education News - Page 10 of 20 - CNX Software

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

BBC Dr Who HiFive Inventor Coding Kit review – Tynker visual programing and MicroPython

The BBC Doctor Who HiFive Inventor Coding Kit was announced at the end of November 2020 with the goal of teaching IoT to young kids. But one day, I noticed the postman left a package on the ground right next to my house’s gate for some reason. I had no idea what it could be until I read it was from SiFive on the package. So here I am about to review BBC Doctor Who HiFive Inventor Coding Kit! The package actually included two small packages with one being an “expansion board”… HiFive Inventor Coding Kit Unboxing We’ve already written about the specs in the announcement post, but here they are again for those who forgot it’s based on SiFive FE310 RISC-V microcontroller and ESP32 for WiFi and Bluetooth. Let’s open the thinner “expansion board” package first. It’s actually the HiFive Inventor board – aka the mainboard – that comes […]

November 28, 2020November 28, 2020 by Abhishek Jadhav - No Comments

CodeBug Connect IoT development board is designed for young makers (Crowdfunding)

In 2015, a UK-based team launched a mini IoT development board called CodeBug. The same team has now come up with the CodeBug Connect IoT Development Board. CodeBug Connect is a new wearable micro-computer that brings IoT to everyone and aimed at educators and young makers. Upgrade to the original CodeBug This comes as an upgrade to the original CodeBug. The new development board retains its original cuteness and petite proportions but adds full color to the grid of 5×5 LEDs. The original buttons have been upgraded to mini joysticks, making them more suitable for games. The touch-sensitive, croc-clip connectors ‘legs’ that serve as I/O pins remain, as does the 0.1” header socket. “This year has shown our reliance on connected technology — with CodeBug Connect we wanted to make this technology accessible so everyone can build their own IoT devices and no one is left behind. The technology in […]

November 24, 2020November 24, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Raspberry Pi 400 kit ships with 7-inch or 13.3-inch touchscreen display

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has recently launched the Raspberry Pi 4 keyboard computer with impressive performance thanks to a well-designed cooling solution, and I think it’s a great tool for kids (and adults) who may want to carry a Raspberry Pi around. However, you’d still need a display in each location, so until the foundation releases the Raspberry Pi 4000 laptop next year (full disclose: I made that up!), it might be cool to have a portable display coming with the keyboard PC. That’s what Waveshare is offering with two kits combining a Raspberry Pi 400 together with a 7-inch or 13.3-inch HDMI touchscreen display and other accessories. Not quite as portable as a laptop but it gets close. Here’s the full list of accessories in the kits: Raspberry Pi 400 Kit with keyboard PC with UK keyboard (sadly the only layout option for now), power supply, HDMI cable, preloaded […]

November 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

BBC Doctor Who “HiFive Inventor” Coding Kit aims to teach IoT to kids

In what should be one of the first RISC-V education platforms, the BBC, Tynker, and SiFive have just announced the BBC Doctor Who “HiFive Inventor” Coding Kit that comes with an MCU board with WiFi & Bluetooth and guided lessons for kids that teach them to code for the IoT. The HiFive Inventor board is based on a SiFive FE310 RISC-V microcontroller ( the same chip as found in the HiFive1 board) and an ESP32 Solo module for WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x/5.x connectivity. Just like the BBC Micro:bit, HiFive Inventor provides a kids-friendly edge connector with I/O, an LED matrix, sensors, and more. The kit includes the HiFive Inventor hardware platform, a battery holder for three AA batteries (not included), the HiFive Speakers, an illuminated USB cable for power and programming, and alligator clips to connect the speaker or other add-ons to the HiFive Inventor board. HiFive Inventor board […]

November 2, 2020October 19, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Raspberry Pi 400 Keyboard Computer Features 1.8 GHz BCM2711C0 Processor

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has gotten us used to wait for a while between new hardware releases, but right after having announced Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4 Lite a couple of weeks ago, the company has now introduced Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard computer with many of the same features as Raspberry Pi 4 single board computer, but as a fully integrated computer inside a 78-key keyboard, and equipped with a slightly faster Broadcom BCM2711C0 processor clocked at 1.8 GHz instead of 1.5 GHz. Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard computer specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2711C0 quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.8GHz System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM Storage – Push-push MicroSD card slot for OS (USB boot also works) Video & audio output – 2x micro HDMI ports up to 1 x 4Kp60, or 2 x 4Kp30 Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11.b/g/n/ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 and BLE (Bluetooth […]

October 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

SwarmDrive is an ESP32 motor driver board for brushless motors (Crowdfunding)

Netherlands based NickStick BV has developed a motor driver board powered by an ESP32 dual-core WiFI and Bluetooth module and capable of controlling brushless DC motors. The SwarmDrive board targets users who want to start experimenting with motor control, and learn about commutation strategies, PID for balance plateau or balance robots, cartesian gantries and spatial navigation, drive by wire and wireless, swarm intelligence experiments, etc. SwarmDrive specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32D module with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz, 4 Mbit flash Connectivity 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth v 4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Motor Control L6234 triple half-bridge motor driver, 5 A peak current 3-pin terminal block for motor output 3x enable pins are broken out to a bridging connector Programming and debugging – Micro USB serial port via USB to UART bridge, Misc – Boot and reset push-buttons Power Supply Supply Voltage – […]

October 13, 2020October 13, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

BBC micro:bit v2 board Unveiled with Nordic nRF52833 SoC, Microphone and Speaker

The original BBC micro:bit educational board was launched in July 2015 with a Nordic nRF51822 Arm Cortex-M0 MCU @ 16 MHz providing Bluetooth LE connectivity, a few I/Os, some buttons, and a LED matrix acting as a small display. The British company has now launched a new update with BBC micro:bit v2 with the same form factor, but equipped with a more powerful Nordic Semi nRF52833 Bluetooth 5.1 Arm Cortex-M4 MCU clocked at 64 MHz and adding a microphone and a speaker. BBC micro:bit v2 specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52833 Arm Cortex-M4 MCU clocked at 64 MHz with 128 KB RAM, 512 KB flash, Bluetooth 5.1 LE connectivity “Display” – 25x red LED indicator lights in a 5×5 matrix USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming via NXP Kinetis KL27Z Cortex-M0+ microcontroller Audio – Built-in MEMS microphone and speaker Expansion 25 pins on edge connector […]

October 6, 2020October 6, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Petoi Bittle Palm-sized Robot Dog uses Arduino and Raspberry Pi for STEM education (Crowdfunding)

You’ve probably already watched a video featuring Boston Dynamics Spot, a headless robot dog used in various industries including healthcare, public safety, construction, oil & gas, etc.. It could also be yours if you wanted a robotic pet dog at home, as long as you have $75,000 US to spare. Petoi Bittle looks eerily similar, but it’s much smaller as it fits in your palm, and could be yours for $225 on KickStarter as a kit to assemble yourself that you may get as soon as December. Bittle robot dog is designed for STEM education and can be programmed using the Arduino IDE, Python, or even Codecraft visual programming IDE. Bittle is comprised of 4 main hardware components: Plastic parts and fixtures – Body, four legs, head (which can be used to hold Arduino modules), springs, screws, etc… Actuators – 9x P1S servo with a controllable angle of 270 degrees, […]