What is it?

The Annie Mini Backpack Bundle, named after NASA programmer and rocket scientist, Annie Easley, contains:

• The "Annie" mini backpack made from vegan leather. The front zippered pocket is decorated with a ring of star-shaped cutouts to let the Bright Board LEDs shine through, and a square aperture covered with reflective vinyl so you can display images and messages on the mciro:bit LED array.The Annie has a zippered external pocket accessible from the back, and both a zippered pocket and standard patch pocket inside the main interior compartment. A grommet on the back panel of the bag is designed to allow you to run a headphone cord to the interior. The exterior is black vegan leather with gold-toned zipper and rivet detailing. This bag is as practical as it is fun.

• The Bright Board micro:bit accessory board along with a 3xAA battery pack (batteries not included) to illuminate the the backpack with colors and patterns you you code yourself.

• (optional) a micro:bit micro controller is required to control the colors and patterns on the Bright Board. If you do not already own a micro:bit, please select the "with micro:bit" option when you purchase the Annie Bundle.

Why did you make it?

I love LED wearables, but it's hard to make them both attractive and durable. The Bright Wearables line is the results of a longstanding effort to make a practical wearable product that people will want to wear.

This fun, modular system lets you write code at home and display special colors and patterns when you go out, or you can code on the go, using the micro:bit phone apps to program the micro:bit over Bluetooth. I designed it in the hopes that codeable wearables might interest kids in learning physical computing - particularly those who are not engaged by more traditional educational programming environments.

What makes it special?

This is the first micro:bit-based ready-to-wear LED wearable on the market. It gets all the benefits of the existing educational system build around the micro:bit, and it's attractive, fun and practical to boot. Turn the Bright Board on to stand out and show off your code. Turn it off, and you're incognito with a cute, clear mini-backpack with a secret that only you know about.

The Annie Mini Backpack is part of a modular system of codeable wearables which use the Bright Board. You can pop out the Bright Board and put it in a different bag, or take out the micro:bit to use for a project, and put it back in your bag when you're done. Using the micro:bit phone apps, you can code the Bright Board via Bluetooth wherever you are. Change your colors whenever you want, and gain coding skills while you do.

The Grace bag dimensions are 9.5" (H) x 8.25" (L) x 5.5"(D) and it weights 20 oz.