even young ones) haven't a clue what's inside or how they work. You may as well say that anyone born in the latter half of the 20th century grew up with cars, so clearly any of them can design an internal combustion engine, and can surely do an engine rebuild in their garage.

[@sciisfun]

The graphical block coding looks a lot like scratch!

[@nuclearthreat545]

the british broadcasting channel/company?

[@JulianIlett]

corporation

[@techy4198]

Damn, I was five years too early.

[@PuchMaxi]

The Block programming reminds me of Lego Mindstorms!

[@ElGatoLoco698]

I'd like one of those.

[@IngoDingo]

this looks really interesting

[@_Piers_]

I've yet to see a justifiable reason for this project to exist. It would surely have been better to get kids involved with Arduino, a custom board could have been made if they wanted added features onboard. It just seems too much like a very expensive, badly thought out vanity project.

[@andymouse]

any project is better than no project

[@rebelamerican6643]

I know right? Bunch of communist cucks. I will be damned if MY hard working money will be used on my fellow countrymen. Thank god I live in the US. Trump would never allow such treasonous behavior!

[@MrTimcakes]

Espruino also has Block programming like this, should check it out at espruino.com it runs on the Micro:Bit too

[@datinniezaidi7754]

Hey Julian,I wonder if You could do an Inverter project? hello :)

[@JulianIlett]

Hmm, I do have something like that coming up.

[@datinniezaidi7754]

Julian Ilett​ cool! Maybe do some experiments with that 400k Taser? Or did you throw it away? :)

[@fuba44]

+Julian Ilett don't the forget the MUPPET 😉😉

[@mateorodriguez8803]

Jawariu?

[@budude2]

I don't understand the reasoning behind using the edge connector at all - unless of course you spend more for the breakout... Why not use the regular .1 pins so common on basically every other SBC out there - - they work fine...

[@quaxk]

I don't understand the link between a public broadcaster and primary school education, so weird...

[@EdCranium]

The BBC do all sorts of education including TV programs and special projects like this one. In 1982 they produced an educational computer for schools. I played my first game of "Elite" on one; when I should have been working... But it inspired me to do computing for a living.

[@Bantam80]

Not really. One of the 6 core objectives of the BBC's remit is to promote education and learning and another is to 'stimulate creativity'. I think the micro:bit falls squarely in that wheelhouse.

[@nigeljames6017]

The BBC has a long tradition of educating the young. They had a computer out probably twenty years ago that was sold cheaply to schools. You have to remember that both the Beeb and the schools (most of them anyway) are run by the state, hence educate as many as young as possible.

[@Anvilshock]

What better way to smuggle in spy electronics than giving it away as a free toy.

[@reggiebacci]

Knowing the BBC they'd only use it to determine whether the telly was on if you hadn't paid the extortion racket, erm, I mean TV licence.

[@gyrozepelix]

We in croatia got it too

[@hygkolk]

great video!

[@ljmike1204]

damn im 16 years to old ..... and dont live in the uk

[@iainmclaughlan1557]

ljmike1204 you can buy it on Amazon

[@JUANKERR2000]

When you pressed button 'B' why didn't you get your four pence back?

[@DeeegerD]

13 pounds! Just order a Nano for $3

[@eLJaybud]

Or a Pi Zero for $5. Much more useful than a BBC:bit.

[@surajbhawal2474]

+eLJaybud if you can get a hands on one.... what makes microbit awesome is that every kid gets it for free.

[@eLJaybud]

I got one in the December. But yes I was going to pick up another one to find that the supply of them is terrible due to their massive popularity with it being in the range of kids pocket money.

[@surajbhawal2474]

+eLJaybud raspberry pi foundation should also do something like what BBC did... other than that... their excuse for lack of supply is that distributer are not purchasing in large quantities because there's not much profit in it.... I totally support that they should increase the price a dollar or two...and make the damn thing globally.... I mean rpi 3 is available in India which is launched way after pizero... also I've found a kind of alternative for pi zero.. its orange pi lite.. and its for just $10..I've ordered a couple of those off aliexpress...

[@kyoudaiken]

Arduino Counterfeit with no accessories. Yeah, great deal. :D

[@RobertaRoboter]

Awesome! You can also code the bbc micro:bit with the open-source #OpenRoberta Editor: which includes the micro:bit and other microboards and robots lab.open-roberta.org

[@Designandrew]

they should have just given them all arduinos with a little kit

[@vlee489]

Played with it for while before kids got it. Had to give my unit back and see the price, it is a bit over priced

[@DJ_Cthulhu]

Suspect most of those 'free' MicroBits will end up in landfill with the UK taxpayer picking up the bill.

[@DJ_Cthulhu]

Remember; In the kingdom of programmers, the plumber is king 🚽

[@ParedCheese]

Ordered! 😁 (Just to evaluate it for my grandchildren.....honest.)

[@nor4277]

Will it work with a tablet instead of a phone.

[@MrZimmaframe]

6:28 "Helloooo"

[@EngineeringNibbles]

thanks

[@yesitsdawid]

I'm one year too late. :(

[@joshuabest100]

how did you get one julian

[@JulianIlett]

I asked the BBC for a review sample

[@joshuabest100]

+Cosmo Kramer yep sorry I commented abit early

[@joshuabest100]

+Julian Ilett can anyone do this

[@JulianIlett]

I've just spoken to my contact at the BBC - he said he'll get back to me about review sample availability and how to contact the BBC

[@joshuabest100]

Ok

[@marekcoufal570]

I dont think it is good idea becouse think about how many 11 years old kinds want to code. I know there are some kids like me(I am 13 and I am from Czech Republic) and I am interesting in arduino and electronic etc. Think about this: 99% of kids will put it in drawers or exchange it for botle of beer in bus with some man which is interested in arduino and 1% will program it, but what did they do after? becouse they didnt know about ohms law etc. On our school there are 400 students but only 3 are interested in electronic and arduino coding

[@ramironova1895]

Que rayos fue eso???

[@lucasc5622]

I remember these. I asked my teacher if he knew of arduino and he didn’t. We would have got so much more out of getting cheap nano clones in the class. Coding with blocks is a joke.

[@techlitealpha3382]

I have videos on this coming up soon

[@nor4277]

We need a kid to help us with this I sure,cool item

[@tHaH4x0r]

Good idea from the BBC, but the wrong target audience. As everyone knows engineers and programmers are born, not made. I think it is a fairly inefficient way to get kids to do it. I fear that a lot of these devices will disappear in drawers never to be used again, whilst there are plenty of kids in other grades that would love to have one. I dont know how education is done in the UK, but here in the Netherlands in the last 4 years of high school everyone has to pick a 'profile'. The 4 profiles are 'nature and technology', 'nature and biology', 'ecomony and society' and 'culture and society'. The names kind of explain what they are focussed on, and I would target such a device at nature and technology students and maybe nature and biology sutdents, since they show general interest in technology already.

[@Anvilshock]

"I think it is a fairly inefficient way to [do X]" - Welcome to the UK.

[@dvdcd]

Why Cant I Live In The UK!!!!!