Creating a smarter society, one micro:bit at a time

24th March 2016

Jordan Mulcare

0 0

One million students in the UK are about to join the maker movement. NXP Semiconductors N.V. in partnership with the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) and a range of other organisations, have announced that they will officially set the iconic program into motion and begin rolling out micro:bit devices to seventh-grade students in the UK this week.

The BBC micro:bit is a handheld, fully programmable personal coding device being manufactured and given free to every 11-12 year-old child across the UK – 1m devices total – as part of the BBC’s 'Make it Digital Initiative'. The truly exemplary BBC micro:bit program is designed to inspire digital creativity and develop a new generation of tech pioneers. It aims to challenge young people to get creative with digital design, learn how to code and develop core skills in science, technology and engineering.

As a key technology partner of the program, NXP began working with the BBC and other partners in 2014 and has contributed four of its products within each device. While they may not realize it, UK students will soon be using several NXP solutions, including:

A Kinetis KL26 microcontroller based on an ARM Cortex-M0+ core
Two motion sensors – a MMA8652 3-axis accelerometer and a MAG3110 3-axis magnetometer
A PRTR5V0U2F system-level ESD (electro-static protection device)

The micro:bit project is an important part of NXP’s work to build a Smarter Society, a global initiative, the company is focused on in support of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), startups and incubators. Through partnerships and a series of innovative programs, NXP’s Smarter Society initiative will explore how these important groups impact our larger world and communities, ultimately creating the infrastructure for secure, smart transportation, secure, connected solutions, smart cities, smart stadiums and more.

“At NXP, we are committed to stimulating innovation at all levels, from mentoring young people interested in how things work, to guiding budding scientists in their pursuit of building life-changing technologies to supporting entrepreneurs and designers working in incubators and start-ups,” said Rick Clemmer, CEO at NXP. “In fact, we are so passionate about innovation, we’re even giving micro:bits to our employees’ children in the 11-12 age-range this year. Consistent with the BBC’s exemplary goals, we too, want to foster a passion for learning and technology and develop core engineering competencies at an early age. We’re helping to build a smarter society and inspiring new secure connections for the smarter world, one project at a time.”