BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

[shroomzofdoom]

On 6/24/2023 at 2:38 PM, shroomzofdoom said:

So, 45607 can be used for steering... 

But 45603 cannot?

Seems weird. Both go through calibration, but then 45603 doesnt respond to inputs in Drive mode. 

Update: It worked for me after a few more attempts. I don't recommend using 45607 for steering however--VERY easy to overtorque and ruin a $60 motor. derp

[Zerobricks]

17 hours ago, shroomzofdoom said:

Update: It worked for me after a few more attempts. I don't recommend using 45607 for steering however--VERY easy to overtorque and ruin a $60 motor. derp

The small angular motor has an internal clutch, protecting it from overloading. That is causing the skipping sounds. I recommend using a very low current limit level of some 100mA with that motor too. 

[Danil]

Dear Zerobriks! Being the owner of a buwizz, which is a pro, I would very much like to know what other purposes a gyroscope (accelerometer) is used for? And is it possible that in the future we will see a more interesting implementation of this sensor than just turning on with a wave and displaying in space? For example, on the principle of RC servo with a gyroscope? In the Control + hub, the use of this sensor does not make much sense, since the models and the IOC do not develop sufficient speed, things are different with the buwizz block and motors. All the best and creative success to you!

Edited July 14, 2023 by Danil

[aFrInaTi0n]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:06 PM, Danil said:

Dear Zerobriks! Being the owner of a buwizz, which is a pro, I would very much like to know what other purposes a gyroscope (accelerometer) is used for? And is it possible that in the future we will see a more interesting implementation of this sensor than just turning on with a wave and displaying in space? For example, on the principle of RC servo with a gyroscope? In the Control + hub, the use of this sensor does not make much sense, since the models and the IOC do not develop sufficient speed, things are different with the buwizz block and motors. All the best and creative success to you!

I would also be interested, if for e.g. the gyros three axis could be used as drivers for outputs with the possibility to have some adjustablity for the multiplicator of the input towards the output.

Example: Self Balancing Model:

• Model with 2 parallel wheels, Buwizz mounted 0° in the model
• User could use an Input of Type "Gyro", config options could be:
  • Multiplier for the generated values to the output
  • Which of the three Axis to use for measurements (x,y,z)

I reckon this would only work out with pwm motors / original LEGO servos.

 

Also generally asking: As the BT stack issues are solved and the newer PWM motors are implemented to be used too - what are the next steps and are there any estimations, when those could be released into a next BETA release? (no, writing an email unfortunately wouldn't help me as the responses are regulary just bs.. )

Best regards

[Zerobricks]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:06 PM, Danil said:

Dear Zerobriks! Being the owner of a buwizz, which is a pro, I would very much like to know what other purposes a gyroscope (accelerometer) is used for? And is it possible that in the future we will see a more interesting implementation of this sensor than just turning on with a wave and displaying in space? For example, on the principle of RC servo with a gyroscope? In the Control + hub, the use of this sensor does not make much sense, since the models and the IOC do not develop sufficient speed, things are different with the buwizz block and motors. All the best and creative success to you!

BuWizz has an acceloremeter, which not a gyro, there's a big difference. As you mentioned currently it's used to display statistics and for shake-to wake option in BuWizz 3.0. Unfortunately since this is an accelerometer and not a gyro it's not the best suited for self-correction in the models. Thank you for kind wishes

3 hours ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

I would also be interested, if for e.g. the gyros three axis could be used as drivers for outputs with the possibility to have some adjustablity for the multiplicator of the input towards the output.

Example: Self Balancing Model:

• Model with 2 parallel wheels, Buwizz mounted 0° in the model
• User could use an Input of Type "Gyro", config options could be:
  • Multiplier for the generated values to the output
  • Which of the three Axis to use for measurements (x,y,z)

I reckon this would only work out with pwm motors / original LEGO servos.

 

Also generally asking: As the BT stack issues are solved and the newer PWM motors are implemented to be used too - what are the next steps and are there any estimations, when those could be released into a next BETA release? (no, writing an email unfortunately wouldn't help me as the responses are regulary just bs.. )

Best regards

Same issue here, BuWizz has an accelerometer, not a gyro, so it has limited use for such self-balancing models. I had an idea to implement a self-balancing PID-based loop running on FW, simillar to self-centering loop, but currently we are focusing on implementing proper controller support.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Zerobricks

[aFrInaTi0n]

Ah damn, then excuse the little misassumption :D

Oh, proper Controller Support will be a kickass feature! Best wishes for a fast working implementation there!

