PiStorms Starter Kit - Raspberry Pi Brain for LEGO Robot

Meet PiStorms, the controller popular among Lego and Raspberry Pi fans

It’s the very latest Mindsensors invention, and one you’re not about to tire of. PiStorms is a 100% Raspberry Pi AND Lego Mindstorms compatible robotics controller.

It connects as easily as a shield to the GPIO mapping of your Raspberry Pi (A+, B+ or 2 B) and offers two distinct connection areas for use with your Lego NXT or EV3 creation. On one side you have four ports for motors and on the other four ports for sensors, plus there is a different I2C address for each of the two compartments.

PiStorms comes with a complete programming library offering you full control of your motors and the ability to read all the data gathered by your sensors.

You can also use the power source connected to PiStorms to power your Raspberry Pi. The controller is equipped with a switch to establish contact with the Raspberry Pi.

By pressing this button for 10 seconds, you can also turn your programming board off. Finally, PiStorms is equipped with a 2.4” LCD touchscreen and with an LED you can access during programming from both the sensor and the motor compartment.

PiStorms Starter Kit: an 8 GB difference

On paper, the PiStorms Starter Kit may seem quite similar to the Base Kit, which you can also purchase from our site.

There’s just an 8 GB difference, since in addition to a Lego frame and a PiStorms the Starter Kit comes with an 8 GB SD memory card, allowing you to store the images and videos you want to show on your LCD screen.

Which means you can transform your Mindstorms Raspberry Pi creation into an advertising robot, a messenger, or simply give it its own face!

Technical specifications of the Lego Raspberry Pi PiStorms Starter Kit

The PiStorms Starter Kit contains:

• 1 PiStorms controller V2
• 1 Lego-compatible frame
• 1 Lego stylus
• Downloadable software and sample programs
• 1 x 8 GB SD card with ready-to-use PiStorms image
• Raspberry Pi 3 not included
• Supply: 8V, 1.5A (minimum 6.8V and 1.5A with motors running - not included)
• 2 x 2 ports for EV3 or NXT motors (4 ports with an I2C address)
• 2 x 2 ports for EV3 or NXT sensors (4 ports with another I2C address)
• 2.4” LCD touchscreen
• 1 LED

Resources for the PiStorms Starter Kit

If you don’t find all the information you need to use your PiStorms Starter Kit here, you’ll find it nowhere.

• Installation and configuration of the PiStorms
• PiStorms tutorial
• Python tutorial on PiStorms
• PiStorms code library information
• PiStorms User guide
• Scratch programming guide
• Troubleshooting PiStorms
• Advanced development guide for the PiStorms
• PiStorms GitHub
• Preconfigured PiStorms image
• Detailed comparison of all of the ev3dev-supported platforms and their features (BrickPi, PiStorms, ...)