2010-11-12

NXT Remote Control

Two of my favorite toys right now are my Lego Mindstorms set and my Android phone. And thanks to the Bluetooth protocol I've found a way to combine them. Behold!



Since the video is quite blurry, here's a better view of the application's interface:



The third control scheme (not pictured), which I like to call the tank mode, allows you to control each motor separately and works best if your phone has true multitouch support (not just pinch-to-zoom).

Now I'm not saying my application is very unique, there are at least two others on the Android Market that do the same, including an official one from Lego. But hey, it's mine!

If you'd like to try it, below is a QR code that you can scan from your phone (or if you're reading this on your phone, just tap the code). And here's the application's AppBrain page. (It's free of course.)



Finally if you'd like to see the source code, it's over here at Google Code.

5 comments:

  1. Please pardon a question that seems to cry out for RTFM'ing, but quite a bit of searching has not yet turned up what should be an obvious answer.

    Does the default Lego NXT firmware listen for commands over BT and perform motor control as a result of them, or does this app require that a complementary program be uploaded and run on the NXT for that purpose?

    Do you happen to know if the LeJOS firmware behaves the same way?

    Looks like a great app. I'm eager to try it once I have the hardware setup.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Ned,

    The default firmware listens for Bluetooth (and USB) commands by default, without any program running on the brick. I don't know about LeJOS.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very convenient. Thanks for the quick reply and the app!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Jacek,
    I have gone through the link:http://nxt-remote-control.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ nxt-remote-control-read-only
    , but I didn't see anything. Can you check it again whether it still works or not?

    ReplyDelete
  5. hola, muy buena la aplicacion... podrias for favor "please could you send me the code" es para fines de estudio, pienso mejorar el programa y luego te pasaria el codigo restante, gracias...


    Excellent apk!!!

    ReplyDelete