Edit: HW Feature-Request for a Buwizz4: A Gyro sensor :P

Edited July 26, 2023 by aFrInaTi0n

[Danil]

1 hour ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

Ах, черт, тогда извините за небольшое заблуждение :D

О, надлежащая поддержка контроллера будет офигенной функцией! Наилучшие пожелания для быстрой рабочей реализации там!

Изменить: HW Feature-Request для Buwizz4: датчик гироскопа : P

6 axis gyroscope and native gamepad support😁 

[Danil]

On 7/26/2023 at 3:42 PM, Zerobricks said:

BuWizz has an acceloremeter, which not a gyro, there's a big difference. As you mentioned currently it's used to display statistics and for shake-to wake option in BuWizz 3.0. Unfortunately since this is an accelerometer and not a gyro it's not the best suited for self-correction in the models. Thank you for kind wishes

Same issue here, BuWizz has an accelerometer, not a gyro, so it has limited use for such self-balancing models. I had an idea to implement a self-balancing PID-based loop running on FW, simillar to self-centering loop, but currently we are focusing on implementing proper controller support.

Dear Zerobrix, after watching your video on YouTube, I saw that you are using a wired connection in the buvizz app for the PS5 controller. Will there be XBOX controller support?

[Zerobricks]

23 hours ago, Danil said:

Dear Zerobrix, after watching your video on YouTube, I saw that you are using a wired connection in the buvizz app for the PS5 controller. Will there be XBOX controller support?

Currently only a very limited, test version of a wired connection to PS5 works. I'm not sure about XBOX yet, depends if we can find the needed librabry support. But we are working on it!

[aFrInaTi0n]

Arent there any generic BT HID libs? Sorry but using SDKs from the vendors of PS5 / XBOX may not be the best approach as you may just have implementations for specific controllers..

https://developer.android.com/games/sdk/game-controller or https://developer.apple.com/documentation/gamecontroller/supporting_game_controllers as a starting point for generic input support..

Edited August 7, 2023 by aFrInaTi0n

[gyenesvi]

3 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

Currently only a very limited, test version of a wired connection to PS5 works. I'm not sure about XBOX yet, depends if we can find the needed librabry support. But we are working on it!

Gamepad support is good news. Is this going to be support in the app, or in the firmware? Is the goal to be able to connect to a Buwizz without an intermediate phone? (I really hope so)

[Danil]

4 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

Поддержка геймпада — хорошая новость. Это будет поддержка в приложении или в прошивке? Цель состоит в том, чтобы иметь возможность подключиться к Buwizz без промежуточного телефона? (Я очень на это надеюсь)

in the scenario you're describing - this would be a Lego electrical reference. But due to the peculiarities of both hardware and software and the opportunities that buwizz provides (servo mode, current adjustment, gearbox) is not feasible. The bouvis itself has to follow the instructions and the code inside. And unfortunately he doesn’t have this opportunity. ☹️ Everything is done in a smart device, while buwizz just executes commands.

[gyenesvi]

9 minutes ago, Danil said:

in the scenario you're describing - this would be a Lego electrical reference. But due to the peculiarities of both hardware and software and the opportunities that buwizz provides (servo mode, current adjustment, gearbox) is not feasible. The bouvis itself has to follow the instructions and the code inside. And unfortunately he doesn’t have this opportunity. ☹️ Everything is done in a smart device, while buwizz just executes commands.

I don't understand why that would be the case. The Buwizz can connect to a phone via BLE, so the same way it can connect to a BLE capable remote. And the same way the firmware can interpret the commands coming from the Buwizz protocol, it could also interpret the signals from the gamepad, given that there is a mapping between the button presses and the motor commands. That mapping could be configured from the phone, so the phone app would still be required for controller configuration, but only once before playing, and it would not be needed while playing.

[Zerobricks]

2 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I don't understand why that would be the case. The Buwizz can connect to a phone via BLE, so the same way it can connect to a BLE capable remote. And the same way the firmware can interpret the commands coming from the Buwizz protocol, it could also interpret the signals from the gamepad, given that there is a mapping between the button presses and the motor commands. That mapping could be configured from the phone, so the phone app would still be required for controller configuration, but only once before playing, and it would not be needed while playing.

We did think about native support, but finding a compatioble BLE controller (Low Energy) was challenging at the time, plus it would be much more limited, not to mention you could control only one BuWizz at the time. Also would require a total FW redesign, etc... IMO not worth it.

