BlockyTalkyBLE makes it easy to connect AppInventor mobile phone apps with the BBC micro:bit wirelessly over Bluetooth. Want to make a cat feeder that can be controlled with a remote control app on your phone? Or light up your bike with LEDs that you can change the color pattern of with voice recognition? Adding BlockyTalkyBLE to both AppInventor and micro:bit allows you to send messages and data between the devices to create cool networked applications.
A Pocket-sized ComputerOn the board there are LEDs, buttons, and sensors that can detect light, motion, temperature, compass - plus its easy to add servos, motors and additional LEDs to make interesting physical devices.
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Drag and Drop Android Apps MIT's block programming environment for building apps - use the camera, texting, location services, voice recognition
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Connect Your InventionsBlockyTalkyBLE empowers you to create networked projects like wearables and Internet of Things devices.
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How do I use it?
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It helps to have done a little programming with MIT's App Inventor and Microsoft MakeCode. Both are intuitive, easy to use block-based programming tools that are free and run on the web in a browser. Once you've created a project or two in each and explored their capabilities, think about how passing information and commands between the phone and the micro:bit could make a cool networked application.
Passing info and commands is really simple - everything is sent as key value pairs - you can design your own network protocol. |
App Inventor BlockyTalkyBLE:
when a button is clicked send a string message to the microbit 
MakeCode BlockyTalkyBLE:
on receiving the string message "show" "heart", set the micro:bit display to the heart icon |
How about an example?
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Here is a demo of a networked project that uses BlockyTalkyBLE. An app created in AppInventor allows the user to choose a color using sliders to choose the values of red, green and blue. The color is displayed on the app screen, and the color values are sent to a micro:bit using BlockTalkyBLE, and the same RGB values are used by the microbit to set the color of a string of Neopixels. Please see the Important Changes section below to read about updates to BlockyTalkyBLE protocol and usage.
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These video tutorials below show how to create the app on a phone and micro:bit. We start with a simple app, but imagine stringing these lights in your room or on your bike, and using voice commands over your phone or acceleration data from the micro:bit to set the colors!
The first tutorial shows how to build the Android app with App Inventor. The second tutorial shows how to build the mico:bit app. You'll need an Android phone, a microbit and at least one neopixel (the tutorial programs a string of 10) attached to the micro:bit using pin P0.
The first tutorial shows how to build the Android app with App Inventor. The second tutorial shows how to build the mico:bit app. You'll need an Android phone, a microbit and at least one neopixel (the tutorial programs a string of 10) attached to the micro:bit using pin P0.
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Important Changes
After feedback from people using BlockyTalkyBLE, we have changed our blocks to send and receive either string messages or number messages. The "send string key value" and "on string received" blocks should be used for passing text, while the "send number key value" and "on number received" blocks should be used for passing numbers. If you are just getting started, this section will show you how to use the blocks.
Note: These changes are not yet included in the video tutorials. If you have been using a previous version of the BlockyTalkyBLE extension, this section provides info on how to update to the new blocks.
Note: These changes are not yet included in the video tutorials. If you have been using a previous version of the BlockyTalkyBLE extension, this section provides info on how to update to the new blocks.
What's the fastest way to get started?
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microbit-BLE_min.hex and BLE_min.aia use BlockyTalkyBLE and demonstrate message passing in both directions between the micro:bit and an AppInventor app. Download both files, and then open them in MakeCode and AppInventor, watch the video, and then build your own better app!
Note: We recommend using these files as a starting place when building a new project. 
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Important: The video in this section has not been updated to include the latest changes to BlockyTalkyBLE. The example files are up to date. For more information, please view the Important Changes section above.
What else can I make with this?
Check out these awesome student projects!
Where are the files I need to start from scratch?
AppInventor BlockyTalkyBLE extension: Copy and paste this URL in the "Add Extension" dialog as prompted during the tutorial 1:
https://github.com/LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/AppInventorExtension-BlockyTalkyBLE/releases/download/alpha3.0/edu.colorado.lpc.blockytalkyble.aix
Micro:bit BlockyTalkyBLE package: Copy and paste this URL in the "Add Package" dialog as prompted in tutorial 2:
https://github.com/LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/pxt-blockytalkyBLE
Micro:bit bluetooth friendly neopixel package: Copy and paste this URL in the "Add Package" dialog as prompted in tutorial 2:
https://github.com/LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/pxt-neopixel-bluetoothallowed
https://github.com/LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/AppInventorExtension-BlockyTalkyBLE/releases/download/alpha3.0/edu.colorado.lpc.blockytalkyble.aix
Micro:bit BlockyTalkyBLE package: Copy and paste this URL in the "Add Package" dialog as prompted in tutorial 2:
https://github.com/LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/pxt-blockytalkyBLE
Micro:bit bluetooth friendly neopixel package: Copy and paste this URL in the "Add Package" dialog as prompted in tutorial 2:
https://github.com/LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/pxt-neopixel-bluetoothallowed
How can I get started with App inventor and micro:bit?
This project is supported by NSF CAREER Award #1562040 and a grant from Qualcomm.
The Laboratory for Playful Computation is part of the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.
