https://github.com/ractive/brick-remote
Controll Lego™️ smarthubs via bluetooth directly from your browser
https://github.com/ractive/brick-remote
lego lego-powered-up
Last synced: 2 months ago
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Controll Lego™️ smarthubs via bluetooth directly from your browser
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/ractive/brick-remote
- Owner: ractive
- Created: 2019-10-16T00:20:12.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2023-01-04T22:47:19.000Z (over 3 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2023-03-12T00:21:24.319Z (over 3 years ago)
- Topics: lego, lego-powered-up
- Language: TypeScript
- Homepage: https://brick-remote.ractive.ch/
- Size: 2.22 MB
- Stars: 3
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 23
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
[](https://github.com/ractive/brick-remote/actions?query=workflow%3Abrick-remote)
# About
This is a prototype of a web application that allows controlling Lego :tm: smarthubs via bluetooth.
It's a [react](https://reactjs.org/) app using the [node-poweredup](https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-poweredup)
node library for communication.
I only tested it with the Control+ hubs, but powered up and the boost move hubs should work as well.
:information_source: The app can be found at [brick-remote.ractive.ch](https://brick-remote.ractive.ch) and must be used with Chrome (or Edge insider).
# Howto
Turn on the bluetooth hub on your lego model by pressing its button, click on the blue "Scan for hubs" button in the
webapp and pair the hub. You can pair multiple hubs by pressing the "Scan for hubs" button again.
The hub will then appear on the left side listing the ports A to D and the two tilt indicators for the
X any Y axis.
## Tilt indicator
Pressing the button for a tilt indicator in the hub details on the left, adds an indicator to the controls panel
on the right. It shows the tilt in degrees for the corresponding axis.
(I think the tilt indicators are only supported by the Control+ hubs)
## Motor Control
Pressing the "motor control" button in the hub details on the left for a specific port, adds an element
to control the speed of a single motor. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to increase and decrease the speed
of the motor and to stop the motor completely. Configre the keyboard shortcuts by pressing the "cog" symbol on
the top of the control.
## Track Control
Pressing the "track control" button in the hub details on the left for a specific port, lets you choose
what other motor should be part of the track control being added. A track control lets you easily
control vehicles with tracks that are driven by two motors. You can steer the vehicle by increasing and
decreasing the speed and by turning lef and right (instead of controlling the two motors individually).
You can set keyboard shortcuts by clicking on the "cog" symbol on the top of the track control.
## Keyboard shortcuts
This app uses the [hotkeys](https://github.com/jaywcjlove/hotkeys) library to handle keyboard input so
that you can use their supported keys [in this way](https://github.com/jaywcjlove/hotkeys#supported-keys).
That means that you can set e.g. `up` or `ctrl+a` or `space` as keyboard shortcuts when configuring the controls by
pressing the "cog" symbol.
# Development
Start the app locally with `yarn start dev` and open `localhost:3000` in a browser that supports web bluetooth
(chrome or edge beta).
## Adding a "fake" hub
To add a "fake" hub directly when starting the app, add a query parameter called `fakeHub`
to the URL (e.g. `localhost:3000/?fakeHub`). This fake hub allows developing many parts of the UI without having
to actually pair a real hub.
## Debug output
If debugging messages should be enabled, add a query parameter called `debug` with the value `*` (`localhost:3000/?debug=*`). This will add a key with the name `debug`
to the localStorage in the browser. [The debug package](https://github.com/visionmedia/debug#readme) that is used by
node-poweredup will read this "debug" key from localStorage and output debug messages for modules matching this key.
Setting `debug` to `*` will enable debug output for all modules. You can of course set other values like e.g. `lpf2hub`.
Just call the page with an empty "debug" query parameter when you do not want to have debug messages anymore (`localhost:3000/?fakeHub`).
⚠ You need to reload the page for this to take effect. I could not find a way to set the localStorage to the value in the
debug param, before the debug library is initialized.
## jsconsole output
When the app is called with a query parameter called `jsconsole`, the logs are sent to jsconsole. This only works when you
don't call this app via `localhost` because jsconsole then tries to communicate with localhost as well. Use `127.0.0.1` instead
if you want to run the app on your local machine and send the logs to jsconsole.
Open this page to view the logs: https://www.jsconsole.net/?598c719d-4012-4f4d-075c-873a05e490c1
This is e.g. useful to see the logs from your android phone of from another user.