Getting started with robotics is always tricky. For Raspberry Pi robotics, I always point people at the Pi Wars Hints and Tips guide. For micro:bit, however, you might find this guide a great place to start to build the robot pictured above. It uses a micro:bit, obviously, and the Kitronik Motor Controller together with two micro metal gear motors and a ball caster as the guts of the robot. It then uses a second micro:bit as the controller for the robot, operating over radio to issue commands to the receiver onboard the robot.
You can read the entire guide here and see a video of the robot working below:
I bought the Kiktronics Mini Move robot. This comes with everything except the Micro bit(s). The price is about £27 but I have seen it on reputable Pi stores for less.
It’s relatively simple to put together with the instructions. There are on line coding instructions for everything you need. It also has add-ons such as a tipping trailer, a JCB style shovel that goes up and down and a simple pusher bar.
It can be programmed to do “Turtle” style movements among other things.
I haven’t tried any of the add-ons. I bought the first version. There is a newer version available now. There may be other differences but the obvious one is the first version has toothed driving wheels. The new version has “rubber tyres”
The only thing I don’t like about the version I bought is that there is very little ground clearance, this means flat and preferably smooth surfaces only. This may be different with the newer version.
The Move has a bar of Neopixels and can be programmed to do all kinds of things, including turning on the light bar if the robot goes into a dark area.
I can’t find an age range for the build. It is basically a slot together with nuts and bolts holding it very firmly. So it is fiddly rather than difficult.
I hope someone finds this helpful
Regards Dave
Thanks Dave! 🙂