LMS-ESP32 board for SPIKE and MINDSTORMS (LMS-ESP32-v2.0)

Description

This all-new MicroPython expansion board for LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor, Spike Prime, and EV3. You can easily connect this LMS-ESP32 board to your LEGO robot and use it as an interface to a limitless range of third-party electronics. You can now connect any protocol to your LEGO Robot: I2C, UART, SPI, WS2812, Neopixel, I2S, WiFi, Bluetooth Classic, BLE, Bluetooth HID, Hobby Servo PWM, and many more.

👉 Gamepad controller connection is one of the most popular applications. There’s a long list of supported controllers. Controllers work in SPIKE3, Robot Inventor and Pybricks firmwares. Both Word Blocks and Python. Avoid PS3 controllers, they are extremely difficult to pair.

New possibilities for your LEGO Robot with the LMS-ESP32 v2.0

The LMS-ESP32 board adds these possibilities in your LEGO robotics project:

• Communicate with countless Bluetooth and BLE devices! The most popular devices are game pads.
• Communicate via WiFi for MQTT applications, REST calls, web apps and more.
• Power hobby servos with 1000mA from the LEGO battery.
• 2 MB memory and 4 MB storage to compile the largest scripts.
• USB-C to connect to your laptop via Serial/UART/REPL.
• Read and write to all I2C devices like laser distance sensors or OLED displays.
• Drive up to 64 NeoPixel LEDs (ws2812) with 1000mA.
• Connect UART devices to your robot like the OpenMV or Huskylens camera.
• Read and write I2S devices like digital microphones. Voice controlled robots? Dancing robots with Beat detection? You got it.
• Use analog pins to sense conductivity or small other small voltages.
• Turn your LEGO robot into a WiFi hotspot, with an optional Python WebREPL.
• Connect color touch screens to your robot.

Supported LEGO® hubs

We recommend using Pybricks on your hub, for maximum flexibility. You can, however, use any hub with original LEGO firmware if you limit yourself to sensor emulation.

• MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor
• SPIKE Prime
• SPIKE Essential
• Technic Hub
• Boost hub
• City hub

LMS-ESP32 Documentation and hardware details

We maintain documentation on docs.antonsmindstorms.com. There is also a web tool for flashing new firmware on your board. There is a special documentation page dedicated to the LMS-ESP32 board. We developed SerialTalk and mpy_robot_tools to make it easy to connect to this board. There are many example projects in these GitHub repositories.

Connectors on the LMS-ESP32v2.0 board

• Wire for WeDo 2.0 / Power Functions 2.0 / PoweredUp / SPIKE devices: Plug and play with most hubs.
• Multi-purpose Header: 28 pin header with 0.1 inch (2.54 mm) pitch for DuPont jumpers or servo wires.
• STEMMA QT / Qwiic JST SH: integrate various I2C sensors and modules.
• Grove I2c connector: integrate various I2C sensors and modules.
• Display Connector: 10-pin JST-SH 1mm for displays. Now you can easily connect SPI touch screens for interactive projects.
• USB-C: Upload code and power your robot with this solid universal USB standard.

Feature-rich firmware

The boards come pre-flashed with MicroPython 1.24 and includes the lpf2, PUPRemote, SerialTalk, ulab and Neopixel libraries. It is the most flexible firmware for connecting third-party electronics. We provide alternative firmware to emulate LEGO sensors, connect to gamepads and much more. You can also write your firmware using Arduino. You can easily flash new firmware via the Chrome web browser. No need for command line tools!