You will need a BrickPi3 from Dexter Industries and a Raspberry Pi 3. That said, any board will work with the BrickPi3 as it is using SPI. You’ll just need to link the pins from your board to the BrickPi3 ones the correct way.
You will need as well Lego NXT or Lego EV3 sensors and or motors to fully enjoy this device. See Lego Mindstorms for more information.
- Device family
- BrickPi3 requirements
- Know limitations
- Using the driver
- Using high level classes
- Using GrovePi port
- Tests
The device supported is the BrickPi3 Dexter Industries. It does implement all the features offered to pilot motors, get values from sensor. The first version of BrickPi is not supported.
More information on Dexter Industries website.
There are multiple versions of BrickPi, this code is only working for BrickPi3. The main difference between the 2 BrickPi is the switch available close to the battery alimentation. If you have a switch, you have a BrickPi3. If you have a previous version, you can find the code on for Windows 10 IoT Core on Laurent Ellerbach's GitHub. So far, there is no port planned from this Windows 10 IoT Core version.
This version include a pure driver so you can directly access to the raw results. High level classes has been created and most of the NXT and EV3 sensors has been tested. Please open a GitHub issue if you have any issue with any sensor.
For I2C sensors, the code has been tested very little. Color sensors may return incorrect data, you need to allow time when measuring and not calling a refresh of the sensor too often. This is a limitation of the sensor itself.
The main BrickPi3.samples contains a series of test showing how to use every elements of the driver.
Create a Brick class.
Brick brick = new Brick();
// Do whatever you want, read sensors, set motors, etc
// once finished, and class will be disposed, all motors will be floated and sensors reinitializedIf you have multiple BrickPi3 and want to change the address of a specific BrickPi3, use the SetAddress function. Be aware that once changed in the firmware it stays. By default the address 1.
Once you've done that, create, you can create a new brick by passing this address to the constructor. In this example, it will create a BrickPi3 with address 2.
If you want to use BrickPi3 on another board than the RaspberryPi and you have to change the defauklt SPI bus and chip select line, you can do it as well in the constructor. Please note that for Raspbarry Pi, the default is 0 for bus Id and 1 for chip select line.
Brick brick = new Brick(2);The BrickPi3Info class offers information like the board Id, manufacturer. You can easily access them like in the following code:
var brickinfo = brick.BrickPi3Info;
Console.WriteLine($"Manufacturer: {brickinfo.Manufacturer}");
Console.WriteLine($"Board: {brickinfo.Board}");
Console.WriteLine($"Hardware version: {brickinfo.HardwareVersion}");
var hdv = brickinfo.GetHardwareVersion();
for (int i = 0; i < hdv.Length; i++)
Console.WriteLine($"Hardware version {i}: {hdv[i]}");
Console.WriteLine($"Software version: {brickinfo.SoftwareVersion}");
var swv = brickinfo.GetSoftwareVersion();
for (int i = 0; i < swv.Length; i++)
Console.WriteLine($"Software version {i}: {swv[i]}");
Console.WriteLine($"Id: {brickinfo.Id}");You can as well adjust the brightness of the embedded led. The minimum value is 0 (switched off) and maximum 100 (full light). Here is an example:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
brick.SetLed((byte)(i * 10));
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
brick.SetLed((byte)(100 - i * 10));
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
brick.SetLed(255);You can get the various voltage of the board including the battery voltage:
var voltage = brick.BrickPi3Voltage;
Console.WriteLine($"3.3V: {voltage.Voltage3V3}");
Console.WriteLine($"5V: {voltage.Voltage5V}");
Console.WriteLine($"9V: {voltage.Voltage9V}");
Console.WriteLine($"Battery voltage: {voltage.VoltageBattery}");To setup a sensor, you need first to set the type of sensor then you can read the data. The below example setup an NXT Touch sensor on port 1 and read the results in continue.
Console.WriteLine("Running 100 reads on EV3 touch sensor on port 1.");
EV3TouchSensor touch = new EV3TouchSensor(brick, BrickPortSensor.PortS1);
// Alternative to test NXT touch sensor
// NXTTouchSensor touch = new NXTTouchSensor(brick, BrickPortSensor.PORT_S2);
int count = 0;
while (count < 100)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("NXT Touch, IsPRessed: {0}, ReadAsString: {1}, Selected mode: {2}",
touch.IsPressed(), touch.ReadAsString(), touch.SelectedMode()));
Task.Delay(300).Wait(); ;
}Please note that the function Brick.GetSensor returns an array of byte, it's up to you to interpret correctly the data out of this function. Please read the documentation to have the full details of what every sensor return.
It is strongly recommended to use the high level classes implementing the logic to decode correctly the raw values of sensor like in the previous example.
There are many ways you can use motors, either by setting the power, either by reading the encoder, either by setting a degree per second speed. Those 3 examples will show you how to use each of them.
In this example, the motor on port D is used to set the position of the motor A. A simple NXT touch sensor is used to end the sequence when it is pressed.
You can see as well the MotorStatus classes containing all information on the motor. Flags are useful to understand if you have issues with the power or an overload of the motors.
