LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS and EV3

Can LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS be used to program the EV3?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

There appears to be some inconsistency with regard to the release of LabVIEW for the LEGO Mindstorms EV3. The website at www.legoeducation.us/eng/misc/comparingEV3andNXT.cfm indicates at the bottom of its right-hand column that such support will be available in the fall of 2013 which I presume means around now. Do I presume that the other educational version, LabVIEW for Education, catering for more than just the LEGO NXT/EV3 and Tetrix will be released then also? The other question I have is whether these releases will have incorporated the VIs to allow use of not just the LEGO sensors but also those marketed by HiTechnic, Vernier (in conjunction with its adapter) and Dexter Industries - they suit science education best - and possibly MindSensors sensors and actuators also?
I ordered the EV3 Core and extension packs early and had mine delivered months back having also tried out a trial Core package earlier. As ordered (and the trial version) it had only the EV3 software and they only allow usage of the LEGO sensors and actuators, although HiTechnic can now provide downloads to incorporate for its sensors. Vernier's are in the course of being prepared, as also I gather are Dexter Industries and MindSensors. The EV3 advertised DCP/LogIT sensors I am dubious as to being developed at all. The EV3 software is very limited in what it allows too, as with the earlier NXT-G software, no XY graph plots so students could not plot the usual Ohm's Law test graphs of Voltage against Current, nor a Pressure against Temperature graph, amongst many other useful XY graphs. Only Y-Time graphs are allowed as far as I could tell. So the LabVIEW versions will be needed to do the sort of work needed in science education 11-18.

Similar Messages

How do you add a third party sensor to LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms?

I recently purchased an IR Sensor from Mindsensors (DIST-Nx-Long-v3) which I need for a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Application) that I am developing using the LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms software. I installed the Mindsonsors IR Sensor, and it works under NXT-G and RobotC, but am having trouble finding a way to get LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms to install the sensor.
The Mindsensors website gives the following instructions for installing the IR Sensor:
1.Unzip the folder mindsensors.com LVEE
2.Open a blank vi in LVEE
3.On the Block Diagram Go to Tools->Advanced->Edit Palette Set...
Unfortunately, on the Block Diagram of the LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms, there is no "Advanced->Edict Palette Set" under Tools.
As an alternative, I consulted the documentation that came with LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms. The Schematic Editor of LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms lists several sensors, i.e. the Lego Mindstorms sensors and several Hi-Teach (HT) sensors, but there are no procedures listed in the documentation for adding other third party sensors to the Functions Palette.
So, how does one go about adding a third party sensor to LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms?

Hi Ethan,
As you can see from my Word document, I am a little light on the proper terminology. That's because LVLM comes with inadequate documentation.
I have already followed your recommended protocol for installing a 3rd party sensor (in fact, its the protocol recommended by Mindsensors) with the application set in the Remote Mode (.lvrbt), and it does create a sub-palette with all the Mindsensors functions on it. But when I drag the Mindsensors icon to the Block Diagram and select "Distance Sensor," the Distance Sensor (an IR sensor) doesn't work (even though the Mindsensor's Distance Sensor does work with NXT-G, RobotC and LVLM under other circumstances (see below)).
If I repeat the above process with the application set in the Direct Mode (.vi), I also get the sub-palette with all the Mindsensors functions on it. When I drag the Mindsensors icon to the Block Diagram and select "Distance Sensor," the Distance Sensor does work.
What I need for my mapping application is for the Distance Sensor to work in the Remote Mode. I called NI tech support and the first engineer told me to simple drag the Mindsensors Functions (.vi) onto the Block Diagram. I did this, but when I selected the Distance Sensor, the icon appeared, but the sensor did not work. Since I have no idea what's under the hood of the vi or a function, I assumed that simply dragging the vi/function onto the desktop didn't install the vi/function properly. I went back to the Applications Engineer, and he confessed that he did not understand the LVLM product.
My frustration is being punted to new people, none of whom so far (other than you, of course) understand LVLM.

Why does LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms have 2 Functions Palettes?

LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms has 2 separate Functions Palettes. One of them appears when one creates a VI (.vi) for a Project (.lvrbt), and it appears to contain Mindstorms NXT functions. The other appears when one creates a stand alone VI (.vi), and it contains functions which are labelled "NXT Robotics" but which appear to be the old Mindstorms RCX functions. For example, the Motor Functions have no Speed or Duration controls. (See Control Palette pictures on the attached Word document.) (NI should be aware that the RCX is no longer sold or supported by Lego.)
If I only want to create a stand-alone VI, how do I access mature NXT functions with which to implement that VI?
Attachments:
NI LabVIEW Function Palettes.doc ‏127 KB

I knew that the NXT could be controlled from a "remote" device (e.g. cell phone), though perhaps "remote" is a poor choice of words given your use of the word "direct" which, as you use it, has the same connotation. I have never run the NXT in the direct mode, nor have any of my team members. The reason I assumed that you had included RCX functions was RCX functions had fewer properties than NXT functions just like your "direct" functions do. I have no idea where the "dual mode" functions are to be found.
I think LVLM has inadequate introductory documentation.I have Gasperi's book, but like NXT-G books, he only gives recipes for robots with different functionalities. LVLM needs a better structural and functional description.
Lego Education is not supporting LVLM (nore is NI, for that matter, at least not very well...it was a lot of work to get to someone who knew what they were talking about). The guys at Lego Education are not in a position to support LVLM. Your guys also asked me to call "Tom Barrowman," Lego's New England sales rep. I didn't call him, but I am betting that he knows even less.
I understand why NI doesn't want to put the support bucks into LVLM. The license for LV cost $2500/year, and I bought LVLM for $100. LVLM was intended to be an introductory product for people (kids) who might become NI customers someday, but if those kids walk off in disgust because they can't figure out how to use LVLM, NI's investment in it will have been for nothing.
Attachments:
For Ethan.doc ‏66 KB

LabVIEW toolkit for Lego Mindstorm EV3

Hello,
I want to ask about labview toolkit for EV3 brick (lego mindstorm)?
Will it be included in LabVIEW 2014?
and when it will be relaesed ?
Is it soon in the coming month?
Thanks

There are several posts on EV3 in the Mindstorms board http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-for-LEGO-MINDSTORMS-and/bd-p/460. I suggest you click on Options and request the moderator to move your question.

NI LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT

Labview 7.1.0と一緒に、タイトルのtool kitを使って、
LEGO MINDSTORMS　NXTを動かそうとしているのですが、
一括コンパイル、nxt tool kit 1.0.1 patchコピーを終え、
"Getting Started with the LabVIEW toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT"（添付）
の最初の"Building a LabVIEW VI that Runs on the NXT"に従って、
作成したVIをNXT上で動かそうとしたのですが、
Debugボタンを押すと、コンパイル、ダウンロードまではうまくいくのですが、
ダウンロードされたプログラムがNXT上で動作せず、動かそうとすると、
NXT本体のディスプレイにFILE ERROR!と表示されます。
NXTのバージョンは、1.03で、
"LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT"を
一括コンパイルした際には、次のようなメッセージが表示されました。
#### Starting Mass Compile: 2008年7月2日 18:41:42
Directory: "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 7.1\vi.lib\addons"
Failed to load (C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 7.1\vi.lib\addons\NXTToolkit\shared\NXTToolkit.GetRelevantContexts_8_0.vi)
Failed to load (C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 7.1\vi.lib\addons\NXTToolkit\shared\NXTToolkit.OpenVIRefInContext_8_0.vi)
Failed to load (C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 7.1\vi.lib\addons\NXTToolkit\shared\NXTToolkit.RemoveScrollbars_8_0.vi)
#### Finished Mass Compile: 2008年7月2日 18:42:58
Labview 7.1では関係ないのかなと思っているのですが、関係あるでしょうか？
その他でも、不具合原因について、心当たりのある方がいらっしゃいましたら、
アドバイス頂ければ幸いです。
小松崎
添付:
LabVIEW_Toolkit_for_LMS_NXT_Getting_Started_Guide.pdf ‏201 KB

