Getting results to the Lego mindstorm NXT brick

[King945]

In a nutshell, my group and I are trying to use eye movements to control the Lego mindstorm, ie look left turn left look right turn right etc. We will be acquiring the eye movement signals through labview signal express and running those signals into labview to move the NXT robot. We are in need of assistance in both the signal importing into labview and the subsequent utilization of the said signal by the NXT. We already have the NXT toolkit and are able to succesfully run basic programs. The problem we've had is that we need the results continuously imported into the NXT so that we can maintain control of the vehicle.  So basically we need pretty close to real time results, sort of like a joystick type of thing. My group members and I have limited experience with labview so any assistance is appreciated. 

[WearWolf]

Hello King945,

There are many examples included with the LabVIEW NXT module which can get you started. If you open the “example finder”. To do this in LabVIEW click Help » Find Examples. Under the browse tab select Toolkits and Modules » NXT Robotics » Motors » Front Panel Steering Control.vi. This VI will allow the user to control the steering and power of the NXT device. Also, there is a Joystick example found under the example finder by selecting the Search tab and searching for ‘joystick’. The name of the example is Basic Input Demo.vi. This VI can be used to take in joystick commands. If you integrate the basics of these two VI’s it should be possible to attain the functionality that you are looking for. 

[King945]

Thank you for your response WearWolf. I went to the help section but there was no NXT ROBOTICS section under the TOOLKITS AND MODULES folder. We are using Labview 8.6 so I was thinking it may not be there because this is a full version of Labview.

[WearWolf]

Hey King945,

Were you able to find the Basic Input Demo? If you have the NXT Toolkit installed the motor examples should be installed under: C:\Programfiles\National Instruments\LabVIEW\examples\NXT Robotics\Motors. Also, verify that you have the NXT Robotics Function Palette when you right click on your block diagram.

[King945]

The folders on our PC aren't like that at all. We definitely have the NXT robotics functions palette though.

[WearWolf]

Hey King945,

If you open 'example finder' » select the 'Search' tab and search 'NXT' you should get a list of examples that pertain to the LEGO Minstorms NXT.

[King945]

I looked through the examples but none of them address the problem I'm having. I found a VI in another thread but it did not work. Basically I just need to know how to control the NXT motors from the front panel or block diagram of the PCI have attached the example VIs that I found.

[King945]

Here are the other VIs

[WearWolf]

Hello King945,

Here is a link that walks through sending and reading Bluetooth messages. I have also include a basic NXT Front Panel Control vi. The vi will work if the NXT toolkit is installed and if the NXT brick is wired to the computer through a USB cable. Also, if you integrate the Bluetooth messaging with this vi you should be able to control the NXT using front panel controls through Bluetooth.

[CarlosOtiniano]

This article is intended to indicate the installation and configuration process between LabVIEW and educational robot Lego Mindstorms NXT wirelessly, this will enable LabVIEW developers in having a mobile platform for the development of projects and autonomous robots, we need to install some programs the computer:

https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-32448