Smart Cities Resources for Microbit

The challenges

Downloadable versions of the introduction pack and all the individual challenges are available here.

Starter pack - how to get started with the BBC microbit.Link opens in a new window

Each set of challenges is separated by the kit that is used - find the picture of the kit you want to use or browse based on the description. The challenges are coded with a letter and a number. The letter refers to the kit (traffic lights are all T challenges, and so on). The number refers to the rough difficulty of the challenge (higher numbers are more complicated) and should be attempted from lower numbers to higher numbers. The challenges are set out in tables so that you can see which challenges to do after completing one. Follow the arrows!

Click the name of the challenge in the grey box to download a PDF version of the challenge. There is also a complete list of the challenges at the bottom of the page.

Traffic Lights

The traffic lights challenges start by simply lighting up the different lights in T1, then progressing to lighting them up in the correct sequence in T2, then you can be creative with adding more features to them in T3 (Synchronising two lights) and T4 (Adding accessibility features), before making a real life junction that you can control with multiple lights in T5.

The progression tree between those challenges is shown in the table below. Click on one of the challenge codes (T1, T2, etc.) to view the PDF challenge sheet.

Barriers

The automated barriers are controlled by a servo motor, so understanding how the microbit controls motors is the starting point.

Next, we start to think about how we can make the systems more automated, accessible, and useful to more contexts.

The progression tree between those challenges is shown in the table below. Click on one of the challenge codes (B1, B2, etc.) to view the PDF challenge sheet.

Street Lights

The street light challenges use a light dependent resistor and an LED bulb. In the first challenge you just need to get the light to turn on. Then the complexity builds up as we use the sensor - the light dependent resistor - to control the light. The advanced challenge - L3 - aims to get multiple lights working together based on the sensors, and is quite a logic challenge!

There is no expert level challenge here, so feel free to make your own.

The progression tree between those challenges is shown in the table below. Click on one of the challenge codes (L1, L2, etc.) to view the PDF challenge sheet.

Advertising

The advertising challenges are all about displaying information on a screen. At first this is as simple as showing a message on the microbit screen, but the complexity builds as we try to make a display for information that the microbit can measure from the world around it. Finally, the challenges add in additional sensors, screens, and then both to really test your hardware skills.

The progression tree between those challenges is shown in the table below. Click on one of the challenge codes (A1, A2, etc.) to view the PDF challenge sheet.

Vehicles

The vehicle challenges are varied and start off by learning to control the vehicle. The next step is to calibrate the vehicle to make the input controls as accurate and reliable as possible. V4 and V5 test out your ability to calibrate these movements accurately. V8 introduces an alternative way of controlling the vehicle. V9 combines all the previous challenges into one. V10 is an extra challenge but requires specific equipment so is not included here.

The progression tree between those challenges is shown in the table below. Click on one of the challenge codes (V1, V2, etc.) to view the PDF challenge sheet.