I do know of this one software where you can simulate the NXT, but it might only be for NXT-G programs.
SimplySim at The NXT Step
Other than that I don't think there's any way.
As for the difference between the two, there's a whole ton. Those are two different programs with very different syntaxes. Lego NXT-G is the basic software that comes with the NXT kit. It's a very scaled down version of LabVIEW and is pretty nice. LabVIEW is much more advanced and you can do much more with it, but you are restricted to using the LabVIEW NXT Toolkit and the NXT's cababilities. (no float, only so much RAM, etc.). But you can still do a ton more with it. Yes, you can data log with LabVIEW in, like, many ways.
Hope that helps!

Linux labview eval version for lego mindstorms nxt

Hi,
I'm a high school teacher in Tamil Nadu, India. Our school recently purchased 4 lego mindstorm NXT kits. We were happy to find that the new software was powered by labview, because it runs on linux. Our school runs on an Edubuntu LTSP network. So we were sad when we discovered the installation disk only supported MacOS and Windows.
I looked at the labview site for NXT and saw that we could get a student evaluation copy for use with NXT - so I filled out the forms, but when the link to the FTP site was given, it only provided a Windows and MacOS copy.
Can we obtain a student copy of labview for Linux for use with our NXT kits?
Thank you, Jason Stewart.

Hello Jason,
I'm sorry I didn't make this more clear in my previous post, but the LabVIEW Student Edition for use with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT is only available for Windows. This will provide you with the LabVIEW 7.1 Student Edition and then you can download the LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT. This will give you the ability to create custom NXT blocks in LabVIEW.
Another option would be to purchase the latest LabVIEW Student Edition and then download the LabVIEW Toolkit for NXT. However, this edition is also only available for Windows. The customers that are downloading the LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT on a Mac OS have purchased the full version of LabVIEW for Mac.
Your best option would be to contact the NI India Sales Office at [email protected] or 91 80-4119 0000. They would be able to help you best with this.
Regards,
Clint M

LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT in Windows Vista

Anybody knows how install LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT with Windows Vista?. Installing it gives me an error that says 'The windows installer is corrupt. To attempt to resolve the issue, please register the engine by running regsvr32.exe on msi.dll'. But it doesn´t work.
Thanks in advance

The work around for this issue is to install each of the MSI files setup.exe calls when running the installer. I was able to reproduce this issue for the 1.0 toolkit I was unable to do so for the 2.0 toolkit. This being said the instructions bellow are for those of you who are running into this issue with the 2.0 toolkit.
Listed bellow are the MSIs you will need to run (shown here at their default location after the self extracting EXE has been run). You should run these MSI in the following order.
C:\National Instruments Downloads\LabVIEW\7.1\LabVIEW NXT Toolkit\2.0\Products\MetaUninstaller\MU\MetaUninstaller.msi
C:\National Instruments Downloads\LabVIEW\7.1\LabVIEW NXT Toolkit\2.0\Products\MDFSupport\MDF\MDFSupport.msi
C:\National Instruments Downloads\LabVIEW\7.1\LabVIEW NXT Toolkit\2.0\Products\MDFSupport\MDF\EULADepot.msi
C:\National Instruments Downloads\LabVIEW\7.1\LabVIEW NXT Toolkit\2.0\Products\LVLEGONXTTK\LVLEGONXTTK\LVLEGONXTTK.msi
C:\National Instruments Downloads\LabVIEW\7.1\LabVIEW NXT Toolkit\2.0\Products\LVLEGONXTTK_LV71\LVLEGONXTTK_LV71\LVLEGONXTTK_LV71.msi
C:\National Instruments Downloads\LabVIEW\7.1\LabVIEW NXT Toolkit\2.0\Products\NXT_Driver64\LegoMindstormsNXTdriver64.msi
A similar procedure can be used to install the 1.0 toolkit if need be. You can get the install order from the parts from the [Parts] section of the setup.ini.
Mark
LabVIEW R&D

Why labView for LEGO and not for VEX?

