Linuxcnc and lego mindstorm

Hi all, is it possile connect linuxcnc to lego mindstorm brick?
Can I create a plugin or a driver to connect them?
When can I find documentation about that?

Thanks
Best regards

Hi

Hi all, is it possile connect linuxcnc to lego mindstorm brick?

Anything is possible, but you don't say what you want to do with it.

At $170 shop.lego.com/en-US/NXT-Intelligent-Brick-9841
( for which you could buy a second hand computer and monitor plus a XHC pendant ), doubt many people would be using one

Can I create a plugin or a driver to connect them?
When Where can I find documentation about that?

Yes, you would have to.
www.linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/html/hal/comp.html

regards

thanks but HAL appears difficult to understand...
There are some real full examples about driver creation?

On the other hand, can Linuxcnc send the signals over a wifi network or similar in a way that i can intercept with java in my mindstorm brick?

Thanks

HAL is a bit of a steep learning curve, but without learning the basics of how it works, it is not possible to interface with it.

On the other hand, can Linuxcnc send the signals over a wifi network or similar in a way that i can intercept with java in my mindstorm brick?

It is all down to programming, Linuxcnc provides signals, if you want to deliver or receive them in a different way, you would have to write an interface specific to your chosen method.

Wifi is unlikely to be a successful method of delivering step pulses, but it could easily transmit non time critical logic signals.

You still have not said what it is you want to do

regards

Oh sorry!

I'd like to construct an "hot wire CNC cutter" made with lego mindstorms.
To cut complex shapes, my idea is to create a sort of firmware in the brick (mindstorm EV3) that can accept linuxcnc instruction directly.

Linuxcnc sends signals to mindstorm that interprets these, and sends appropriate commands to its motors and sensor...

What dou you think about that?

PS: lego mindstorm EV3 have an usb port, or can work on network (wifi) or bluetooth


Thanks

frank71 wrote:

Oh sorry!

I'd like to construct an "hot wire CNC cutter" made with lego mindstorms.
To cut complex shapes, my idea is to create a sort of firmware in the brick (mindstorm EV3) that can accept linuxcnc instruction directly.

Linuxcnc sends signals to mindstorm that interprets these, and sends appropriate commands to its motors and sensor...

What dou you think about that?

PS: lego mindstorm EV3 have an usb port, or can work on network (wifi) or bluetooth


Thanks

This doesn't sound like a good fit for linuxcnc.
Linuxcnc sends low level commands such as step and direction or analog velocity commands.
It doesn't send way points or g code commands.
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?HardwareDesign

But if Arduino can do this, it would be possible do this even with Mindstorm, or not?

Otherwise, how could I do my project?
Sending g-code to mindstorm an build a parser? but it sounds redundant or not?

Thanks

Arduino can do what? Talk to linuxcnc? yes.
can mindstorm ? surely.

Is it a good way to send linuxcnc's tightly coordinated motor commands? no.
Is it an easy / satisfactory way to build a foam cutter? probably not.

Would it be interesting / cool ? Depends who you are.

How else to do it? yes I imagine you could build a gcode parser for the mindstorm ( I know nothing about mindstorm)
I think Mach3 can send waypoint info - so that would be a better fit for your project.

Between linuxcnc's interfacing model and the mindstorm's available interface methods (USB etc) your project doesn't fit well.

Chris M

All the projects using the mindstorm, that I have found, seem to have it as the controller, running a program which controls the motors and cutter etc
eg
www.themakersguide.com/lego-cnc-project

The problem is that this duplicates what linuxcnc does.

If you google DNC programs, they are programs that run a gcode file and send the lines, by serial usually, to a controller.
They are a relic from an age when controllers had so little memory that they had to be drip-fed code, when running big programs.

However such a program could be very useful to you, leaving the implementation of the axis movements etc to your program on the mindstorm.

You could quite easily write a program that does the same thing, but you can probably find one in freeware that will do it on a serial over USB link

regards

And what about jedicut?

And ReplicatorG? replicat.org/
It seems to have a flexible driver system...

What do you think? Could it be useful for my idea?

Thanks