You have received your Ghizzy Jr and can’t wait to try it out.
There are many ways to use “Jr” but we will only cover using MicroBlocks on it, with nothing daisylinked to its downlink connector.
USB & Power
First of all Jr’s “legs” plug right into a USB connector, or use a USB cable extender/adapter. You can also use a phone charger or a power bank to run Ghizzy Jr without a PC! Here is an image with Ghizzy (grand!) but Ghizzy Jr works the same way!
One last note, Jr needs to plug in a certain way, but plugging it in backwards will not cause any damage.
MicroBlocks’ Firmware
Jr needs to be loaded with MicroBlocks’ firmware, and ideally the latest one. Your board probably already has the latest firmware but if not, see MicroBlocks’ Page. It is all done using the online DUELink Console.
Ok! Let’s start coding!
Policeman
This first project will fade the 2 “eyes” between red and blue. The code (blocks) will simply do a count up and then a count down.
You can click here to load the project.
Color Selector
This project will cycle through random colors when the LDR button is pressed. Release the button when you see a color you like.
It also use a forever loop that blinks the “mouth”.
Click here to load the project.
Delay Finder using Timer
This project is a bit more advanced as it uses a timer to determine that a second has elapsed. It uses this timer to change the blinking delay. This timer is only triggered when the LDR button is pressed. It will then “say” the delay on the MicroBlocks designer (if connected). The blinking happens on the left eye. The right eye will flash red once when the delay gets changed.
The full project is found here.
What is Next?!
You can start modifying any of the projects. For example, add the say block to the Color Selector project to tell you what the value is. Then try to scope what is available under control and operators.
Of course, everything we did here is with Jr by itself. You can now daisylink any of the many available modules to give JR more power. Like add a Buzzer to make sounds, a Servo Motor to move objects, or a Light sensor to read light levels. The possibilities are endless.