I am a math professor and we are trying to teach math trough robots. The hardware platform we have is VEX and I think that the programming part, at least for us in our dept., will be the most difficult. I did not see any thinng like labView in the VEX platform. Why? Any sugestions?
Thank you .
manuel

Hello Manuel,
Unfortunately there are currently no plans to add VEX support for LabVIEW, here's a similar post. Besides support for LEGO, another simple LabVIEW interface we offer is Arduino. If you want to use our extensive robotics options you may have to switch to the LEGO platform. Let me know any questions you have, have a nice weekend!
Regards,
Deborah Y.
LabVIEW Real-Time Product Marketing Manager
Certified LabVIEW Architect
National Instruments

NI LabVIEW 2009 LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Module Released!

This software allows users to run code on their computers to control LEGO® NXT Bricks and compile, download, and run LabVIEW code directly to the NXT. The new NXT Module 2009 represents a considerable improvement in features and usability over past versions.
Totally redesigned APIs
Full access to LabVIEW debugging tools
Control NXT bricks either by running code in LabVIEW or compiling and deploying code to the NXT brick
VIs for TETRIX kits are available out of the box
Support for all LEGO® MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 sensors.
NXT Applications Data Viewer, Piano Player, NXT Multimeter, Remote Control, and Scope
The module can be downloaded here.
Please feel free to ask questions and provide feedback to NI R&D.
Thanks,
Mark
Product Support Engineer - LabVIEW R&D
Mark
LabVIEW R&D

Nice! But I guess that doesn't mean that you will be releasing a free version any time soon... does it.
Oh! BTW (slightly off topic) you should remove the "Select Your Operating System" block on the Student edition cd order form. It just gets peoples hopes up that they might get a mac version.
Andrew
Message Edited by AndrewDudney on 10-22-2009 10:27 PM

LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT bugs

When you find bugs in the toolkit, post them to this message thread.
This board will be regularly monitored by both NI Application Engineers and members of the development team.
Thanks for helping us create a better toolkit going forward.
John Field
MINDSTORMS Software Group Manager
LabVIEW R&D

Hi John,
Problem: Unsupported case structure values in NXT Toolkit VIs.
I think the problem is, that the VIs of the NXT Toolkit do not follow the restrictions of the Programming Guide of the NXT Toolkit. The programming Guide says at page 6 (Structures, Case Structure) that
“Only one specific value (or "Default) is allowed in the case selector lable for each subdiagram."
But for example the "PortSemaphore.AccessSemaphores.vi", which is part of the NXT Toolkit (and which is a Sub VI of "NXT_SyncUnlimited.vi") uses a Case Structure with the values “0, Default”, “1”, and “2”. This is only one example. I found many VIs in the NXT Toolkit which are using case structures with more than one specific value or with a “0, Default” value.
Why does the NXT Toolkit include VIs whitch are not programmed according to the Programming Guide of the NXT Toolkit?
How can I solve the problem? Do I have to modify each NXT-Vi with incorrect case structure values?
I am using LabVIEW 7.1 and NXT Firmware 10.3.
Regards
Manfred

MATRIX Toolkit for LabVIEW 2012 for LEGO Mindstorms Installer ?

Hello,
Please help
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi 40123157,
MATRIX support is included in the MINDSTORMS Competition Toolkit. You can find last year's toolkit here: http://www.ni.com/download/labview-ftc-toolkit-2012-2013/4331/en/.
An updated version of this toolkit for 2014-2015 is targeted to be released at the end of August.

I have Labview for HP-UX and a HPIB card. Is there a way to make them work?

