You’d be surprised how often this is asked! To turn on the Finch press and hold the black power button on the bottom of your Finch until one or more of the LEDs in the tail turn on. This should take about 2 seconds. Ten characters should now be flashing on the micro:bit! 

To turn off the Finch after you are done using it, hold down the power button until the beak turns red. The Finch will show its battery status using the tail LEDs.  

The Finch will also turn itself off to save battery power if it is inactive for 10 minutes without connecting to Bluetooth, or for 20 minutes while connected to Bluetooth.

First, you want to ensure the Finch is actually charged! To charge the Finch, plug the USB-C cable (micro USB cable on older Finch models) into the charging slot beneath the Finch’s tail. Plugging the micro USB into the micro:bit will NOT charge the Finch. You can tell the battery charge level by the LEDs on the tail when you turn the Finch on or off!

If your Finch is charged, it is possible your battery is not seated properly in the holder and will need to be corrected.  You can follow the steps in this article to see how you can open the battery door and push the battery into the holder with enough force to depress the springs in the Finch.

If your Finch is still not turning on, please email support@birdbraintechnologies.com

First, we will need to check the marker grommet to see if it has become dislodged and is impacting the wheel! Pick up your Finch and turn it upside down. If the star-shaped marker grommet is torn or not centered in the hole, pull it out with pliers and see if that fixes the movement issue. If that does not solve the problem, then we can check the wheels themselves.

If you spin the wheels and one of them makes a grinding sound or spins freely, it is likely the gearbox is worn down and you will need to contact us for a wheel repair kit. Once you have your wheel repair kit, you can follow the instructions in this article to repair your wheels!

The Finch Robot 2 is designed to work with many sizes and types of writing tools. You should adjust the writing tool so that both of your Finch’s wheels touch the ground and the writing tool drags lightly on your drawing surface. We highly recommend these markers.

You can use markers with the Finch in SO many different ways! From drawing shapes, to graphing linear equations, the possibilities are endless and you can even purchase drawing and math mats for this purpose!  Check out this video of the Finch drawing a fractal!

The motors cannot run using only the micro:bit power, so a battery pack is needed for the motors to operate. Which leads me to a very important question: Is the power on the battery pack turned on? You laugh, but I – Amanda Gray, Educator Success Specialist for BirdBrain Technologies – once spent almost 25 minutes scouring the website and rewriting my code ONLY to then realize I never turned on the battery pack. You will know your Bit is ready to run a motor when your controller’s orange power light and the green status light are shining bright!

There are several other reasons why your motors may not be working including components being plugged in incorrectly and using incorrect coding blocks (keep reading for those answers!)  Please email support@birdbraintechnologies.com if you are struggling to get your motors to work! 

The two most common reasons your components may not be working properly are: the components are plugged in incorrectly and the code is not built correctly. 

First, check to make sure your components are plugged into the Bit Controller correctly! Tip: the black wire always plugs into the minus symbol! If your components still won’t work, keep reading to see the most common programming mistakes!

Why yes you can! If you’re using the battery pack, we recommend buying high-capacity rechargeable AA batteries with a capacity of at least 2000 mAHr.  

BUT before you think about buying those, due to POPULAR REQUEST we now sell rechargeable power banks with a 6 hour battery life! Grab one for your kit HERE!

So many ways! You can put tape, hot glue, rubber bands, brass brads, the list goes on. Check out this page for build hacks!

One question we do get asked often is if you can put hot glue on the motors.  The answer is YES, but we recommend sticking to the sides and the bottom of the motors so you don’t compromise the functionality.  And YES, you can put hot glue on the servo horns!

Concerned about building up hot glue gunk on your motors? Use masking tape on the motor first, then glue to the masking tape. Check out the “Mounting a Servo #2” hack on this page for a video of how to do this.

Yes! Both the Hummingbird and the Finch can be programmed to work “offline” or without being connected to a device using MakeCode! Once your fabulous program is complete, you can use the USB cable to download your hex file to your micro:bit, transferring the code to the robot and allowing it to run without being connected to a device.

BE WARNED!  Once you do this, the bluetooth firmware is wiped from your micro:bit and you will find you cannot connect to your device to program with Birdblox, Snap!, Python, or Java.  Keep reading to find out how to get that firmware back on your micro:bit!

The #1 Frequently Asked Question!! When you program using MakeCode, it removes (or wipes) the bluetooth firmware from the Micro:bit required to connect to other programming apps using bluetooth!  This is likely why you are not able to pair with your computer.  Please reinstall the bluetooth firmware – the instructions can be found here.  You could also do this using the WebUSB flashing tool.

This is another VERY common question and the one that requires the most detective work! Most likely there is a setting that is not turned on. You will want to check to ensure BOTH the location and bluetooth permissions are set to “allow” on BOTH your device and your browser. 

When you connect your robot to your device for the first time, your device will likely use a pop-up window to ask for the necessary permissions.  Do not ignore that! If you don’t see a pop-up window when you connect your robot, and it is not showing up when you try to connect, find the location and bluetooth settings for both the device and the browser and turn them on.  If you are using multiple profiles on one device it is possible one of your multiple profiles is being sneaky and doesn’t have a permission turned on!

Here is the follow up to some of the questions above! Once you have ensured that your robot is powered on and all components are plugged in correctly, it’s time to determine if your code is the reason your robot isn’t working the way you planned. 

The first step I recommend is checking to be sure you are using the correct block (or class for Python and Java) that corresponds to the components in your build.  For example, if you are programming a position servo, you want to be sure to use a position block, and not a rotation block.  The reverse is possible too! You could have a code full of rotation blocks and realize that you plugged in the position servo. 

Next, you will want to ensure the ports in the code match the port you connected the component to.  For example, you may have your LED connected to port 2, but all of your code is labeled port one. These can be very easy to mix up, especially if you’re working quickly!

If you have checked to make sure you are using the correct coding blocks or classes with the components you have selected, the next step is to see if your code is built properly. The most common mistakes I see are: incorrect coding structure, forgetting to use wait blocks, and coding with a position servo. 

Watch this 6 minute video to learn more!

If you are still struggling to get your robot to work the way you would like to, please email support@birdbraintechnologies.com

The block-based programming languages BirdBlox, Snap!, and MakeCode include block translations for a number of additional languages! The languages available are: Arabic, Catalan (not available in MakeCode), Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

To view instructions on how to change the language you are programming with, visit this article.

We do not collect student data. Your privacy is critically important to us! All BirdBrain software is designed to be safe to use for children under the age of 13. Our apps only request permission to access data that the app needs to function. Your personal information is never transmitted to BirdBrain Technologies.

To read more about our software privacy policy, please visit this article.

MakeCode, Snap!, and Python are all programming languages that utilize web-based apps. If you are using a tablet, you will need to download the Finchblox and Birdblox apps to program.  And if you are programming with Java, you will need to download the Bluebird Connector app.

We are compatible with a wide variety of devices!

We are thrilled to offer a wide range of scaffolded programming languages that allow your students to grow with our products! From icon-based apps like Finchblox to text-based programming like Python, your students will be successful no matter their programming ability!

The Finch Robot 2 and Hummingbird Bit are compatible with both micro:bit V1 and micro:bit V2.  Not sure which one you have? Use this graphic to find out!