Will the brick pi control rcx motors?

BrickPi
1

At our local public school we have around ten of the old rcx mindstorms kits available to use if the parts are compatible.

Also anyone play with rechargeable Li poly packs instead of using AA cells etc?

Thanks
Kev

2

Hey maraclek, unfortunately the answer is no. You might be able to get it to work with some hacking, but the BrickPi right now won’t work with RCX components.

1 Like
3

To use RCX motors, lights, touch sensors, light sensors, and temperature sensors, you will need to use NXT <> RCX adapter cables. I have personally tested the RCX motors, touch sensors, and light sensors, and I can guarantee that the RCX lights will work. I also guarantee that based on my knowledge of the temperature sensor (I don’t own one), it will work as well, but you will need to manually convert the raw ADC reading into real-world units (e.g. degrees F or C).

With the RCX motors, speed and direction can be controlled, but since they don’t have encoders, position control is obviously not an option.

All of the Lego Technic bits and pieces from the RCX sets are compatible with the BrickPi and new Technic parts.

1 Like
4

Thanks for the replies!

I’m just looking for some techy activities to do with our local “tech squad” kids, precise control wouldn’t be a problem. I’ll be dating myself, but a LOGO (also developed by MIT) type setup would be all that we need to start with.

We already have the Mindstorms kits, they work fine except they need an older laptop with XP on it, and they are no longer full kits, a lot of pieces are missing. I have a rasp Pi, would be a cool thing to do, plus it has the potential of being able to do so much more with it.

Personally I’d like to do more with the PI then the media player and digital signage things I’ve done so far, the problem is that I’m cheap and don’t want to spend a lot on my hobby!

Kev

1 Like
5

You can also hack your own NXT<->RCX cables or an adapter. You would just need to have some patience and an adapter that will take you from the BrickPi to the RCX style (and hack the firmware a bit). I would recommend the DI Breadboard Adapters, but it sounds like you’re trying to stay expense-free. So . . breadboard and wires?

1 Like
6

For RCX motors, lights, touch sensors, light sensors, and temp sensors, no FW hacking is necessary. The rotation sensor is the only RCX sensor not supported by the BrickPi FW.

1 Like
7

i have the scratch controller up and running, but the scratch command wont do anything, various 'broadcast(join[MA,100])) wont work.

i can run the rcx motor just fine via python directly,… where shoudl i look now?
thx

1 Like
8

These answers are a bit old. Let’s ping a couple of the current experts, (@cleoqc and @mitch.kremm ), and see if there’s anything new they can add.

9

We haven’t made any changes to the BrickPi so the same applies as back in 2013. I haven’t spoken with any customers who have incorporated the BrickPi with Mindstorms RCX components. Maybe the folks at LEGO would have some ideas?

1 Like