In this paper, we present an original approach of programming microcontrollers. This approach, which stem from our first results with the OCaPIC project of running OCaml on PIC microcon-trollers, consists of a generic virtual machine which goal is portability as well as memory saving. We argue that such an approach can lead to safer programs, both by using a high level programming language and by being able to use software tools dedicated to code analysis thanks to code factorization. Our generic virtual machine, called OMicroB, is foreseen to run both simple hobbyist and entertainment programs as well as critical concurrent applications in embedded systems.