Items 1 to 60 of 1082 Items 1 to 60 of 1082This product is deprecated. It has been replaced by the BrickPi Advanced PowerFans of Lego MINDSTORMS will at least be allowed to create robots that have a more powerful computer by using a Raspberry Pi. The BrickPi is an interface that, when connected to a Raspberry Pi, replaces the lego Mindstorms intelligent brick. The BrickPi has Lego connectors to Lego servomotors and Lego sensors. The BrickPi is a cleaver extension to the Raspbery Pi to use it into robotics.The Raspberry Pi is a small computer with a Linux OS system and is much more powerful than a classique Lego Mindstorms brick. By using the Raspberry Pi, you'll be allowed to designed more complex and efficient algorithms. Raspberry Pi is open-source for hardware and software and is clearly a succes in the Do It Yourself community.The BrickPi is compatible with Lego Mindstorms NXT and Lego Mindstorms EV3.Powering the BrickPi can be done eitherusing 6 AA batteries, or through USB, or usig both methods at the same time.
Powering the BrickPi using a 9V battery is possible but is not recommanded since the power is to low.The BrickPi Power for Lego Mindstorms and RaspberyPi is provided with:The Rasberry PI board is not included.The BrickPi is composed of the following elements:Using the Python librairies, C libraries and scratch libraries that are provided by Dexter Industries, you'll be able to easily control the Lego sensors and servos from the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi has also 2 USB ports and one ethernet port. This allows you to connect more devices, sensors and actuators to your Lego Mindstorms.Another advantage of the Raspberry Pi is that you'll be allowed to mix sensors and actuators from other technologies such as Arduino.Last but not least, the Rasperry Pi has a Linux operating sytem, that's to say you'll be able to use a full and modern OS to build your programs, which is a great progress compared to the Lego software.Here is a presentation video for the BrickPiA DC motor has a two wire connection.
All drive power is supplied over these two wires—think of a light bulb. When you turn on a DC motor, it just starts spinning round and round. Most DC motors are pretty fast, about 5000 RPM (revolutions per minute). With the DC motor, its speed (or more accurately, its power level) is controlled using a technique named pulse width modulation, or simply PWM. This is idea of controlling the motor’s power level by strobing the power on and off. The key concept here is duty cycle—the percentage of “on time” versus“off time.” If the power is on only 1/2 of the time, the motor runs with 1/2 the power of its full-on operation. If you switch the power on and off fast enough, then it just seems like the motor is running weaker—there’s no stuttering. This is what PWM means when referring to DC motors. The Handy Board’s DC motor power drive circuits simply switch on and off, and the motor runs more slowly because it’s only receiving power for 25%, 50%, or some other fractional percentage of the time.
A servo motor is an entirely different story. The servo motor is actually an assembly of four things: a normal DC motor, a gear reduction unit, a position-sensing device (usually a potentiometer—a volume control knob), and a control circuit. The function of the servo is to receive a control signal that represents a desired output position of the servo shaft, and apply power to its DC motor until its shaft turns to that position. It uses the position-sensing device to determine the rotational position of the shaft, so it knows which way the motor must turn to move the shaft to the commanded position. The shaft typically does not rotate freely round and round like a DC motor, but rather can only turn 200 degrees or so back and forth. The servo has a 3 wire connection: power, ground, and control. The power source must be constantly applied; the servo has its own drive electronics that draw current from the power lead to drive the motor. The control signal is pulse width modulated (PWM), but here the duration of the positive-going pulse determines the position of the servo shaft.
For instance, a 1.520 millisecond pulse is the center position for a Futaba S148 servo. A longer pulse makes the servo turn to a clockwise-from-center position, and a shorter pulse makes the servo turn to a counter-clockwise-from-center position. The servo control pulse is repeated every 20 milliseconds. In essence, every 20 milliseconds you are telling the servo, “go here.” To recap, there are two important differences between the control pulse of the servo motor versus the DC motor. First, on the servo motor, duty cycle (on-time vs. off-time) has no meaning whatsoever—all that matters is the absolute duration of the positive-going pulse, which corresponds to a commanded output position of the servo shaft. Second, the servo has its own power electronics, so very little power flows over the control signal. All power is draw from its power lead, which must be simply hooked up to a high-current source of 5 volts. Contrast this to the DC motor. On the Handy Board, there are specific motor driver circuits for four DC motors.
Remember, a DC motor is like a light bulb; it has no electronics of its own and it requires a large amount of drive current to be supplied to it. This is the function of the L293D chips on the Handy Board, to act as large current switches for operating DC motors. Plans and software drivers are given to operate two servo motors from the HB. This is done simply by taking spare digital outputs, which are used to generate the precise timing waveform that the servo uses as a control input. Very little current flows over these servo control signals, because the servo has its own internal drive electronics for running its built-in motors. What can FLL Teams expect in this season Exploring the relationship between people and animalsOr you could bark, quack, or squeak, because the 2016 ANIMAL ALLIESSM season is all about our furry, feathered, and finned friends. In the 2016 FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge teams of students age 9 to 16 will look into the eyes of our ANIMAL ALLIESSM.
What might become possible when we learn to help each other? FLL challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers. During the ANIMAL ALLIESSM season, teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. They will also choose and solve a real-world question in the Project. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL’s signature set of Core Values. From August 30th, 2016 the detailed challenge missions will be published for FLL Robot Game & FLL Research Project on our websites. Sign up for this years challenge from April 4th to Oct 14th online. FLL Schedule 2016/2017 - Animal Allies April 4th 2016 - 4 p.m. Start of FLL Registration for new season End of August 2016 Shipping of FLL Challenge Sets FLL Missions are published - official kickoff (deadline for age limit: 10 to 16 years) November 12th, 2016 - January 15th, 2017 January 21st - February 12th 2017