Robots Weblog | Pioneering STEM training with the brand new senseBox:edu S2

The senseBox is a toolkit for digital education, citizen science and environmental monitoring and was developed by the start-up re:edu together with the Institute for Geoinformatics at the University of Münster. The senseBox:edu was designed specifically for the educational sector.

In addition to the hardware, the graphical programming interface ‘Blockly for senseBox’ (https://blockly.sensebox.de) and teaching and learning materials (https://sensebox.de/de/material) and projects (https://sensebox.de/de/projects) as OER (Open Educational Resource). The senseBox can also be programmed in CircuitPhython!

The senseBox:edu S2 is the newest member of the senseBox family and, like its predecessor, is aimed at educational institutions, giving learners practical insights into the world of programming and linking the areas of environment and technology in an application-oriented manner. The senseBox:edu S2 offers many new features:

Compared to the MCU, the new MCU S2 microcontroller has many components integrated directly on the board, such as an RGB LED, a light sensor, a Bluetooth bee for use with the Phyphox app (https://phyphox.org/de/home-de/), an acceleration sensor and gyroscope (each with 3 axes), a battery charge controller for an uncomplicated and reliable power supply as well as WiFi and an mSD card module for data storage. It also contains a faster processor with more memory and Qwiic-compatible ports. The senseBox:edu S2 also contains new sensors: In addition to an LED matrix for color display and for conveying other concepts from computer science (e.g. arrays), a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor is included, which can measure very precise distances and generate a simple 8×8 pixel image.