FOSS Advent Calendar - Door 8: Programming LEGO Robots with NQC

Today we explore NQC (Not Quite C), a wonderfully nerdy and lightweight programming language for the classic LEGO Mindstorms RCX robot brick.

Inside the RCX lives a tiny 8-bit Hitachi H8/300 CPU running at about 16 MHz together with 32 KB of RAM. Even with this extremely small hardware budget, the RCX can handle multitasking, read sensors, control motors and communicate via infrared. It feels like pure retro embedded magic.

NQC lets you write C-like programs on your computer and upload them directly to the RCX. It is minimalistic, fast, easy to learn and perfect for anyone who loves old-school robotics or wants to revisit the early days of DIY programming before Raspberry Pi and Arduino existed.

Working with NQC is a wonderful reminder of how much creativity is possible with almost no resources. Watching a tiny 32 KB robot happily execute parallel tasks still feels incredibly charming today.

Pro tip: If you still have an RCX somewhere, power it up. These yellow bricks are more alive than you remember once you start programming them again.

Link: https://github.com/BrickBot/nqc

Which small robot would you build or revive with the RCX?

#FOSS #OpenSource #Linux #CLI #Terminal #NQC #Mindstorms #LEGO #RCX #Robotics #Embedded #RetroComputing #NerdContent #AdventCalendar #Adventkalender #Adventskalender #TechNerds #STEM #Programming #Fediverse #FOSSAdvent #OpenTools #Robotik #OldSchoolTech

I've rebuilt Ben Williamson's "analog clock" #LEGO model which uses the #Mindstorms #RCX. Unfortunately, I do not have the fiber-optic component which he had used as rotation sensor. The rotation sensor I have still needs have its broken wire fixed. The clock gear defines a ratio so that the it needs to be driven with 48 discrete steps per hour (4 out of 5 minutes). Its programmed in #NQC. Mike Brandl has shared the PDF manual for this ancient technology on his website: https://lego.brandls.info/legbau.htm