7

I bought the NXT Mindstorms education software v2.1 along with a Mindstorms kit (which I don't know the version of).

I am trying to remote control a robot I made using bluetooth between my mac and brick. So far, I have connected both devices with bluetooth successfully. I have watched a couple of videos of people remote controlling their Mindstorms bricks and they show the whole process of them connecting the devices and everything (which I have already done), but the last step of remote control process is selecting the option of "remote control" in the top left corner in the "tools" tab in the menu bar.

I do not have that option in the menu. Instead, when I open up the tools tab, a drop down menu opens giving only the options of Calibrate sensors, Update NXT firmware, Block import and export wizard. There was no "remote control" option and I am trying find out where that option is so I can finally start working on controlling my robot.

I am not sure if it is because I need to have the 2.0 software instead of the 2.1 software. If this is the case, I just want to confirm this before I buy something that I might not need.

Improve this question
3
  • 4
    Hi, welcome to LEGO Answers :) This site often works best when you're asking a single answerable question - and you appear to have 2 or 3 questions in here: "Why can't I remote control my NXT?", "How should I programme the robot for simple motion over Remote Control?" and "What does the Action button do in the Remote Control panel?". Please feel free to ask them separately :)
    – Zhaph - Ben Duguid ♦
    May 18, 2012 at 13:51
  • Would you please provide a link to one of the videos?
    – Clinton Blackmore
    Jul 20, 2012 at 17:19
  • I also am trying to do the same thing. The remote control access is not avaliabale on 2.1 either. Worst answer ever. Did anyone ever find out how to add the remote function?
    – user2636
    May 8, 2013 at 23:17

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

We had the same problem. The current version of the Kit ships with version 2.1 of the software which does not have the "remote control" item on the Tools menu.

We uninstalled this version, downloaded version 2.0 from the below link... and bam... the "remote control" option is there and it even works great through our laptop's Bluetooth connection.

Where can I download the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 IDE?

Improve this answer
3

All of the commands for controlling the robot are documented on Lego's website here: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/support/files/default.aspx You can write your own custom remote control software in most programming languages, but this is generally difficult on a Mac. Windows and Linux computers are easier to program for, Windows being the easiest. This tutorial ( http://www.extremenxt.com/vbfront.htm ) will get you started programming your own remote controller for Windows using Visual Basic. For a Mac, I would recommend using Python to write your programs. No tutorials exist for doing this in Python to my knowledge, but I can give you code samples if you are interested.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.