To reinitialize the encoder, simply set the offset to the current version like shown in the first 2 lines.
brick.OffsetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD, brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD));
brick.OffsetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortA, brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortA));
brick.SetMotorPositionKD((byte)MotorPort.PortA);
brick.SetMotorPositionKP((byte)MotorPort.PortA);
// Float motor D
brick.SetMotorPower((byte)MotorPort.PortD, (byte)MotorSpeed.Float);
// set some limits
brick.SetMotorLimits((byte)MotorPort.PortA, 50, 200);
brick.SetSensorType((byte)SensorPort.Port1, SensorType.EV3Touch);
Console.WriteLine("Read Motor A and D positions. Press EV3 Touch sensor on port 1 to stop.");
//run until we press the button on port2
while (brick.GetSensor((byte)SensorPort.Port1)[0] == 0)
{
var target = brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD);
brick.SetMotorPosition((byte)MotorPort.PortA, target);
var status = brick.GetMotorStatus((byte)MotorPort.PortA);
Console.WriteLine($"Motor A Target Degrees Per Second: {target}; Motor A speed: {status.Speed}; DPS: {status.Dps}; Encoder: {status.Encoder}; Flags: {status.Flags}");
Thread.Sleep(20);
}Please note that this example uses directly the low level functions available on the Brick class.
This simple example increases the speed of a motor and decreases it after. Use MotorSpeed.Float to float the motor. Setting speed at 0 do not have the exact same effect. It does block the motor. Float will just let the motor goes its own way. To stop the motor, setup a speed of 0.
Console.WriteLine("Speed test on Motor D, increasing and decreasing speed from 0 to maximum");
Console.WriteLine("Acceleration on Motor D");
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
brick.SetMotorPower((byte)MotorPort.PortD, (byte)(i * 10));
Task.Delay(1000).Wait();
}
brick.SetMotorPower((byte)MotorPort.PortD, (byte)MotorSpeed.Float);
Console.WriteLine("Waiting 1 second");
Thread.Sleep(1000);
Console.WriteLine("Deceleration on Motor D");
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
brick.SetMotorPower((byte)MotorPort.PortD, (byte)(100 - i * 10));
Task.Delay(1000).Wait();
}
brick.SetMotorPower((byte)MotorPort.PortD, (byte)MotorSpeed.Float);
Console.WriteLine("End of test on Motor D");On top of the motor position example, here is another example to read the encoder of a motor. It's an easy way to understand if the motor is correctly plugged if any of the function you want to use is not working. Moving it will change the encoder value. Please note that the encoder value can be negative as well. The first line reset the encoder.
Console.WriteLine("Read encoder of Motor D 100 times. Reset position to 0 to start");
brick.OffsetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD, brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD));
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
{
var encodermotor = brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD);
Console.WriteLine($"Encoder: {encodermotor}");
Thread.Sleep(200);
}Another way to pilot the motors is to set a specific speed in degree per seconds. In the below example, no limit has been set but it's possible to setup a limit like in the motor position example. Setting up limits reduces the risk of overheat on the motors.
brick.OffsetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD, brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD));
brick.OffsetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortA, brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortA));
// Float motor D
brick.SetMotorPower((byte)MotorPort.PortD, (byte)MotorSpeed.Float);
brick.SetSensorType((byte)SensorPort.Port1, SensorType.EV3Touch);
Console.WriteLine("Control Motor A speed with Motor D encoder. Turn Motor D to control speed of Motor A");
Console.WriteLine("Press EV3 Touch sensor on port 1 to stop the test");
//run until we press the button on port 1
while (brick.GetSensor((byte)SensorPort.Port1)[0] == 0)
{
var target = brick.GetMotorEncoder((byte)MotorPort.PortD);
brick.SetMotorDps((byte)MotorPort.PortA, target);
var status = brick.GetMotorStatus((byte)MotorPort.PortA);
Console.WriteLine($"Motor A Target Degrees Per Second: {target}; Motor A speed: {status.Speed}; DPS: {status.Dps}; Encoder: {status.Encoder}; Flags: {status.Flags}");
Thread.Sleep(20);
}Motors can be adjusted the KP and KD settings of the motor. If you set KP higher, the motor will be more responsive to errors in position, at the cost of perhaps overshooting and oscillating. KP slows down the motor as it approaches the target, and helps to prevent overshoot. In general, if you increase KP, you should also increase KD to keep the motor from overshooting and oscillating.
There are high level classes to handle directly objects like NXT Touch sensors or EV3 Color sensor. There is as well a Motor and a Vehicle class to make it easier to pilot and control the motors rather than thru the low level driver.
Using the sensor classes is straight forward. Just reference a class and initialized it. Access properties and function. The ReadRaw(), ReadAsString() functions are common to all sensors, Value and ValueAsString properties as well.
A changed property event on the properties is raised with a minimum period you can determined when creating the class (or later).