[Danil]

6 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I don't understand why that would be the case. The Buwizz can connect to a phone via BLE, so the same way it can connect to a BLE capable remote. And the same way the firmware can interpret the commands coming from the Buwizz protocol, it could also interpret the signals from the gamepad, given that there is a mapping between the button presses and the motor commands. That mapping could be configured from the phone, so the phone app would still be required for controller configuration, but only once before playing, and it would not be needed while playing.

you mean on the principle of pybriks, only more expanded and functional?

[gyenesvi]

11 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

We did think about native support, but finding a compatioble BLE controller (Low Energy) was challenging at the time, plus it would be much more limited, not to mention you could control only one BuWizz at the time. Also would require a total FW redesign, etc... IMO not worth it.

While it's great that we are getting this support, it's a pity that it's not going to be FW support. The latest generation of the most popular controllers are BLE capable now (PS5 and Xbox Series), and I expect even more devices to have that capability in the future. And a peripheral device can connect to multiple central devices in principle, although true that it might complicate things.

And sure it would require a FW design, but in my opinion, that's the real deal. Support via app is not so exciting anymore, as we already have the BC2 and the Controlz app for that, though hopefully we'll get more Buwizz related feature support this way.

7 hours ago, Danil said:

you mean on the principle of pybriks, only more expanded and functional?

Not sure what you mean by this. What I meant is that they'd rewrite the FW for supporting remotes. It has nothing to do with Pybricks, which is a different FW for programming the units, the Buwizz FW would not need such a capability.

[Danil]

2 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

While it's great that we are getting this support, it's a pity that it's not going to be FW support. The latest generation of the most popular controllers are BLE capable now (PS5 and Xbox Series), and I expect even more devices to have that capability in the future. And a peripheral device can connect to multiple central devices in principle, although true that it might complicate things.

And sure it would require a FW design, but in my opinion, that's the real deal. Support via app is not so exciting anymore, as we already have the BC2 and the Controlz app for that, though hopefully we'll get more Buwizz related feature support this way.

Not sure what you mean by this. What I meant is that they'd rewrite the FW for supporting remotes. It has nothing to do with Pybricks, which is a different FW for programming the units, the Buwizz FW would not need such a capability.

The only question is how to assign actions to the buttons and sticks of the gamepad.  do not forget that actions also need to assign parameters (modes, current strength, rotation speed and direction of rotation).  In this case, we can see at least two more sections in the application for setting up the controller.  How the assigned actions will be performed in buwizz is the most interesting question!

Edited August 8, 2023 by Danil

[Zerobricks]

Current Xbox controller support confirmed!

[Methes]

Regarding the motor spinning bug after exiting a profile:

 

I have not found a reproducible way yet but once it happens, I can always trigger it by

1) exiting a profile to app menu. The motor strongly spins to a certain position.

2) re-entering a profile. The motor strongly spins to center of previously calibrated position.

Safe way to save your gears from getting broken is:

 1) never exit a profile to get to menu, better kill the whole app and start it again. 2) always calibrate steering first before launching a profile.

 

I wanted to get it on video inside but after restarting both Buwizz and app it's gone again. What preceded was steering port not responding after starting Buwizz and app so I had to switch ports and set steering again. That happens randomly as well and fixes itself after some restarts (probably). Not sure if it's connected though.

[Sven J]

Hi all,

Maybe my question has been asked before, but I can't read 60 pages of discussion...
Is there a way to change the order in which the custom profiles are listed in the BuWizz App (for Buwizz 2.0)?
The current order on my tablet looks a bit random, and it would be nice to have the most frequently used profiles listed on top.

Thanks in advance for your answer!

Kind regards,
Sven

[CP5670]

I have used an old Logitech gamepad with a wired connection to the phone, along with the BrickController app. It works pretty well.

[Zerobricks]

So, the motorization instructions for the 42160 BuWizz MOD have been delayed due to the large floods my country experienced. 

Since we want to release instructions as soon as possible, would anyone here know anyone who would be wiling to help create them?

Edited August 16, 2023 by Zerobricks

[Zerobricks]

Update, found a person willing to do the instructions, so they should hopefully be available soon.

[FabPell980]

Hello. Newbie here.
Where I can find the App profile for 42160?
Thank you

[Zerobricks]

On 8/29/2023 at 3:09 PM, FabPell980 said:

Hello. Newbie here.
Where I can find the App profile for 42160?
Thank you

Hi, working on it. Meanwhile I recommend using a light center steering module prefix, it works really great for this set.

On 8/12/2023 at 7:38 PM, Sven J said:

The current order on my tablet looks a bit random, and it would be nice to have the most frequently used profiles listed on top.

I will recommend this in the next meeting.