RedRoundRobot

I am a big fan of controlling those little Power Functions motors in every way possible ( and I like making apps :) ), and with that in mind I created this lovely iPad remote that connects to the EV3 and with it’s help and the two well known IR sensors ( PFMate and IRLink ) controls Power Functions motors ( and EV3 or NXT motors ). This is a little demo of it in action: And explained in words, starting from the left: NXT motor connected to Port A EV3 motor connected to Port B Small PF motor connected to channel 3 and to the blue connector on the IR Receiver on the left ( on top of the battery box ). The EV3 sends the IR signal through the IRLink sensor ( connected to port 3 on the EV3 ). The power in this setup comes from port D on the EV3, going through a x1676 Conversion Cable + extension wire ( 8886 or 8871 ) to the battery box, and then to the IR Receiver. Of course the power to the motor can also come straight from the battery box ( with batteries : ) and no other conversion , extension wires...). It really isn’t a good idea to power so many motors from one EV3 port, I was short on battery boxes so… XL motor connected to channel 1 and red connector of the IR Receiver on the right ( top of the battery box ). IR signal received from IRLink ( connected to port 3 on EV3 ) XL motor connected to channel 4 and red connector of the right IR Receiver. IR signal received from PFMate ( connected to port 2 on EV3 ) the commands can be recorded and played back ( even in reverse ) all motors can be powered at the same time ( use different EV3 ports!, or battery boxes with batteries directly! ) - it can handle 16 motors ( 2 screens ) of course control speed, direction, label buttons, motors, save remote... and even a servo motor option for EV3/NXT motors. And here is a short video with it put to good use with a 42006, 3 motors and IRLink :) : The app can be found here: https://itunes.apple...d921365042?mt=8 There is also a version for the NXT ( it is actually my initial app PFremote ), but that one requires a server app ( MAC, PC or Android ) to act as a bridge between iPad and NXT ( not complicated, but not as convenient as a direct connection to the EV3 ). The EV3 WiFi came in very handy to make a direct connection to the brick ( YES ! :) ).

Thanks. I am glad you like it Actually I've made the app for Android a few months ago. This is a little video demo of it in action on a Galaxy Tab 2 ( 7" ) : It has the same name ( PFremote ) you can find it here in Google Play: https://play.google....fremoteGP&hl=us I hope I have the time to improve it. It works good as it is, but I want to add some features to it ( recording & playback comes to mind first ).

I really liked the Gyro Boy built from the EDU version but unfortunately I only have the Retail version so... no Gyroscope. Then the idea came : use my iPhone as a sensor and transmit the data to the EV3. So I developed this app that communicates with the EV3 and sends it sensor info such as Gyroscope, Accelerometer and Compass. Building the Gyro Boy with the Retail version is relatively easy, it does not require many parts that are only included in the EDU version, parts that can easily be found in other sets. I haven't built it all the way, but enough to play with it. So here is the result: It is pretty stable, the iPhone does add some weight to it, but I have no batteries inside so this should compensate the extra weight. I haven't tried it with batteries and iPhone yet. The app I used is called EV3nts https://itunes.apple...d944683176?mt=8 and here is a little demo of it: You can find more details on how to use it here: http://redroundrobot.com/EV3nts.html There is limitation in the WiFi transmission speed ( I could only get around 25-28ms fastest speed ), but it still works pretty good even like this, after some manual tweaking of the PID parameters.

This only works with WiFi on iPhone. The Netgear WiFi adapter is around 17$, probably even less for a second hand one, I find it quite usefull so well worth the money :). I started an Android app, I'll post here when it's done.

What better way to use the built in Infrared ports available on more and more Android devices these days than to control Power Functions with it? I know there was a discussion in an earlier post a while back with someone asking if such an app exists, so here it is : PFremote for Android compatible with Samsung and HTC devices with built in IR : Galaxy S4, Tab 2/3, HTC One, HTC One Max . It is actually a port from the one already available for iOS, but since no iOS device has ( and probably will never have ) and IR port, the one for iOS requires NXT and some aftermarket sensors ( HITechnic and PFMate ). This one uses the IR port directly. It will be available for download on the Amazon Appstore on November 9th, but until then here are some teaser videos :)

It is on the Amazon Appstore only. You have to download the Amazon Appstore app first. Here is the link to it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/mas/get/android After that just search it in the Amazon store as you would on Google-Play.

