Mechanical Coin Bank

This is a newsletter devoted to Microsoft MakeCode, the easy but powerful block and Javascript code creator. We include MakeCode news, highlights, information, happenings, hardware, and more from around the solar system.

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LEGO + micro:bit Mechanical Coin Bank

Ivan Bosnić built a mechanical coin bank made with LEGO, micro:bit, KittenBot robot:bit and Geekservo coded in MakeCode! Code available here. - Twitter.

Education Spotlight

If you haven’t already, check out Microsoft Education Ireland’s #MSDreamSpace TV! 💚 It’s a great resource for educators who want to teach their students how to code using #MakeCode and #microbit. With episodes for both primary and secondary students! - DreamSpace TV.

News from around the web!

Mrs. Gong says, “Ticklebot needed a TicklePet!! 4 servos, 2 @microbit_edu talking via radio and @birdbraintech HummingbirdBit! Meet Alexandra…Tickle her on her head! Mathilda is playing drums to introduce her!! Will get then ready for the parade.” - Twitter.

Learn to code chess on MakeCode Arcade Live - PSPC.TV.

Martine Segers/PinkyPepper built a cardboard box bot made with the micro:bit v2, four servos, four RGB LEDs, Kitronk robotics board - Twitter.

Brown Dog Gadgets reports, “Some LEGO prototyping today led to this micro:bit powered RC Car. One micro:bit sends commands and a 2nd micro:bit mounted on the car controls steering.” - Twitter.

MakeCode Arcade Live: Making a roller rink game! - Periscope.

Renegade Geek a.k.a. Sandy Roberts says, “I made this little guy as a badge for a local mini-gaming convention hosted by C.O.G.S. (Community Organized Gathering of Steampunks). They had a cute logo (included) for the event that I worked from. It’s a 3D printed micro:bit holder. I coded it using MakeCode so that the screen made a “chomp chomp” effect. It also reads “COGS <3”. I’ll be sharing the code on Maker Share.” - Thingiverse.

Lectrify showed off this terrific LEGO Strandbeast entry for micro:bit virtual parade - Twitter.

John Umekubo wired up a matrix keypad to a micro:bit BitBuddy from Lectrifyit - Twitter.

CaiganSystems says, “Counting multiple claps with Micro:Bit. So could have 1 clap do this, 2 claps do that, who needs buttons, I’ll do a little tutorial for this for anyone that’s interested” - Twitter.

Guides using MakeCode!

Check out all MakeCode guides on learn.adafruit.com.

New Extensions!

“Check out our newest GitHub repos, which lets #students graphically #program their #environmental sensor case to #monitor temperature, humidity, #CO2 and #VOC in their classroom.” - GitHub.

KittenBot Artificial Intelligence extension available for MakeCode “KOI is an Artificial Intelligence module which can be programmed graphically and used offline.It contains a camera, a microphone, a speaker, a IPS screen, WiFi and so on. It can realize the functions of vision recognition, speech recognition, speech synthesis, internet of thing (IoT) and so on.Its multiple functions enhance the learning of AI more systematically and comprehensive. Since the module has integrated WiFi, your device is able to connect to the cloud to upload and process data, which is an essential part of machine learning.” - GitHub.

Resources for Educators and more!

If we missed any resources, please let us know on GitHub, we’ll be updating this list each newsletter.

Join the MakeCode Discussions on Discord

The Adafruit Discord community has a dedicated #makecode channel to discuss all things MakeCode, seek advice, etc. - Join us now.

What is Microsoft MakeCode?

Microsoft MakeCode is a free, open source platform for creating engaging computer science learning experiences that support a progression path into real-world programming - YouTube.

Simulator

An interactive simulator provides students with immediate feedback on how their program is running and makes it easy to test and debug their code.

Block Editor

Students new to coding can start with colored blocks that they can drag and drop onto their workspace to construct their programs.

JavaScript Editor

When they are ready, students can move into a full-featured JavaScript editor with code snippets, tooltips, and error detection to help them.

MakeCode Arcade

Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is a web-based beginner-friendly code editor to create retro arcade games for the web and for microcontrollers. In this guide, you will learn how to assemble your own Arcade hardware from different parts. MakeCode Arcade is open source, and on GitHub.

Microsoft has produced an excellent overview video of MakeCode Arcade - YouTube.

Contribute!

The MakeCode Newsletter is a community-run newsletter with support from Microsoft. The complete archives are here. Contributions are welcome! Please make pull request to modify the latest draft from inside the _drafts directory on GitHub.