mikalv / spike-prime

Experiments with the LEGO Mindstorms (51515) and SPIKE Prime (45678)

Mindstorms / SPIKE Prime / SPIKE Essential

This repository is a collection of useful information about the Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor (51515), Lego SPIKE Prime (45678) and Lego SPIKE Essential (45345).

Hardware

Large Hub Hardware

This applies to both the SPIKE Prime and Mindstorms Robot Inventor large hubs.

Part	Description
CPU	STM32F413 (Architecture: ARM Cortex M4, ROM: 1M, RAM: 320k, Clock: 100MHz).
Internal storage	32MB flash memory (IC: Winbond W25Q256JV).
Wireless connectivity	Bluetooth supporting 1 BT and 4 BLE connections (IC: TI CC2564C).
Wired connectivity	Micro USB cable.
Display	25 white LEDs in a 5x5 grid and 1 RGB LED (Driver IC: TI TLC5955).
Motor Drivers	6 motor outputs (Driver ICs: 3 x LB1836).
Battery Management	Lithium ion battery management (IC: MPS 2639A).
Accerometer	Three-axis accelerometer (IC: ?).
Gyroscope	Three-axis gyroscope (IC: ?).
Ports	6 LPF2 ports = 4 normal speed (115kB), 2 high speed (?kB).

Small Hub Hardware

This applies to the SPIKE Essential small hub.

Part	Description
CPU	?
Internal storage	?
Wireless connectivity	Bluetooth supporting 1 BT and 4 BLE connections (IC: ?).
Wired connectivity	Micro USB cable.
Display	1 RGB LED (Driver IC: ?).
Motor Drivers	2 motor outputs (Driver ICs: 1 x ?).
Battery Management	Lithium ion battery management (IC: ?).
Accerometer	Three-axis accelerometer (IC: ?).
Gyroscope	Three-axis gyroscope (IC: ?).
Ports	2 LPF2 ports = 2 normal speed (115kB).

Connecting to a hub

To connect to the hub you have two options, a micro USB cable or bluetooth. Both options create a serial connection between the hub and the computer. At the hub end of this serial connection is a micropython REPL (Read Evaluate Print Loop). You can use this REPL to run python commands just like you would in the python interpreter on your computer.

To connect on Linux you will normall use:

• /dev/ttyACM0 for USB connections.
• /dev/rfcomm0 for bluetooth connections.

Note: If you press and hold the left button then press the center button to power up the hub, it will startup bypassing the runtime on the hub.

I have found bluetooth on linux to be not that reliable and often have to follow this process:

bluetoothctl
> remove [ADDRESS]
> scan on
> connect [ADDRESS]
> pair [ADDRESS]
> trust [ADDRESS]

Then I can use rfcomm to create the bluetooth serial port /dev/rfcomm0:

sudo rfcomm connect hci0 [ADDRESS]

Directory Content

Controller

An attempt to create an application that can communicate with a hub to allow for remote control / sending of scripts / sensor logging without needing any of the LEGO apps.

Decompiler

This is a disassembler/decompiler that uses the mpy-tool from the micropython repository to disassemble mpy files from the hub filesystem.

Filesystem

Dumps of the micropython filesystem on the Lego hub using rshell.

# Install the rshell program if you do not already have it.
# pip3 install rshell

# Add udev rules for the hubs, and restart udev.
# cp ./filesystem/99-lego.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/99-lego.rules

rshell
> connect serial /dev/ttyACM0 115200
> rsync -a /pyboard ~/filesystem

Long version numbers are from running the help(hub) command on the board. Short versions numbers are from the version.py files where available.

