Blog

You can now download the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Education and Wedo 2.0 software for free from the LEGO website: [Using this link] This includes all of the instructions and programs for the education models. No LEGO account or license required!

The SNATCH3R is one of the most advanced robots in the EV3 Discovery Book. It can autonomously find, grab and lift the infrared beacon. If you like, you can also drive it around using the remote control and pick up objects on the way! You can find step-by-step building instructions in the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3...

This BB8 from Star Wars is a self-balancing robot I developed with Anton Vanhoucke and Ellen Pennings. It’s based on the previous generation of the balancing ball bot, but this one uses omniwheels to drive. In addition to balancing, this allows the robot to turn its head. Balancing happens autonomously using a control loop that...

This robot is able to balance itself on a ball, using a mechanical design and software that is very similar to two segway type of robots running at the same time. One of these “segways” uses two motors and a gyroscopic sensor to control the ball in the forward/backward direction, while another set of motors...

The ev3dev Python source code for the EV3 Balancing robot and the C code for VEX IQ is now available on Github! The code is a simplified version of previously released code, leaving out unnecessary calculations, making it easier to write and tune. The plan is to release EV3-G and RobotC versions of the new...

The VEX IQ robotics kit comes with several cool sensors, including a gyroscope. Perhaps not surprisingly, I wondered if it could be used to create a self balancing robot. And it can! I’ve provided the program and building instructions below so you can build your own balancing robot. You can build it with the basic...

There’s yet another EV3 compatible camera sensor in town. Morpx has developed a camera sensor that communicates with your EV3 using IR signals. According to the project page, you can make the camera detect a line, and let it send IR commands to your robot in order to make it follow the line. Likewise, if...

If you’ve recently visited the LEGO MINDSTORMS website, you may have noticed a slight change in the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 packaging. The packaging used to feature that you can remote control your robot, but now it also highlights that you can program it with PC software or a tablet app. LEGO says the change was...

The EXPLOR3R is the first robot in The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book. It’s a versatile wheeled vehicle that uses sensors to navigate around a room and follow lines. Chapters 1-9 in the book use this vehicle to demonstrate the ins and outs of LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 programming. The examples in the book show you...