Water bottle alert

Step 1: Make it

What is it?

Turn your BBC micro:bit into a water bottle alert, so you can tell if someone else has drunk from it. You will learn how to use the micro:bit's LED display and accelerometer.

These two videos show you what you'll make and how to code it:

How it works

• The micro:bit shows a heart on its LED display when your water bottle is upright.
• The LED display shows a warning cross when a tilt is detected by the micro:bit’s accelerometer. The cross stays there until you reset the program by pressing the reset button on the back of the micro:bit or by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.
• An accelerometer measures forces in three dimensions, including gravity, so your projects can tell which way up your micro:bit is.

What you need

• micro:bit (or MakeCode simulator)
• MakeCode editor
• battery pack

Step 2: Code it

1# Imports go at the top
2from microbit import *
3
4display.show(Image.HEART)
5sleep(400)
6
7while True:
8    if accelerometer.was_gesture('right'):
9        display.show(Image.NO)
10

Step 3: Improve it

• Find a way to reset the program without using the micro:bit’s reset button, for example by pressing button A or B to show a heart icon.
• Add an audible alarm using blocks from the music section of the MakeCode editor.