PicoBoard by Maplin

I was fortunate enough recently to get my paws on a PicoBoard.

A PicoBoard is a piece of hardware known as a sensor array that can be combined with the Scratch programming environment to allow real-world interaction, meaning your Scratch programs can react and/or respond to events happening outside of the computer!

Sensors are devices that detect and measure the presence or absence of something, for example, sound or light in the room.

The PicoBoard is made up of several different types of sensor. There's a light sensor, sound sensor, a button and a slider. Four additional inputs can sense electrical resistance via the 4 pairs of crocodile clips.

I took the PicoBoard to my Code Club and we had great fun with the onboard sensors, changing the colour and action of the on-screen Sprites. This is a great piece of kit for educators and beginners alike. It's small form factor and retail price makes it an ideal add-on for a Raspberry Pi, although I had no problems getting it to work straight OOTB (Out Of The Box) with my Fedora Linux laptop. I have Scratch 1.4 installed but I believe the board also works with the online Scratch environment.

@_PicoPixie_