Step 1: Unbox the Finch

1. Unpack the contents of the Finch Robot 2.0 (as I have in video 1)
2. Insert your micro:bit into the tail as I showed in the video above
3. Insert the USB connector into the micro:bit and into the computer.

Step 2: Connect the Finch to the computer

4. Go to https://brython.birdbraintechnologies.com/useBrython.html

5. Click on “Find robots”.

Ensure your Bluetooth is on.

6. Select the Bluetooth device, and you will see the following screen to confirm you are paired to your Finch.

7. Press the play icon; then, you will see “hello” flash across the Finch.

Step 3: Program the Finch to move

Now we are going to code the Finch to move in the Union Jack main cross-movement:

1. Disconnect the Finch from the USB and turn the Finch on by pressing the button underneath it.

2. Reconnect the Finch; this time, you will see a different symbol:

3. Import the finch library using:

from BirdBrain import Finch

4. Declare a Finch object; in this case, I will call mine Finchey:

finchey = Finch(‘A’)

5. Set variables for the sizes you want and the speed. Try to put a low speed to allow the pen to make a mark on the paper when you use it:

longerSize = 25
shorterSize = 15
widthSize = 5
speed = 20

6. Create a function to draw one quarter of the flag:

def draw(A,B):
finchey.setMove(‘F’,A,speed)
finchey.setTurn(‘L’,90,50)
finchey.setMove(‘F’,B,speed)
finchey.setTurn(‘R’,90,50)
finchey.setMove(‘F’,widthSize,speed)
finchey.setTurn(‘R’,90,50)

7. Create a function to draw the flag calling your previous function:

def drawFlag():
draw(longerSize,shorterSize)
draw(shorterSize,longerSize)
draw(longerSize,shorterSize)
draw(shorterSize,longerSize)

8. Call the function:

drawFlag()

9. Your code will look like the below. Press the play button to test the Finch moves, put a pen inside the Finch and on a bit of paper, and he will draw a cross:

Step 4: Program the Finch to play the national anthem

Next, we will program the national anthem, “God Save the Queen”.

1. Firstly, create a function that will randomly light up Finchey’s tail. We will use this to set the colours to change when they play a new bar from the music. The function setTail() tells the Finch to set all LEDs on the tail to a certain colour based on a mixture of colours for RGB values.

def lightupTail():
randomnum = random.randint(1,99)
randomnum2 = random.randint(1,99)
randomnum3 = random.randint(1,99)
finchey.setTail(“all”,randomnum,randomnum2,randomnum3)

2. Next we will create a dictionary of the notes that the Finch can play, ** explain these are from midi scale and finche use numbers**:

notesToPlay = {“C”:60, “C#”:61, “D”:62, “D#”:63, “E”:64, “F”:65, “F#”:66, “G”:67, “G#”:68, “A”:69, “A#”:70, “B”:71, “HighC”:72, “HighD”:74}

3. Next, we will set our beats values:

OneBeat = 0.5
Halfbeat = OneBeat/2
ExtendedBeat = OneBeat * 1.33
TripleBeat = 3

4. We will then create a function to play notes for a corresponding beat:

def playNotes(note,beat):
print(“Note “,note,” beat “,beat)
finchey.playNote(notesToPlay[note],beat)
sleep(0.5)

Finally, we will call the playNotes() function, playing all notes in the anthem and separating them by bar. We will put them in a playAnthem() function so that we can call them all at once:

def playAnthem():
print(“### Bar1 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘F’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘F’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘G’, OneBeat)

print(“### Bar2 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘E’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘F’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar3 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, OneBeat)

print(“### Bar4 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘G’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘F’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar5 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘G’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘F’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘E’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar6 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘F’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘F’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)

    print(“### Bar7 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘HighC’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘HighC’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘HighC’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar8 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘HighC’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar9 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A#’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar10 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A#’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘A’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’, OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar11 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’, OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘F’, Halfbeat)   

    print(“### Bar12 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘HighC’, OneBeat)   

    print(“### Bar13 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘HighD’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘G’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar14 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘F’,TripleBeat)

    print(“### Bar15 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘F’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘F’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘G’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar16 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘E’,ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘F’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar17 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar18 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’,ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘G’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘F’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar19 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘G’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘F’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘E’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar20 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘F’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘F’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)

    print(“### Bar21 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘HighC’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘HighC’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘HighC’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar22 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘HighC’,ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’,Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar23 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A#’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar24 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A#’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘A’,Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar25 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’,Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’,Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘G’,Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘F’,Halfbeat)

    print(“### Bar26 ###”)
lightupTail()
playNotes(‘A’, ExtendedBeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘HighC’,OneBeat)

    print(“### Bar27 ###”)
playNotes(‘HighD’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A#’, Halfbeat)
playNotes(‘A’,OneBeat)
playNotes(‘G’,OneBeat)   

    print(“### Bar288 ###”)
playNotes(‘F’,TripleBeat)

5. Finally, add the final code to your code to firstly draw the cross and then play the national anthem:

drawFlag()
playAnthem()

Step 5: Set up drawing space

Lay four bits of paper down with masking tape in between so that no ink goes off the paper. Put your pen in the Finch Robot, preferably a paint pen. Then place the Finch at the edge of the paper as I have done in the video. Now press play on your code to see the Finch draw a cross and then play the national anthem.

Summary

You’ve successfully completed this Queen’s Jubilee project using the Finch Robot and the BBC micro:bit board. Why not share your result with us on social channels? Tag us – @letsokdo!

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