LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS and LabVIEW for Education

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

What are the limitations of LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3?

So I discovered LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 and am amazed at how simple coding can be and at the fact that it seems to have all the capabilities c++ offers. It even gives me something I couldn't get easily - sensory AND motor input/output. It's a dream come true for my AI discovery I'm going to try in different robot bodies. And I'm very eager to soon spend 500$ on this.

 

But I keep hearing of "limitations".

 

What.

 

What limitations.

 

Name a few big ones.

 

If you want, name them all, and I advise you to since it be worth my and anyone else's time.

0 Kudos
Message 1 of 13
(14,908 Views)

That's a pretty general question.  Any kind of application you have in mind with certain specifications you need to be wary about?

0 Kudos
Message 2 of 13
(14,877 Views)

While everything looks like it's being coded fine, today I will have to figure out how I will link a number to another positive/negative number plus link the first number to a another number in arrays so that when it finds a match in a array it finds the linked items.

0 Kudos
Message 3 of 13
(14,873 Views)

Are you using the LEGO MINDSTORMS software or LabVIEW?

0 Kudos
Message 4 of 13
(14,836 Views)

Isn't the software the labview? ------- I'm using the software BUT it says labview at top right......It is the brick programming software for EV3.

 

Btw I figured out how to do the above task I mentioned! What else can't be done now!!!!

0 Kudos
Message 5 of 13
(14,829 Views)

Ah, well the brick programming software is a very intuitive and straightforward environment to program in.  However, there are some general limitations.  You can only use a specified range for some of the block values.  Only simple speed settings may be used.  No nested loops or branch structures such as "if" and "switch" statements.

 

Other than some limitations regarding the full range of programming capabilities, the brick software is pretty comprehensive.  Moreover, you can always use the LabVIEW Module for LEGO MINDSTORMS if you want something a little more powerful.

0 Kudos
Message 6 of 13
(14,804 Views)

"You can only use a specified range for some of the block values. "

Give an example of this I don't understand. Value blocks? Array blocks? What? Your statement meant nothing to me I don't understand.

 

"Only simple speed settings may be used. "

What would be "not" simple??

 

"No nested loops or branch structures such as "if" and "switch" statements."

But I have put a loop inside a loop duuuude dude dude!!?? And there is a switch statement and many ways to do if statements.

0 Kudos
Message 7 of 13
(14,797 Views)

For setting motor speeds or sensor measurements, you can only use a certain level of discreet values.  As for simple speed settings, you can't implement more complicated methods of control such as PID.

 

As for the loops and if/switch statements, it looks like I was wrong.  It certainly has those capabilites.  I was refering to older software which did not have those features.  My bad!

0 Kudos
Message 8 of 13
(14,792 Views)

Huh that's a relief! Like a grey ghost leaving my chest. Well a little overexagerated. So all that's left is sensor/motor #limit & motor speeds PID hmm....................................Are you saying that a camera's pixels can intake all possible colors/brightness 1s&0s whereas EV3's is limited to a set limit being 0-100 or 0-1023 or something like that for some sensors? This is ok for my project, even wanted!..............................Next, PID, looking it up, does it boost the motor if touched so it stays at the same speed going around hitting the little sensors inside at the expected times? I don't need that. Also I think I could code that in the EV3 blocks too.

0 Kudos
Message 9 of 13
(14,788 Views)

After a bit of research, it looks like you can in fact do PID.

 

http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/4382/code-for-pid-for-ev3-g

 

I guess the capabilities of the environment are more robust than what I previously thought!  You should be perfectly fine with whatever application you have in mind then.  No other jarring limitations come to mind.

0 Kudos
Message 10 of 13
(14,784 Views)