Calliope Mini Development Board

Willkommen, Calliope Mini! Developed in Germany for students in primary school and up, this heavenly star-shaped development board is a souped-up derivative of the micro: bit.

The main chip on the Calliope is the same nRF51822 as the micro: bit so for many purposes, it can be programmed the same way. There are some big upgrades though!

Things that are the same as the micro: bit

• Nordic nRF51822 Multi-protocol Bluetooth® 4.0 low energy / 2.4GHz RF SoC
• 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 processor (16MHz)
• 16kB RAM
• 256kB Flash
• Bluetooth low energy
• 5x5 LED matrix display
• USB Micro B connection (programming and power supply)
• JST battery connector (3.3V)
• 2 programmable buttons
• PWM outputs
• NXP KL26z (USB UART and programming interface chip)
• Serial interface (USB + configurable ports)
• 4 analog inputs
• 8-11 Input / Output Connections (depending on software configuration)
• SPI + I2C

Things that are new or different:

• Instead of edge-connect pads on the bottom of the board, like the micro: bit, Calliope Mini's has a circular star design, with alligator pads on 6 corners for easy connection.
• Full 9 degrees of freedom IMU with Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Bosch BMX055) - the micro: bit has only accelerometer and magenetometer, and they are different/separate chips.
• MEMS Microphone for audio input
• DC Motor Driver (TI DRV8837) to drive a single DC motor or solenoid
• Piezo Speaker
• RGB LED (WS2812B NeoPixel)
• 2 x Grove connectors (I2C + serial / analog)

SPECIFICATION

• Nordic nRF51822 Multi-protocol Bluetooth® 4.0 low energy / 2.4GHz RF SoC
• 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 processor (16MHz)
• 16kB RAM
• 256kB Flash
• Bluetooth low energy
• Operating/Supply Voltage: 3.3V