Connecting to your EV3

There are several options to pair the EV3 robot with a computer.

Using the starter code:
1) Run the starter code for the localization project, the robot will display a prompt to pair with the computer. Accept the invite.
2) Accept the default password on the robot or enter a new one.
3) A new window should pop up on the computer asking for the password.

Using blueman-manager:
1) Launch blueman-manager from the commandline.
2) Search for the robot, check the id of your robot on the EV3 brick in the settings menu (right most menu), under brick info.
3) Once the device is found, follow the steps for the pairing process. You will select a password on the EV3 kit to enter on the computer similar to the above process.

If your robot has already been paired with a computer, sometimes you need to forget the existing pairing under the bluetooth menu on the EV3 kit in order to be able to successfully pair to a new computer.

Using bluetoothctl:
1) Launch bluetoothctl from the commandline
2) Type: power on
3) Type: scan on
4) Once the device is visible, type pair [put the device number here]
5) You will need to accept the pairing request on the brick and input a pincode.

Here is a sample bluetoothctl session. When "Attempting to pair with [device number]" appears, the brick displays a confirmation window that needs to be accepted.

EV3 resources

LEGO documentation, including firmware, hardware and communication kits. Also the firmware source code can be downloaded from this link.
https://education.lego.com/en-us/support/mindstorms-ev3/developer-kits
- Firmware developer's kit has all the opcodes for sensors, motors, etc and is the most useful for API development and extension

A detailed description of the specs for various sensors.
http://ev3.fantastic.computer/doxygen/types.html

Blog by Christoph Gaukel
http://ev3directcommands.blogspot.com/2016/01/no-title-specified-page-table-border_94.html
- Invaluable source for understanding how to put together direct commands

LEGO's building instructions:
https://education.lego.com/en-us/support/mindstorms-ev3/building-instructions
- Good place to start for building and designing a robot

API's written in other languages:
python:
https://github.com/ChristophGaukel/ev3-python3
small basic:
https://github.com/c0pperdragon/EV3Basic

Loading Sound Files to EV3

Sound files in EV3 are stored in .rsf format.

There is a command line utility wavrsocvt that allows you to convert wav to rso files (this was the format for the old NXT kits). The format still works with EV3, but the file needs to be simply renamed to be .rsf file. The maximum file size accepted by wavrsocvt is 64Kbs.

You can use an online conversion tool to create a wav file of an acceptable size. I used this one:
https://www.online-convert.com/

To reduce the file size to less than 64Kbs:
1) select less than 8 seconds of the sound file you want.
2) change the bit rate and the sampling rate to lowest values.


After the conversion is complete run your file through wavrsocvt to get .rso file. Rename .rso file to .rsf file to upload to your EV3 brick. To upload the file to the EV3 brick use the BT_upload_file(dest, src) API call. (To be visible from the brick navigation window, the file should be placed in a subfolder inside /home/root/lms2012/apps, /home/root/lms2012/prjs or /home/root/lms2012/tools. The subfolder is created automatically if it is included in the destination path).
Use  BT_play_sound_file(path, volume) API call to play the file.

Welcome to CSCC85 Fall 2018!

Welcome to CSCC85. I will be the TA for this course. On this blog I will be posting resources that you might find helpful, especially for working with the robot kits for Project 2 and Project 3.