Course Overview –

The Elecfreaks smart home kit is designed to help you get started with exploring the world of electronics with a focus on home automation. Simply speaking a “Smart Home” is a home equipped with the lighting, heating, cooling, visual, sound appliances, miscellaneous electronic devices that can be controlled remotely (and automated) by a smartphone or a  computer. A “Smart Home” usually allows for automation of simple tasks (e.g. turning lights on only when someone enters the room, checking if your plant needs watering and turning on the water supply for a brief instant, turning off all the lights in the house at a predefined time at night, etc.) with a view to increasing efficiency (reducing consumption, cost of energy, etc.) and allowing for easier access to controls (for the given appliance).

It’s this combination of software, smart hardware (e.g. lights that can sense humans and turn on) combined with automation capability and integration with other smart devices allows us to build such “Smart Homes”. These days “Smart Home” controls (e.g. switches, sensor readings, etc.) are made available over the internet increasing the accessibility to controls and allowing home owners to control their appliances sitting anywhere in the world. Get started with your own STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) learning journey using the Elecfreaks Smart Home kit.

Learning Prerequisites –

These tutorials will help you build upon the knowledge gained coding with Scratch and the BBC Makecode editor. This is a beginners micro:bit electronics track. We would highly recommend that you complete the following tracks before you start off with this track.

1. Introduction to coding concepts with Scratch I
2. Introduction to coding concepts with Scratch II
3. Exploring coding concepts using the BBC micro:bit I
4. Exploring coding concepts using the BBC micro:bit II

Take on the SmartHome Kit for BBC micro:bit development track to get a taste of the type of electronics projects you can build using the BBC micro:bit. If you are looking for a more structured introductory electronics track to dive into the world of electronics we would highly recommend considering the following –

1. Exploring fundamentals of electronics using paper circuits
2. Introduction to electronics using the BBC micro:bit I
3. Introduction to electronics using the BBC micro:bit II
4. Introduction to making and creating using the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express

With the ~11 sensors you will challenge yourself in many different ways, gain experience working with each of the electronic components and learn concepts around Smart Home, IoT (Internet Of Things) and Home Automation. Here’s a list of tutorials that cover use of the components included in the Sensor kit for the BBC micro:bit. The micro:bit tinker kit comes along with documentation for 9 different tutorials covering the different components provided in the kit. You will explore different fundamentals of electronics by creating circuits and programming them using the BBC makecode block editor. Links to the documentation online have been provided at the end of this page.

1. Experiment 01: Voice activated light
2. Experiment 02: Smart fan
3. Experiment 03: Window automation
4. Experiment 04: Wardrobe automation
5. Experiment 05: Water level detector
6. Experiment 06: Smart door
7. Experiment 07: Sound activated switches
8. Experiment 08: Spirometer
9. Experiment 09: Lie detector
10. Experiment 10: Simple alarm
11. Experiment 11: Intruder detection system

Prerequisites –

1. BBC micro:bit –
   1. This development track makes extensive use of the BBC micro:bit.
   2. If you haven’t purchased a BBC micro:bit yet you might want to head over to OzToyLib and pick one up now.
   3. We would recommend that you pick up the BBC micro:bit kit which comes with a battery pack, usb cable and the real micro:bit.
   4. We will be using the official online python editor to write code for all our tutorials. No investment required here.
2. BBC micro:bit Starter Kit –
   1. You can purchase the Smart Home Kit through the OzToyLib store – BBC micro:Bit SmartHome Kit
   2. Please note that the BBC micro:bit needs to be purchased separately from the BBC micro:Bit SmartHome Kit.
   3. You can purchase the BBC micro:Bit SmartHome Kit at OzToyLib.
3. You can also look up each of these products at your local electronics hobby store.

About BBC micro:bit –

The Micro Bit (also referred to as BBC Micro Bit, stylised as micro:bit) is an ARM-based embedded system designed by the BBC for use in computer education in the UK. The board is 4 cm × 5 cm and has an ARM Cortex-M0 processor, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, a display consisting of 25 LEDs, two programmable buttons, and can be powered by either USB or an external battery pack. The device inputs and outputs are through five ring connectors that are part of the 23-pin edge connector at the bottom of the board. The micro:bit can be programmed using the Microsoft Block code program editor which is similar to the block based language Scratch ideal for 7-12 year olds. The micro:bit can also be programmed using the Makecode editor in Javascript and Python which allows for older kids to learn the Javascript and Python programming language using the micro:bit.

You can read more about the BBC micro:bit at the microbit website. Also see Kitronik’s resources here – Parents Complete Guide To The BBC micro:bit.