What you are describing are features that are available already on the iOS app ( recording & controll by NXT ) . My first thought was that using IR would be enough, but I guess I will add them on the todo list .

What do you mean by macros, multiple setups? Maybe I can add such features, that's why I ask.

No, not on the Google Play Store. It is on the Amazon Appstore only. You can download the Amazon Appstore app from Google Play, and then it is in essence the same, you just need an amazon account ( I doubt there is a living person not having one :)) )

Finally PFremote is available on all the Amazon Appstores: :wub: amazon.it amazon.es amazon.de amazon.co.uk amazon.com A new update is in progress, so if you have any suggestions/feedback I will see if I can make room for them . Hope you like it!

Yes, I ported it, with the help of my team . I will look into the extended address range and see if it can be included in the next update. Thanks. Just to be clear, do you mean being able to move the buttons on screen into different positions? As it is now you can only label them as you wish. Only Samsung and HTC devices for now. It will be extended to support Sony and LG devices in a future update. It is a definite yes

It is actually easier than it looks . All the buttons are fixed. The IR is placed on top and so the phone needs to be held pointing forward. And the buttons need to be big to be able to touch them without looking at the phone. This limits the way they can be placed on phones. It is a lot better on a tablet.

It works on all Samsung devices with IR, so it should work fine on Note 8. It does have 8 speed steps selectable for each channel so it should work. Is the PF IR Receiver the same as on the Technic ones? ( v1 or v2 ) ? If so, should work just fine.

@camaudio : using 3.5mm IR jacks is on the todo list. Maybe Nexus 5 has one? If so time for an upgrade :)

If you want you could use an iPad to control the crawler. It is not the accuracy you are looking for but it is still fun :) You need a NXT + IRLink from HiTechnic or PFMate from Mindsensors + a MAC to link the iPad to the NXT with WiFi or Bluetooth. And of course the app : PFremote :)). If you are interested you can send me a message and I will give you more details.

We saw there are a few ways to control your NXT with an iPhone out there, but none of them really focus on something specific. We figured remote control cars are always fun, no matter the age, so we thought let's build a car from this set and see how can we drive it. The touch feature of the smartphone came in handy in creating a touch pad for controlling the car just like using a console joystick. And of course the built in accelerometer is another feature that we tought might be interesting to use: drive the car by moving the phone through the air. The third remote we tought about is more like a basic programming interface: build the track for the car piece by piece, set the speed and then use commands such as play/pause/goto to drive on the circuit. Whe have 3 models now, two of wich are a normal car and a tank built from the standard set. And although the normal car has realistic steering with slightly different angle front wheels turning, the rear wheels slide in turns(they do have to obey to the laws of physics :) ). So we read about this cool differential piece found in several Technic sets that allow the rear wheels to run at different speeds when turning and created the third model using this piece. It now runs soo smooth in turns :). Then we thought it would be cool to add some upgrades, such as detect obstacles and through balls so we created a ball gun, a catapult and a proximity sensor option. So the RoboRemote app was born :) and it is now in the App Store. We tested it and we liked it, but we are really curious what you think about it.The puzzle drive remote is free so please leave any comments about it. The building and installation instructions, and videos of the remote in action are found on our website http://www.redroundrobot.com

Finnally the next Mindstorms will bring WiFi connectivity! Really looking forward for the EV3. It would be nice if I could get my hands on one and do some research, but how? :))

Merry Christmas to all LEGO fans!

Yes, Gekke Ted is right: the direct communication between iPhone and NXT over bluetooth is not supported, so an intermediate server is required. On non jailbroken devices the more expensive solution would be something like this: http://www.dexterind...s.com/wifi.html We are thinking of adding support for it in the nearist future.

So, what do you think? Has anybody tried the RoboRemote yet? Wich model do you like best?

Yes I like his website. Full of really interesting and cool ideas! I find his last article inspiring: maybe we will try something like this in the future and see how it goes :).