LEGO IR Controller
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This document describes a LEGO IR controller project using a Raspberry Pi to control a LEGO 4x4 crawler remotely via infrared and add additional functionality like video streaming. The hardware includes a LEGO crawler with battery, motors and IR receiver/transmitter, and a Raspberry Pi with battery, wifi dongle, camera and IR transmitter. The software includes an Arch Linux server that receives TCP commands and transmits IR signals to control the crawler, and allows for VLC video streaming. Open source code is provided for both the server and an Android client app.
LEGO IR Controller
- 1. LEGO IR Controller Raspberry Pint London Nov 2014 Jiri Tyr (jiri.tyr@gmail.com, @JiriTyr)
- 2. About myself ● Linux system engineer ● creator and contributor of several Open Source projects ● https://github.com/jtyr
- 3. Motivation ● extend the operation range ● less prone to signal loss ● additional functionality (video streaming) ● have a fun with LEGO and RPi
- 4. Hardware ● LEGO 9398 4x4 Crawler ○ battery ○ servo + two L motors ○ IR receiver + transmitter ● Raspberry Pi ○ battery ○ wifi dongle ○ camera ○ IR transmitter
- 11. Price ● LEGO 9398 4x4 Crawler (£148.99) ● Raspberry Pi B+ (£25.70) ● Raspberry Pi case (£11.98) ● Raspberry Pi camera (£19.25) ● External battery (£13.99) ● IR transmitter (£5.25) ● Wifi dongle (£10.85) ● Jumper cable (£2.09) ● Total cost: £148.99 + £89.11 = £238.10
- 12. Server side ● Arch Linux ARM ● server written in C (bcm2835) ○ two threads (TCP receiver, IR transmitter) ○ shared memory for IPC ● VLC video streaming (h264, HTTP) ● systemd services ● AUR package ○ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/legoirc-server
- 13. TCP protocol ● command = 1 letter + newline ● newline only = disconnect
- 14. ● cmdline client (part of the server pkg) ● Android client ○ compatible with Android 4.x and above ○ joystick-like control ○ embedded VLC player ○ on Google Play ■ http://goo.gl/11UnAw Client side
- 16. Issues and improvements ● only IR channel 1 works ● video stream is 1s delayed ● only "Combo PWM mode" IR mode is implemented
- 17. Open Sourced ● server + command line client ○ https://github.com/jtyr/legoirc-server ● Android client ○ https://github.com/jtyr/legoirc-android
- 18. Questions?