Pybricks

But that's not EV3?!

If you've been following us on GitHub, you will have seen hundreds of commits since our last update here on Patreon. We're making huge progress with EV3! We should have an early version for beta testing soon.

As we work on EV3, we're pulling...

How to change PID values with blocks

The default motor controls work fine for a typical small drivebase. But sometimes you want to spice things up a little, especially if you build a heavy drivebase.

One way to do that is to increase the KP value of the PID controllers. This is...

Let's-a-go!

Pybricks makes all smart LEGO bricks work together. So we built a 100% LEGO Mario Kart!

We brought this to the Dutch WRO finals last weekend. The kids and their parents had a blast driving Mario and Luigi around all day!

New chapters out now: Using sensors!

Robots can’t actually see or feel the way humans do, but by adding sensors to them, they can collect and report information about the environment around them. LEGO robots come with a variety of sensors to measure distance, color, light intensity...

New chapters out now: Flow Control

In practice, robots rarely execute a long, fixed list of actions from start to finish. Robots often need to repeat some actions or decide to skip actions depending on what their sensors see. You control how the code execution flows from top to bot...

Saving LEGO MINDSTORMS: Status Update!

While we've not posted many blog updates recently, we've been working tirelessly on our mission to save LEGO MINDSTORMS with the help of our 2025-04-04 11:55:54 +0000 UTC View Post

Pybricks 3.6 beta out now!

I'm excited to share that we just launched the latest version of Pybricks in beta. We'd love to get your feedback. If there are no last-minute issues or bugs, we expect to launch i...

Learning Guide: Robot Navigation

In between all the technical developments, we gradually keep working on the Pybricks learning guide. I'm excited to share that we've posted an update with a new chapter. Starting with the basics, we cover the 2025-02-19 09:54:32 +0000 UTC View Post

Week 5&6: Sensors

With much of the input port code for the Saving LEGO MINDS...

Week 3&4: Ports

The past few weeks were all about the 6-wire port interface. Aside from the plug, EV3 cables are very similar to Powered Up cables:

• 1/2: Motor power

• 3/4: Ground and 3V3

• 5/6: Data wires

My...

Week 1&2: Booting with light speed

If you've used the EV3 before, you might remember it as sluggish and very slow to boot, especially when compared to newer systems like SPIKE. But is that true?

In this first progress update of the year I'd like to share the story of solving ...

Happy new year from Pybricks!

A little over a year ago, I launched this Patreon page to help grow the Pybricks project, with the goal to keep working on it around the clock. Thanks to you, 2024 has been a fantastic year, with lots of progress on exciting new features and proje...

Saving LEGO MINDSTORMS!

LEGO® MINDSTORMS® was discontinued. End of story, right? Well, not so fast. We aim to fix this, and you make it possible. We are incredibly grateful for your ongoing support.

Existing and new supporters get a special reward --- read o...

Upcoming firmware updates!

I've been quietly working on several exciting firmware updates that should become available in beta in the weeks to come. This post gives you a sneak peek at the new updates.

The biggest noticeable changes are those concerning the builtin gy...

Data logging with Pybricks

Did you know you can do experiments and data analysis with Pybricks? A teacher recently asked us about it, so we thought we'd share it here as well.

You can see how it works in the example above. By configuring the print block to print multi...

Line following with StarterBot - Boost Edition

You can follow the upcoming Pybricks Learn guide with any platform, so I'll include instructions for several versions of the StarterBot.

While I was designing and...

Building the new Pybricks StarterBot

Building a vehicle robot is a great way to get familiar with robotics and coding. As part of the upcoming guide to learning robotics and programming with Pybricks, I'll add instru...

Preview & request for comments: Beginner's guide to robotics and coding

Besides new features, we are often asked about tutorials and user guides. And this is of course equally important! To make it easier to get started, I've started on a brand new beginner's guide to learning coding and robotics.

Instead of bei...

Programming a Tic-Tac-Toe game with Pybricks

A good way to practice more interesting coding concepts is to mimic a well known board game. There’s no stress to get a robot mission right, and it’s easy to check if your code behaves according to the rules of the game.

In this article,...

Communicating with other MicroPython boards

The hub-to-hub communication feature in Pybricks MicroPython is not restricted to LEGO hubs alone. I just released a new library that ena...

Making your own Duplo Train controller

The Duplo train is a great toy. My kids really enjoy playing with the builtin push-to-drive function and the colored action bricks. There is also a tablet app that lets kids control the train remotely. But it turns out you can do so much more, wit...

Building a ball balancing robot with SPIKE Prime

I’ve always been fascinated by robots that can balance themselves on a ball.

It’s one of those builds that looks like magic, but it’s ultimately just a fast feedback loop. The robot constantly measures the tilt of the robot using the ...

How to make multiple program "slots" on Spike Prime

Normally, only one Pybricks program is saved on the hub. This usually makes it easy to find and start your latest project. And it’s especially practical on hubs without a display.

But the SPIKE Prime Hub and the MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor h...

How to override motor checks for multipurpose programs

If you forget to plug in a motor that you use in your program, you normally see a message in the output window to remind you. Most of the time, you’ll want to keep it that way to help you catch mistakes early on.

2024-05-23 19:32:52 +0000 UTC View Post

Wireless communication between Spike Prime hubs

One of our newest members asked how to communicate between two Spike Prime hubs to control a car-like vehicle with one steering motor and two drive motors.

Fortunately, this works the same on any hub! This means you can combine any of the 2024-05-06 15:18:43 +0000 UTC View Post

New tutorials for the Technic Liebherr Crawler Crane

The next two tutorials in the Technic series are for the LEGO® 42146 Technic Liebherr Crawler Crane. We'll show you how to use it with both the Powered Up remote and the Xbox Controller.

This is the first demo project with two hubs, so we'l...

As requested: The Mercedes-Benz Zetros Trial Truck!

This project was requested (and tested) by Pybricks supporter Maxence!

I had created a Python program for the Mercedes truck a long time ago, but the set has since been taken apart. I've now recreated that program using block-based code and ...

Technic beyond remote control

Remote control is fun, but with Pybricks it doesn't stop there! As part of our upcoming tutorials for Technic, we'll include instructions for this line-following vehicle as well. You can already see the first tutorials in the series 2024-04-20 08:45:51 +0000 UTC View Post

Working on new tutorials!

Coming up, a bunch of example projects for Technic cars, trucks, and cranes!

What would you like to see in future tutorials?

Pybricks 3.5 is out now!

We’re happy to announce that Pybricks version 3.5 is now available! This release includes a number of new features and improvements. Here are some of the highlights.

Since you’re using Pybricks already, you’ll get the update automatica...