I appreciate any pointers.
Jose Chacon
Florida

Jose,
There is a KnowledgeBase entry that talks about using NI-VISA 2.5 to communicate with an HPIB board through LabVIEW 6. Unfortunately, this is only possible in Windows. For HP-UX I'm afraid your only option is to use a Call Library Node in your LabVIEW program to make direct calls to the HPIB driver. If you can obtain documentation on the HPIB shared libraries that come with the board, it is viable for you to communicate directly through a Call Library Node.
I hope this suggestion points you in the right direction. Have a good day.
Sincerely,
Darren Nattinger
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
Darren Nattinger, CLA
LabVIEW Artisan and Nugget Penman

Can't control color sensor in LabView for Mindstorms

Hello! New here.
I'm trying to bone up on LabView via "LabView for Lego Mindstorms" for a possible job in the near future and I've run into a problem early on.
I'm programming my Lego brick in LabView to simply turn on the color sensor which is easy enough: I build a while loop and inside that I have a color sensor block connected to a text block which displays light intensity from the sensor in text on the brick. I compile and run and the sensor turns on and I can read the constantly updating intensity on the brick. That part works fine. Now I'd like to control the light sensor (which doubles as a light source with color LEDs) on the LV front panel. The book I'm using (LabView for Lego Minstorms) says I need to right click the sensor block on the "generate light" input and choose "Create-->Control" from the resulting menu. A Boolean pushbutton should appear connected to the sensor block in the Block Panel and a push button should appear in the Front Panel. That's not what happens. Two things are different here.
1) I have no "generate light" port to right click on. This is probably due to using a more up to date version of Mindstorms than the book uses. That's a book/Mindstorms issue that probably can't be solved here but hopefully solving the next issue will make this one irrelevant.
2) I right click and create the control, but instead of creating a Boolean push button as the book predicts, it creates a "BrickReference.lvclass" icon. It connects okay with the light sensor and a corresponding block is created in the Front Panel but it is a paper weight as far as I can tell. I can't do anything with it. There is no button to push, no slider, knob, radio button etc. and I can't seem to change it into anything that works in any way. I delete it and create a no kidding Boolean push button from the library but it won't connect to the light sensor and so I can't compile. So now I'm a bit stuck.
I've looked for "Brick Reference" on line in the context of LabView class and have found little or nothing that tells me about its definition or how I can use it to control the light sensor via the Front Panel. The help section with the software isn't much help either and yet I'm sure there must be a way to control a simple Lego light sensor from the Front Panel for debugging and other purposes.
If you know what I'm doing wrong or if you know an end run around this issue that will enable me to control a Mindstorms brick from the Front Panel in this way, please let me know.
Thanks!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Try posting in the Lego forum.
http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-for-LEGO-MINDSTORMS-and/bd-p/460

Regular Labview's VIs unable to execute in lego mindstorm labview module

Hi,
I'm trying to create a block diagram that using vision aquisition in Labview module to detect my eyeball motion for robot direction control. It's success to run the block diagram.
At the same time, i also using lego mindstorm labview module to create block diagram for the EV3 robot.
But when i interface the two algorithms in the lego module, it can't run the block diagram due to the lego module can't run the other VIs? Because the error state that Mathscript, Vision Aquisition, IMAQ and others, all are not supported to execute.
Any suggestion or other ways to solve this problem?

Did you install Lego Mindstorms software and trying to use LabVIEW VIs in there? Or do you have a regular LabVIEW license with the Lego Mindstorms add on library installed?
Lego Mindstorms is a special version of LabVIEW with restrictions like not being a general development environment. It can only run VIs that are specifically compiled to run for Lego Mindstorms and I suppose only NI has the necessary tools to do that.
Rolf Kalbermatter
CIT Engineering Netherlands
a division of Test & Measurement Solutions

Can LabView 2013 be used to develop blocks for Lego LabView Education EV3?

I would like to interface some custom sensors to the Lego EV3 brick. Can LabView 2013 be used to build Blocks for Lego LabView EV3 software?

Please note Mac OSX users using LabView 2013 Student Edition -- you CAN use the new EV3 modules but you must install f1 patch first.
I installed NI LabVIEW 2013 LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Module f1 Patch.
Then
NI LabVIEW 2013 Module for LEGO MINDSTORMS f2 Patch
Now I can program for LEGO EV3, download to EV3 and it works all from the LV 2013 Student Edition (UK).
Dr. Michael Vallance
Future University, Japan.
Homepage http://www.mvallance.net
International Virtual Environments Research Group (iVERG) http://www.iverg.com

LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS and EV3

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for