SPIKE Prime

Dump	Description
v0.5.01.0000-42a938e	Initial filesystem (Purchased on: 28/05/2020) (Box Version: 29).
v1.0.00.0027-64837e9	Additional filesystem in 1.0.0 on Windows (Extracted from app.asar).
v1.0.00.0030-b228d30	Filesystem from 1.0.0 on Windows (Extracted from app.asar).
v1.0.00.0033-268c151	Filesystem from 1.1.4 on Windows (Extracted from app.asar).
v1.0.03.0034-c3879ab	Updated filesystem using 1.2.0 on Windows(Updated on: 02/07/2020).
v1.0.06.0034-b0c335b	Updated filesystem using 1.2.1 on Windows (Updated on: 17/07/2020).
v1.1.01.0000-6b4a939	Updated filesystem using 1.3.0 on Windows (Updated on: 01/09/2020).
v1.1.01.0000-6b4a939	Updated filesystem using 1.3.1 on Windows (Updated on: 20/10/2020).
v1.1.01.0002-3e5a121	Updated filesystem using 1.3.2 on Windows (Updated on: 03/11/2020).
v1.1.01.0002-3e5a121	Updated filesystem using 1.3.3 on Windows (Updated on: 18/12/2020).
v1.1.01.0002-3e5a121	Updated filesystem using 1.3.4 on Windows (Updated on: 17/03/2021).
v1.2.01.0101-edc1be7	Updated filesystem using 2.0.0 on Windows (Updated on: 25/08/2021).
v1.2.01.0101-edc1be7	Updated filesystem using 2.0.1 on Windows (Updated on: 25/08/2021) [UNCHANGED].
v1.3.00.0000-e8c274a	Updated filesystem using 2.0.3 on Windows (Updated on: 03/11/2021).

SPIKE Essential

Dump	Description
v1.0.00.0070-51a2ff4	Initial filesystem (Purchased on: 27/09/2021) (Box Version: 143).

Mindstorms Robot Inventor

Dump	Description
v0.5.01.0002-f75d82d	Initial filesystem (Purchased on: 16/10/2020).
v1.0.06.0034-b0c335b	Updated filesystem using 4.0.4-dev.99999 on Windows (Updated on: 20/10/2020).
v1.0.06.0034-b0c335b	Updated filesystem using 10.0.3 on Android (Updated on: 29/11/2020).
v1.2.01.0103-d08b6fe	Updated filesystem using 10.1.0 on Android (Updated on: 05/05/2021).
v1.3.00.0203-71f6a41	Updated filesystem using 10.2.0 on Android (Updated on: 19/08/2021).
v1.4.01.0000-594ce3d	Updated filesystem using 10.3.0 on Android (Updated on: 13/12/2021).

Firmware

Dumps of the firmware on the Lego hub using the micropython REPL.

The lines below will output a number of bytes of the firmware starting at the provided location, or false if past the end.

import firmware
firmware.flash_read(BYTE_NUMBER)

The first versions of the firmware on the device do not have the firmware library. To dump these you have to use the DFU tool after booting the device into DFU mode.

To boot the device into DFU mode:

1. Turn the hub off and disconnect the USB wire from your computer.
2. Hold down the bluetooth button and plug in the USB wire to your computer.
3. Keep holding the bluetooth button until it starts flashing in a cycle (pink-green-blue-off).
4. The hub is now in DFU mode.
5. The dfu-util program can be used to extract the firmware, see the script below.

# Install the dfu-util program if you do not already have it.
# sudo apt-get install dfu-util

# List the connected devices, this should show the hub is connected.
sudo dfu-util --list

# Read the firmware.
sudo dfu-util --alt 0 --dfuse-address 0x08000000:1048576 --upload ~/firmware.bin

# Take ownership of the file created by the dfu-util program.
sudo chown $(whoami) ~/firmware.bin

# Remove the first 0x8000 bytes, as these are before the firmware starts.
fallocate -c -o 0 -l 32768 ~/firmware.bin

# Remove the trailing bytes that have the value 0xFF, as these are unnecessary.
sed -i '$ s/\xFF*$//' ~/firmware.bin

# Rename the firmware to the md5 hash of itself.
mv ~/firmware.bin ~/$(md5sum ~/firmware.bin | awk '{ print $1 }').bin

Long version numbers are from running the help(hub) command on the board. Short versions numbers are from the version.py files where available.

