The Pragmatic Architect 02. 01. 2021 11: 08 Clock Michael Stal – 12 Comments

In a modern world it is important to introduce children to robotics and embedded systems. But what can you do without overwhelming the little ones? mTiny from makeblock provides a possible approach.

After a long period of health and work-related abstinence, I would like to continue my blog regularly. I start with light fare. This special is about mTiny from the Chinese company makeblock, which specializes in construction kits. In contrast to the company’s other products, mTiny is aimed at children aged four and over. It consists of a small robot vehicle, a controller, various programming cards and playing fields on which children from the age of four can solve various tasks.

The mTiny-Kit offers a wide range of accessories Programming The input of the programs consists of laying different programming cards one after the other including one each for the initial and final state. The junior programmer then runs the controller over the cards in the program. It always begins with the card for the beginning of the program. With a vibration, the budding developer learns: in that the controller has successfully read the respective card. At the very end she reads in the card for the final state, whereupon mTiny immediately starts executing the program.

Programs are strung together with cards which can then be read in by the controller. In addition to the card for the Beginning of programming (input card) and the card for starting execution (GO! Card), the package offers the following categories of instructions:

Action card : is used to move mTiny or to turn to the right or left. Facial expression card : with this it is possible to induce mTiny to make different eye gestures. Repeat cards : ensure that mTiny executes the preceding command two, three -, four or five times. Loop parantheses : are used to group several commands with an opening and a closing bracket. If this is followed by a Repeat card , mTiny executes the commands in brackets accordingly often. Loop cards: allow all commands to be repeated one to five times. With the start button of the controller a program can be started again, with its stop Key to stop the program execution.

Learning through practice In a small manual, the manufacturer describes various tasks with increasing levels of difficulty that children should solve. The basis for this are game worlds laid out with large cards.

Children can develop programs to cope with tasks in a play world. Unfortunately, this manual is currently out held in English, so requires the presence of an adult, which is necessary anyway, at least initially, in order to be helpful to children.

By the way, mTiny can also be operated using the joystick button remote control of the controller. According to the manufacturer, the connection works with a range of up to ten meters without any obstacles in between. In this respect, mTiny can also be used as a normal toy without programming.

Commissioning In order to put mTiny and the controller into operation, both must first be paired via Bluetooth. The user should then calibrate the controller’s joystick button with mTiny. To carry out this initialization, it is recommended that both devices have a charge level of at least 50 percent.

Important recommendation: In the test, the coupling only worked when both devices were positioned outside the 2.4 GHz WLAN at home. After the coupling was successfully established once, there were no more connection problems.

The remote controlled vehicle and the controller after bluetooth pairing. The charging of both mTiny as well as its controller is carried out simultaneously via a micro USB Y cable. When connected to a PC via USB, the computer recognizes mTiny as a USB drive. The provision of new firmware is done via the mTiny service page. To update, users copy the extracted zip file to the main directory of mTiny. After switching off and on again, the update of the mTiny and controller takes place automatically in a few minutes.

A question of price The official list price of mTiny is 159 Euro, whereby the street price is only 98, 80 Euro – at least, reichelt.de offered mTiny at this price during the period of article creation. A price comparison is worthwhile.

Conclusion mTiny is well suited to introduce children from the age of four to robotics and programming in a playful way. The concept seems well thought out and expandable. Overall, the product is recommended.

There are minor blemishes:

Makeblock should also deliver all manuals in German. The reading also works the program card with the controller was notchy at first. Only after a familiarization phase do the users get the hang of it. For a street price around 100 to 130 Euro the overall result is a good price-performance ratio.

My thanks go to the company solectric, who lent me mTiny for this item.