Example creating a NXT Touch Sensor on port S2:
Brick brick = new Brick();
NXTTouchSensor touch = new NXTTouchSensor(brick, BrickPortSensor.PortS2);
Console.WriteLine($"NXT Touch, Raw: {touch.ReadRaw()}, ReadASString: {touch.ReadAsString()}, IsPressed: {touch.IsPressed()}, NumberNodes: {touch.NumberOfModes()}, SensorName: {touch.GetSensorName()}");Example of creating an EV3 Touch sensor on port S1 and will tell it to check changes in properties every 20 milliseconds.
EV3TouchSensor ev3Touch = new EV3TouchSensor(brick, BrickPortSensor.PortS1, 20);This allow to have as many sensors as you want as well as having multiple BrickPi3. Just pass to the sensor the Brick class and you're good to go.
All sensors will return a int.MaxValue in case of error when reading the data. Test the value when using it. This choice is to avoid having exceptions to handle when using those high level classes.
Motors are as well really easy to use. You have functions Start(), Stop(), SetSpeed(speed) and GetSpeed() which as you can expect will start, stop, change the speed and give you the current speed. A speed property is available as well and will change the speed.
Lego motors have an encoder which gives you the position in 0.5 degree precision. You can get access thru function GetTachoCount(). As the numbers can get big quite fast, you can reset this counter by using SetTachoCount(newnumber). A TachoCount property is available as well. This property like for sensors can raise an event on a minimum time base you can setup.
Brick brick = new Brick();
Motor motor = new Motor(brick, BrickPortMotor.PORT_D);
motor.SetSpeed(100); //speed goes from -100 to +100, others will float the motor
motor.Start();
motor.SetSpeed(motor.GetSpeed() + 10);
Console.WriteLine($"Encoder: {motor.GetTachoCount()}");
Console.WriteLine($"Encoder: {motor.TachoCount}"); //same as previous line
Console.WriteLine($"Speed: {motor.GetSpeed()}");
Console.WriteLine($"Speed: {motor.Speed}"); //same as previous line
motor.SetPolarity(Polarity.OppositeDirection); // change the direction
motor.Stop();Here is an example of the Vehicle class:
Console.WriteLine("Vehicle drive test using Motor A for left, Motor D for right, not inverted direction");
Vehicle veh = new Vehicle(brick, BrickPortMotor.PortA, BrickPortMotor.PortD);
veh.DirectionOpposite = true;
Console.WriteLine("Driving backward");
veh.Backward(30, 5000);
Console.WriteLine("Driving forward");
veh.Foreward(30, 5000);
Console.WriteLine("Turning left");
veh.TrunLeftTime(30, 5000);
Console.WriteLine("Turning right");
veh.TrunRightTime(30, 5000);
Console.WriteLine("Turning left");
veh.TurnLeft(30, 180);
Console.WriteLine("Turning right");
veh.TurnRight(30, 180);The Vehicle class offers functions with timeout allowing to drive for a certain amount of time. All timing are in milliseconds. Turning functions offers as well a degree mode which allows to turn by a certain degree rather than a specific time.
The only supported sensors in the GrovePi port present on BrickPi3 are I2C sensors. You can use System.Device.I2c to access it.
A series of hardware tests for motors and sensors are available in BrickPi3.samples. Those hardware tests offers a variety of low level access to the Brick class as well as high level thru the Motor and Sensor classes.
Refer to the sample code to understand on which port you'll need to plug motors and sensors. The available tests are the following:
./BrickPiHardwareTest -arg1 - arg2
where -arg1, arg2, etc are one of the following:
-nobrick: don't run the basic BrickPi tests.
-motor: run basic motor tests, motors need to be on port A and D.
-vehicle: run a vehicle test, motors need to be on port A and D.
-multi: run a multi sensor test
EV3TouchSensor on port 1
NXTTouchSensor on port 2
NXTColorSensor on port 3
NXTSoundSensor on port 4
Press the EV3TouchSensor sensor to finish
-color: run an EV3 color test
EV3TouchSensor on port 1
EV3ColorSensor on port 2
-touch: run touch sensor test
EV3TouchSensor on port 1
-nxtlight: run the NXT light sensor tests
NXTLightSensor on port 4
-nxtus: run NXT Ultrasonic test on port 4
-nxtcolor: run NXT Color sensor test
EV3TouchSensor on port 1
NXTColorSensor on port 4
-irsensor: run EV3 IR sensor test on port 4You always have to create a brick and initialize it. Then you can run your code. In this example, reading a Touch sensor.
Brick _brick = new Brick();
Console.WriteLine("Running 100 reads on EV3 touch sensor on port 1.");
EV3TouchSensor touch = new EV3TouchSensor(_brick, BrickPortSensor.PortS1);
// Alternative to test NXT touch sensor
// NXTTouchSensor touch = new NXTTouchSensor(brick, BrickPortSensor.PORT_S2);
int count = 0;
while (count < 100)
{
Console.WriteLine($"NXT Touch, IsPRessed: {touch.IsPressed()}, ReadAsString: {touch.ReadAsString()}, Selected mode: {touch.SelectedMode()}");
Task.Delay(300).Wait(); ;
}