I have updated the review Starter Set for micro:bit with two interesting options for the MakeCode environment.

• Michael Klein is sharing an extension for the fischertechnik microbit IO F5 board. Among other features, the extension brings blocks to ease the use of motors.
• Microsoft provides multiple options to run MakeCode offline: a native application available for Windows and macOS, a local server and command line tools.

Read the updated review Starter Set for micro:bit.

fischertechnik recently announced an extension of the Training Factory Industry 4.0 with the digitized learning and simulation model for industry 4.0 applications.
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Among other interesting things:

• Use of the open message protocol MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport),
• Connection to the fischertechnik cloud, with three different perspectives: customer, supplier and production dashboards,
• A calibration unit,
• An NFC/RFID reader.

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I've already been exploring similar features with the smartDevices I've developed for my fischertechnik models.

• The smartRFID reads and identifies RFID tags.
• The smartBLE and the smartWiFi connect through Bluetooth and WiFi to the the ready-to-use service Blynk with an app running on a smartphone or tablet in charge of the dashboards, 
• The smartNode connects through either Bluetooth (smartBLE) or Wifi (smartWiFi) to an MQTT broker with Node-RED managing the dashboards.
• Both solutions run on the cloud or on a local server for greater security.
• And a XY joystick using two analog inputs.
  

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All the smartDevices I've developed are compatible with both the former RoboTX controller and the Robotics TXT controller.

The Training Factory Industry 4.0 initiative exemplifies how fischertechnik, a building system designed more than 50 years ago, is still up-to-date and provides the perfect simulation tool for IIoT, or Industry 4.0 as it is called in Germany.

Let's hope now fischertechnik is going to make the new software and hardware extensions available on the general Robotics line so everyone can play with them.

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The Robotics TXT Smart Home Set explores the internet of things (IoT) with home automation or smart home applications. 

The set includes a camera with microphone, a light sensor and a climate sensor.

The dashboard can be local or on the cloud. The underlying protocol used is MQTT.

Read the full review

After SAP, IBM has posted an interesting article about Industry 4.0: Learning by Playing with a Model (​Industrie 4.0: Spielend am Modell lernen, in German) by René Auberger and Lisa Unkelhäußer.

According to the article, "Thus the factory simulation is not only a nice demonstrator for trainees or internal training, but belongs rather in the entrance of each production plant."

This is one more initiative on the promising convergence of fischertechnik and IIoT.
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I've already developed IIoT solutions for the RoboTX and Robotics TXT, with two series of extensions. All  provide dashboards for remote command and control of the fischertechnik models. ​
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• The smartWiFi and smartBLE leverage the Blynk application for Android and iOS, ​and displays the dashboard on a smartphone or tablet.​

Two press releases announced a cooperation between fischertechnik and SAP on IIoT, or Industrial Internet of Things.

• SAP makes Industry 4.0 comprehensible with fischertechnik
• SAP Leonardo Live 2017 Frankfurt, by Rik Dingemans.

Let's hope the SAP-fichertechnik initiative is going to be shared among the Robotics TXT users.

fischertechnik has quietly released a new I²C sensor, the gyro-sensor included in the Robotics Competition Set, based on a BMX055 from Bosch. So I decided to build my own smartIMU sensor.

​The more advanced Bosch reference I've selected includes the same 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer sensors, but also a built-in MCU for data fusion and angle computation, including Euler angles, quaternion, rotation vector, linear acceleration. All those values are available directly through the I²C bus!

Discover the project!

More than one year after I shared my I²C logic level converter for the Robotics TXT, the lastest issue 2016-4 of ft-pedia presents on page 73 a similar circuit.

Unfortunately, it doesn't  match with the Level shifting techniques in I2C-bus design application note from NXP. 

This is not the first time ft-pedia introduces dangerous circuits.

Issue 2015-4 of ft-pedia suggested on page 44 that pin 9 of the Robotics TXT extension port provided +3.3V power supply. Pin 9 actually corresponds to RX and is used for debugging.

​Let's hope no Robotics TXT has been damaged.