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

To turn the Finch off 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 cable 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 visit the Finch Power category in our Support App for step-by-step instructions to correct this.

There are a couple things we check when asked about stuck wheels! First, we check to see if the rubber marker grommet is dislodged and impacting the wheels.

If the grommet is intact or is removed, then we determine if the wheels spin freely or makes a grinding sound, which indicates to us that a gearbox could be worn down.

We have AWESOME guidance for troubleshooting your wheels in the Motors/Wheels category of our Support App.  The app will take you through step-by-step instructions to check the wheels and run a hardware test to ensure your robot is working properly.

Your micro:bit should be set inside the Finch tail with the A and B buttons facing up, with the top of the micro:bit flush with the tail.

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 the Crayola Paint Brush Pens.

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 servos require more power to function.  While you may be able to power LEDs with the micro:bit plugged into the computer, a battery pack is needed for the servos 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, Learning Experience Coordinator for BirdBrain Technologies – once spent almost 25 minutes scouring the website and rewriting my code ONLY to then realize I never turned the battery pack on.

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 could be other reasons why your servos are not working, including components being plugged in incorrectly and using incorrect coding blocks (keep reading for those answers!)  As always, you can email support@birdbraintechnologies.com for help or check out the Servos category in our Support App!

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 negative symbol! If your components still don’t work, keep reading to see the most common programming mistakes!

And remember, you can always use the troubleshooting steps in our Support App to help solve the mystery!  Select “Hummingbird Kit” and then choose which component you need help with.

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 six-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 servos.  The answer is YES, but we recommend sticking to the sides and the bottom of the servos 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 servos? 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!

If you are trying to program with Bluetooth, you will need to ensure the bluetooth firmware is on your micro:bit.  Not sure if it is? You’ll know because the micro:bit will flash eleven characters when connected to the computer or to the Finch when it’s powered on.

If you recently programmed with MakeCode, bought a brand new micro:bit or found some in a closet in your classroom (winner!), or your micro:bit is in maintenance mode, you will not see the flashing characters.  Only see three characters flashing, not eleven? You need the updated firmware! To put the bluetooth firmware back on your micro:bit, follow the simple steps in the Support App!

Finch Bluetooth Steps                Hummingbird Bluetooth Steps

This is another VERY common question and the one that requires some 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!

Seeing Hummingbird Blocks when you have paired a Finch Robot using bluetooth is an indication that the micro:bit is not properly connected to the Finch.

There are two places you can check to see if this is happening once you pair your robot:

• When you look at the top bar, after pairing the robot, you should see a Finch icon on the left side. If you see a Hummingbird controller icon, the micro:bit is not recognizing the Finch.

• When you look at your micro:bit, you should see eleven characters flashing, including #FN. If you see #BB or #MB, the micro:bit is not recognizing the Finch. Double check to make sure your micro:bit is inserted correctly (see question above!)

To fix this, turn the Finch off, remove and reinsert the micro:bit, then turn the Finch on again. You may need to refresh Snap! after you do this.

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. 

These details can be very easy to mix up, especially if you’re working quickly! You’ll want to double check the following:

• Are you using the correct blocks? (Example: You have your position servo plugged in, but programmed with rotation servo blocks) This happened to Dana just this week! A simple mistake with a simple fix 🙂
• Is the correct port selected? (Example: You have your servo plugged into port 3 but the code is assigned to port 2)

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 we see are: incorrect coding structure, forgetting to use wait blocks, and coding with a position servo. 

Here is a 6 minute video of Amanda showing you all of this!

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! To view a table of software environments by product, visit our software guidance chart.

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!