Calliope mini

The Calliope mini is a single-board computer developed for educational usage at Germany primary schools. The goal of the initiative is to provide all pupils as of grade three of primary schools in Germany with a Calliope mini free of charge.

Background

Calliope mini was inspired by the BBC micro:bit, which was distributed to pupils of grade seven in Great Britain. The Calliope gemeinnützige GmbH is responsible for developing and maintaining the Calliope mini. The name "Calliope mini" is a reference to Kalliope, a daughter of Zeus and the muse who presides over eloquence, science and epic poetry.

Hardware

• Nordic nRF51822 Multi-protocol Bluetooth® 4.0 low energy / 2.4 GHz RF SoC
  • 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 processor (16 MHz)
  • 16kB RAM
  • 256kB Flash
  • Bluetooth low energy
• 5x5 LED matrix display
• Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Bosch BMX055)
• MEMS Microphone
• DC Motor Driver (TI DRV8837)
• Piezo Speaker
• RGB LED (WS2812b)
• 2 programmable buttons
• Serial interface (USB + configurable ports)
• PWM output
• 4 banana plug / crocodile clip connections
• 4 analog inputs
• 8-11 Input / Output Connections (depending on software configuration)
• SPI + I2C
• USB Micro B connection (programming and power supply)
• JST battery connector (3.3V)
• Banana / crocodile clip connection for 3.3V (output)
• 2 Grove connectors (I2C + serial / analog)
• NXP KL26z (USB and power supply)
• Flash program memory (optional)

See also

• BBC micro:bit
• Raspberry Pi
• Arduino
• Open Roberta

External links

• Official website
• Calliope mini on GitHub