Introduction
Control your Rover using Bluetooth from a phone or tablet.
Using a "DPAD" controller you can make the Rover forward & backward, and spin in either direction. You can also open and close the Gripper and adjust the speed of the Rover.
Video Overview
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You can control your Rover using Bluetooth from a phone or tablet along with an app that supports the micro:bit's Bluetooth Messaging Event System.
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If you are using an iPhone or iPad you can use the DPAD controller found in the “Monitor & Control” section of the micro:bit iOS app.
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Find the iOS app here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/micro-bit/...
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If you are using an Android phone or tablet you can use “Bitty Controller” which has its own “DPAD controller” option.
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Find Bitty Controller in the Google Play store here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai...
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Find more information about Bitty Controller here: https://bittysoftware.blogspot.com/p/app...
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The DPAD may look familiar if you've ever used a video game controller.
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The DPAD will control the Rover in the following manner:
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1 will move forward, 2 will move backwards.
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3 will spin to the left, 4 will spin to the right.
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C will open the gripper, D will close the gripper.
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A will increase speed, B will decrease speed.
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Keep in mind you can change what any of these controls do by editing the code.
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If you've never used a micro:bit before you'll want to check out this guide: Bit Board V1 Setup and Use
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We're going to load the following code for our Rover Bluetooth program: https://makecode.microbit.org/_7PP2ekbUf...
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Note: This code will work with either of the apps mentioned in Step 1.
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You'll need to pair the phone or tablet with the micro:bit in your Rover.
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Please see the extensive guide to pairing provided on the makecode.microbit.org web site: https://makecode.microbit.org/v0/referen...
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Once you pair your device with the micro:bit on the Rover you can use the DPAD to control it!
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The on start block has two commands to enable the Bluetooth services we need.
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The rest of the code in the on start block is just like other Rover code.
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The other blocks are all on event blocks, which are looking for data from the MES_DPAD_CONTROLLER_ID with a specific value.
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Besides the on start block, each dark gray block looks for a button to be down or up, and reacts appropriately.
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While these Control blocks look a bit more complex than other blocks, they are pretty easy to explore and use in your code.
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