SPIKE Prime

Dump	Description
v0.5.01.0000-42a938e	MISSING Initial firmware (Purchased on: 28/05/2020) (Box Version: 29).
v1.0.00.0027-64837e9	MISSING Additional firmware in 1.0.0 on Windows (Extracted from app.asar).
v1.0.00.0030-b228d30	Firmware from 1.0.0 on Windows (Extracted from app.asar).
v1.0.00.0033-268c151	Firmware from 1.1.4 on Windows (Extracted from app.asar).
v1.0.03.0034-c3879ab	Updated firmware using 1.2.0 on Windows (Updated on: 02/07/2020).
v1.0.06.0034-b0c335b	Updated firmware using 1.2.1 on Windows (Updated on: 17/07/2020).
v1.1.01.0000-6b4a939	Updated firmware using 1.3.0 on Windows (Updated on: 01/09/2020).
v1.1.01.0000-6b4a939	Updated firmware using 1.3.1 on windows (Updated on: 20/10/2020) [UNCHANGED].
v1.1.01.0002-3e5a121	Updated firmware using 1.3.2 on Windows (Updated on: 03/11/2020).
v1.1.01.0002-3e5a121	Updated firmware using 1.3.3 on windows (Updated on: 18/12/2020) [UNCHANGED].
v1.1.01.0002-3e5a121	Updated firmware using 1.3.4 on Windows (Updated on: 17/03/2021) [UNCHANGED].
v1.2.01.0101-edc1be7	Updated firmware using 2.0.0 on Windows (Updated on: 25/08/2021).
v1.2.01.0101-edc1be7	Updated firmware using 2.0.1 on Windows (Updated on: 25/08/2021) [UNCHANGED].
v1.3.00.0000-e8c274a	Updated firmware using 2.0.3 on Windows (Updated on: 03/11/2021).

SPIKE Essential

Dump	Description
v1.0.00.0070-51a2ff4	MISSING Initial firmware (Purchased on: 27/09/2021) (Box Version: 143).

Mindstorms Robot Inventor

Dump	Description
v0.5.01.0002-f75d82d	Initial firmware (Purchased on: 16/10/2020).
v1.0.06.0034-b0c335b	Updated firmware using 4.0.4-dev.99999 on Windows (Updated on: 20/10/2020).
v1.0.06.0034-b0c335b	Updated firmware using 10.0.3 on Android (Updated on: 29/11/2020) [UNCHANGED].
v1.2.01.0103-d08b6fe	Updated firmware using 10.1.0 on Android (Updated on: 05/05/2021).
v1.3.00.0203-71f6a41	Updated firmware using 10.2.0 on Android (Updated on: 19/08/2021).
v1.4.01.0000-594ce3d	Updated firmware using 10.3.0 on Android (Updated on: 13/12/2021).

Simulator

A recreation of the spike prime hardware using python to allow testing and debugging python scripts on a PC.

The aim is to create a script to dump the functions of the real hardware and then mock them to allow local development.

Currently there is two main scripts one to simulate running micropython scripts on a hub and one to push micropython scripts to a real connected hub. The simulator uses a mocked implementation of the micropython modules available on the phyical hub that redirect actions to the simulator gui.

File	Description
simulator.py	A python3 gui based simulator for the Lego hub.
run.py	A python3 script to run a micropython script on a connected Lego hub.
upload.py	A python3 script to upload a micropython script to a connected Lego hub.

Specifications

Specification pdfs for internal parts of the Lego components.

File	Description
stm32f413	The microprocessor inside the hub.

SPIKE Prime and Mindstorms Robot Inventor

File	Description
large-hub	The main SPIKE Prime hub.
large-hub-rechargeable-battery	Rechargeable lithium ion battery pack for the hub, capacity 2100 mAH.
medium-angular-motor	Medium motor with integrated absolute orientation sensor, accuracy +- 3 degrees.
large-angular-motor	Large motor with integrated absolute orientation sensor, accuracy +- 3 degrees.
force-sensor	Measures touch, tap, and force up to 10N (About 1Kg) at an accuracy of 0.65N.
distance-sensor	Measures depth to 2m (fast to 30cm) with 1mm resolution. Has 4 white LED outputs.
color-sensor	Measures 8 colours, reflectivity, and ambient light. Has 3 white LED outputs.

SPIKE Essential

File	Description
small-hub	The smaller SPIKE Essential hub.
small-hub-rechargeable-battery	Rechargeable lithium ion battery pack for the hub, capacity 620 mAH.
small-angular-motor	Small motor with integrated absolute orientation sensor, accuracy +- 3 degrees.
color-light-matrix	3x3 RGB Light matrix with individual segment control.
color-sensor	Measures 8 colours, reflectivity, and ambient light. Has 3 white LED outputs.

License

Where documents, code, graphics, binary or any other files have been created by me they are licensed under the MIT license. Other files that have been pulled from the firmware or filesystem of LEGO products remain licensed by LEGO.

The MIT License

Copyright (c) 2020 Geoffrey Daniels. http://gpdaniels.com/

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. .