The Calliope mini is a single-board computer developed for educational usage at German primary schools. The goal of the initiative is to provide all pupils as of grade three of primary schools in Germany with a Calliope mini free of charge.^[1]

Background

Calliope mini was inspired by the BBC micro:bit, which was distributed to pupils of grade seven in Great Britain. The non-profit Calliope gGmbH is responsible for developing and maintaining the Calliope mini.^[2]

The name "Calliope mini" is a reference to Kalliope, a daughter of Zeus and the muse who presides over eloquence, science and epic poetry.^[3]

Hardware

• Nordic nRF51822 multi-protocol Bluetooth Low Energy / 2.4 GHz RF SoC
  • 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 processor (16 MHz)
  • 16 kB RAM
  • 256 kB Flash
  • Bluetooth Low Energy
• 5x5 LED matrix display
• Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer (Bosch BMX055)
• MEMS microphone
• DC motor driver (TI DRV8837)
• Piezo speaker
• RGB LED (WS2812B)
• 2 programmable buttons
• Serial interface (USB + configurable ports)
• PWM output
• 4 banana plug / crocodile clip connections
• 4 analog inputs
• 8–11 input/output connections (depending on software configuration)
• SPI + I²C
• USB Micro B connection (programming and power supply)
• JST battery connector (3.3 V)
• Banana / crocodile clip connection for 3.3 V (output)
• 2 Grove connectors (I²C + serial / analog)
• NXP KL26z (USB and power supply)
• Flash program memory (optional)