Book Image

BBC Micro:bit in Practice

By : Ashwin Pajankar, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Saini
Book Image

BBC Micro:bit in Practice

By: Ashwin Pajankar, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Saini

Overview of this book

This book is a one-stop guide for learning BBC Micro:bit with MicroPython, exploring many hardware components and programming techniques to provide detailed insights into developing practical applications with the Micro:bit. It will also show you how hardware components can be manipulated using a combination of Micro:bit and MicroPython for developing practical projects. BBC Micro:bit in Practice will help you gain a holistic understanding of the BBC Micro:bit platform and MicroPython programming, guiding you through mini projects aimed at developing practical knowledge of circuit design and writing programs. You’ll learn how to write programs for working with built-in LEDs and buttons, interfacing external LEDs, buttons, motors, buzzers, and much more. You’ll also work with built-in radio, speakers, accelerometer, and a compass. You’ll dive into concepts related to the Micro:bit filesystem, interfacing external displays, and working with libraries in detail before exploring sewable circuits and wearable technology. After reading this Micro:bit book, you’ll understand how to apply principles in electronics and MicroPython to create interesting real-life projects from scratch.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Started with the BBC Micro:bit
6
Part 2: Programming Hardware with MicroPython
10
Part 3: Filesystems and Programming Analog I/O
13
Part 4: Advanced Hardware Interfacing and Applications

Sewable and wearable computing

There is a whole world of sewable and wearable projects out there. Wearable projects can be worn on the body (in the form of lighting and sensors; it is so cool to see them in action!). To make this happen, we have to use sewable components. Sewable components can be sewn into fabrics using special materials. That is why they are known as sewable components. In this section, we will provide a brief overview of sewable components and prototyping.

Let us start with the base. We can use any fabric made of non-conductive material such as cotton, felt, or worsted wool. We can even use an embroidery hoop, as follows:

Figure 15.3 – Embroidery hoop with art in progress (courtesy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hey__paul/8355465843/ by Hey Paul Studios at https://www.flickr.com/people/45257015@N03, made available under the CC BY license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Another essential thing we need is...