The Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit is the best way to teach kids (or yourself) how to build and program robots, with a Bluetooth-capable brain, multiple motors, nearly 1,000 pieces,.
Bringing back your old LEGO Mindstorms RCX to life is easier than you might expect. The bottleneck is being able to communicate with the RCX using the Infrared Communication Tower. Version 1 used a tower that was attached to the computer using the old serial port (RS232) while version 2 used a USB tower. The later is much easier to use these days since most computers still have plugs that are compatible with USB1.1. For this tutorial you will need:
- Windows XP
We will setup a virtual machine on your host computer (Mac or PC) and install Windows XP on it. We will then install the original Robotic Invention System (RIS) so that the USB driver is correctly installed. You can then use RIS to program you RCX or you can setup many other programming environments/languages. Another problem you might encounter is that the cables used to connect the sensor and actuators to the RCX have become brittle and the isolation comes off easily. You can still buy some new cables from Bricklink.
- Asking for RIS 2.0 patch under Windows XP. Dear All, I have probelm to excute RIS 2.0 that enclosed with original package under Windows XP system. On the other hand, I found one patch on Lego.
- The body of the robot is compatible with Lego bricks, so students can build contraptions and inventions over the top of the robot. There is a bit of a learning curve with the Meet Edison robots, but they’re an overall good pick if you’re looking for a kit that’s user friendly and affordable.
1. Install Virtual Box
Virtual Box is a free software to run virtual machines on any host computer. I am running a Mac and had to run Windows XP. With Virtual Box this is no problem. You can also use Virtual Box to run Mac OS X on a Windows computer. Virtual machines are pretty versatile.
2. Run the Virtual Box installer
Double click on the downloaded installer to run the process.
3. Install WindowsXP
4. Create a new virtual machine
5. Select Windows XP operating system
Give your virtual machine a name and select WindowsXP 64-bit as your Version. Then press continue. The wizard will walk you though a couple more steps and I selected the default options for all of them. I cannot help you with providing a Windows XP ISO file since you will also need a product key. Those are still hard to come by.
![Mindstorms Mindstorms](/uploads/1/1/8/3/118302677/681040597.jpg)
6. Select disk image
You can either insert an original Windows XP installer CD/DVD or you can select an ISO image. I already has a Windows XP ISO image on my hard disk, which is a much faster way to install any operating system. Click on 'Start' to start the process.
7. Run through the Windows XP installation process.
8. Install Robotic Invention System (RIS)
Download the RIS version 2 and mount the disk into the virtual machine by clicking on the DVD icon at the bottom of the screen. Select the RIS2.iso file. This will mount the disk and the install wizard will automatically start.
9. Run through the RIS installer
Do not yet plug in your USB Infrared tower. That will be part of the RIS setup wizard. The installer will also ask you to keep your more up to date ActiveX version (select yes) and it will also install QuickTime. You do not need to enter any registration number for QuickTime, just click on 'Next' once you are at that step. In the last step the installer will ask you to restart your computer. Go right ahead, it will only reboot your virtual machine.
10. Start the RIS
The first time you run the RIS it will walk you through the setup of our Infrared Tower and RCX.
11. Follow the wizard
The wizard will start with the setup of your infrared tower. Click on 'Forward'
12. Select the USB Tower
In this step you can select between the old serial (RS232) and the USB tower. Hopefully you have the USB tower. Select it and click on 'Forward'
13. Mount the USB tower to your virtual machine
The wizard will ask you to plug your tower directly into the computer. When you do this, it will not yet show up in your virtual machine. You need to select the USB icon in the bottom bar and select the LEGO USB Tower to mount it into your virtual machine.
14. Go through the new hardware wizard
The previous step will trigger the new hardware wizard. You can use all the default options.
15. Insert the batteries into the RCX and place it in front of the tower.
The setup wizard will ask you to put batteries into the RCX, put it in front of the tower and switch the RCX on.
16. Install 2.0 firmware
It will then download the 2.0 firmware onto your RCX.
17. Check the firmware status
Your RCX should look like this after the firmware was installeced correctly.
18. Complete the setup wizard and start programming
You are all ready to go. Just build a robot you desire and program it in the RIS.
When you turn on the RCX for the first time or after it has been without power for more than a few minutes, it is in a state in which it can not be programmed and will only run its built-in 3 standard programs. At this stage, the RCX display will look like this:
To start programming, you first need to upload the RCX firmware. Think of it as a mini operating system that needs to be installed to be able to use all features of the machine. Uploading can be done using the NQC command:
During upload, you will see a counter running on the RCX display. For a small firmware like 0309 this will counter run up to 1591, which can take a while. For a larger firmware such as 0332 it will run to around 2500 (I wasn’t looking!), so you can get coffee.
Several firmware versions have been released by LEGO over the years, and there have also been user-built modified versions of the RCX firmware, either improving on the LEGO firmware or building a completely new system from scratch. As far as I know all of these versions have all been available to the public. I am reposting the ones I have here as they have started disappearing from the Internet.
Official LEGO firmware:
firm0309.lgo: RCX firmware version 3.09.
This version came with the LEGO MindStorms Robotics Invention System version 1.0 and 1.5.
This version came with the LEGO MindStorms Robotics Invention System version 1.0 and 1.5.
firm0328.lgo: RCX firmware version 3.28.
This version came with the LEGO MindStorms Robotics Invention System version 2.0
This version came with the LEGO MindStorms Robotics Invention System version 2.0
firm0332.lgo: RCX firmware version 3.32.
This version came with the last Robotics sets with the RCX released by LEGO Education. As far as I’m aware , this is the last version ever released by LEGO.
NOTE: it does not matter which version RCX you have; the 3.32 firmware will work fine on your old RCX 1.0! If you are using the standard LEGO MindStorms software or NQC, I would recommend using version 3.32.This version came with the last Robotics sets with the RCX released by LEGO Education. As far as I’m aware , this is the last version ever released by LEGO.
After uploading LEGO firmware, the RCX display will display the time in hh:mm, which will be 00:00 since it has no internal clock.
Lego Mindstorms Rcx Software
![Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 2.0 Software Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 2.0 Software](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KRQAAOSwmoFcyfkx/s-l300.jpg)
Dick Swan firmware
Dick Swan from Robomatter (the author of RobotC) wrote some versions of custom RCX firmware, aimed at increasing its speed and adding more features. Earlier versions were fully compatible with the LEGO firmware. Later versions contain enhancements that made it incompatible, but these can be used with the RobotC for RCX software.
Mindstorm Nxt 2.0 Software Download
fast0103.lgo: 10 times faster than the LEGO firmware but very compatible.
fast0612.lgo: 50 to 100 times faster execution speed than standard LEGO firmware.
Float and long variable support. Full featured debugger support: breakpoints, suspend/resume, single step execution, full set of fast updated “watch” windows, etc. Expanded infra red messaging support. Should be backwards compatible and work with the latest version of NQC.
Float and long variable support. Full featured debugger support: breakpoints, suspend/resume, single step execution, full set of fast updated “watch” windows, etc. Expanded infra red messaging support. Should be backwards compatible and work with the latest version of NQC.
fast0722.lgo: Not sure, but suspect this version only works with RobotC.
fast0798.lgo: Firmware version included with the last version or RobotC for RCX, which is available freely from the link above. Does not work with NQC.
Lego Mindstorms Nxt 2.0 Software
Thanks to Francesco Ferrara for keeping some of these on his site.
After uploading Swan firmware, the RCX display will display the time in m:ss:t, where t is tenths of a second. So you will notice the display will be much like looking at a stopwatch:
Other firmware
There are other notable firmware developments, but these come with their own vastly different development environments and tools which I can not cover on this page. They are certainly worth a look though!
BrickOS: http://brickos.sourceforge.net/
Enables you to write native code for the RCX processor using c/c++.
Enables you to write native code for the RCX processor using c/c++.
LeJOS: http://www.lejos.org/
A Java VM to run on your RCX so you can actually run Java programs on it.
A Java VM to run on your RCX so you can actually run Java programs on it.