Makeblock MegaPi - Born to Motion Control for Maker and Geek

Makeblock is one of a growing number of companies using a plug-n-play format for makers wishing to use micro-controller boards (like the Arduino and Raspberry Pi series of boards) to make everything from remote controlled garden watering systems to robots to 3D printers and laser engravers (Makeblock makes those, too). The trouble for a lot of new makers (the term ‘maker’ refers to the people making all things electronic: from simple door alarms to automated cars - when I was a kid they were called tinkerers or inventors) is that electronics can be a daunting thing to learn with a very steep learning curve.Enter plug-n-play. Makeblock has chosen to use Arduino boards modified to allow RJ25 (like your home phone) connectors to plug in modules like sensors, displays and motors. The modules have all the circuitry built in. That means kids can having a working robot in an afternoon instead of a summer vacation.The RJ25 modular plugs eliminate the need to learn both tricky electronic circuitry and building tanks (or robot arms or animated Halloween props. Imagine a zombie that moves when the trick or treaters come up on the porch!). That allows them to focus instead on building their ideas. And eliminates figuring out the wiring or having to learn to solder.Since, at 55, I’m a new maker and I really didn’t want to learn all the diodes and transistors and soldering, I was excited to find these plug and play systems.The Makeblock MegaPi (and all of the Makeblock kits) lets you plug in all of these modules and use a drag and drop visual programming application called mBlock (runs on PC or Mac, Android and iOS) to code and control it. Kids can open their kits Christmas morning and build, then drive their robot all before Christmas dinner. (Just don’t let them open it Christmas Eve or they’ll never go to bed!) Since they use the Arduino family as the core of their products, once they gain experience, they can use the Arduino programming language to build their code, too. They may never need to since Makeblock keeps upping the game with mBlock.The MegaPi is a bit different than the robot kits - it’s the heart of the project. Very powerful and based on the Arduino Mega2560, the MegaPi offers the ability to run things from robot tanks or crawlers to really advanced projects like 3D printers, plotters, robotic arms and drawing machines. It can even run laser engravers. The MegaPi can definitely grow with you.I knew I was going to use my MegaPi for controlling my Makeblock tank kit - the Starter Bot - so I ordered the RJ25 block (gives you four ports for modules) and some motor controllers. All in, less than a hundred bucks. While my robot is simple, I want to add autonomous driving and a grabber arm. The MegaPi is perfect for that.I removed the Orion board from my Starter tank and bolted in the MegaPi. It was a pretty straightforward swap. I then slipped the motor controllers and the the RJ25 block into the slots on the MegaPi. Plugged the motors into the Port 1 motor controller (it can handle both DC motors). Then plugged in the MeUltrasonic module (for checking distances), the MePort module (which controls the pan and tilt servos to move the ultrasonic around like a head to check in all directions), the MeCompass (to know which direction the tank is going) and the MeTFT (to display what’s going on in the program). Total time: about 30 minutes.I went from the power of a UNO to a Mega2560 in half an hour. Assembled and ready to rock.The MegaPi allows you to control up to TEN motors (my robot has TWO) and ten servos (smaller, precise motors for making arms move or moving sensors - mine also has two of these). All with no circuit building. While I sound a bit like a Makeblock salesman, I'm not. It’s that the system and the board are great for a new maker building my robot.For power, while you’re using mBlock to create your robot app, you plug it into the USB port on your computer. You’ll need a USB to USB-B cable for that. As you create the app, you can test it out right on your robot. Once you’ve got it all done, you can use a wall plug or a battery - there’s a barrel jack on the MegaPi for connecting either a 6 AA battery pack or LiPo or other battery. I used a battery I have for charging my tablet. Power input is 6-12v. Lots of wall warts and batteries work perfect.I can also the Bluetooth module from my mBot (a small robot kit from Makeblock) to control the tank. (This is another example of the modular approach they have taken. Your investment in modules can be used on most every kit they make. All the same modules I used on my mBot and Starter can be used on my MegaPi.) There’s bluetooth apps for your phone, computer and tablet, too.The MegaPi comes by itself in a plastic antistatic bag. So do the plug block and motor controllers. No instructions or anything else. You do get a connector for hooking it up to a Raspberry Pi, some standoffs and screws and nuts for mounting it to a board, though. While the Makeblock site has instructions for getting it all together, it would be nice to get something in the way of hard copy in the package. (By contrast, my Starter Bot and my mBot - the littlest robot kit - all came in nice boxes with a build sheet).Every module from Makeblock and every port on the MegaPi (and the other controller boards) is color-coded. If your distance sensor is coded blue, just look for a blue port on the board. The ports are also numbered so when you’re programming, you tell it to look for the distance sensor on Port 4. Simple!Makeblock's strengths are it's hardware (which is top-notch and very well executed), it’s apps for Android and iOS and it's visual programming language - mBlock. mBlock is a offshoot of the Scratch visual programming language from MIT that is used the world over to teach kids programming concepts. The weakness is documentation. The forum often can help with problems since someone else has probably already run into what you are having issues with. When you move from using mBlock to coding by hand, the lack of documentation can be very frustrating. To be fair, in the months I’ve been using the system, the documentation and the site have improved considerably.The MegaPi’s strengths are: power, ease of use, and expandability. Even if you are an advanced maker and you want to build some crazy humanoid robot, the MegaPi offers you connections for more motors than you might ever need. You can connect up distance sensors, displays, compasses, Wifi adapters and so much more - simply and easily using the RJ25 plugs. You don't need to know what a resistor or a relay is to use a MegaPi. Plus it has a slip in spot for the Bluetooth or IR controller. And some great Android and iOS programs for coding and controlling your creation.Kids, who have notoriously short attention spans, can put together a robot tank, mount their MegaPi and load the controller app and having the whole thing running around the kitchen floor in an afternoon. BUT! Then they can spend the rest of Christmas vacation making it do more and more things. And it doesn’t break the bank to buy them the add-on goodies. Not too many things these days offer all this for the money - and get kids to LEARN something at the same time. The expandable nature of the MegaPi means kids can start using it to build their robot tank Christmas morning, then use it to build their 3D printer over summer vacation. Try doing that with Legos. I haven’t even brought up how you could control your own drone with this thing. You can. Or how you stack this bad boy on top of a Raspberry Pi. Then you have the compute power of the Pi and the ability to control physical devices with the MegaPi. Outstanding.The bad? Documentation. This is getting better. Over the time I've been using my Makeblock robots (I have two robots and MANY modules), I've watched this get better every week. But if you go off the beaten path or you want to use something other than mBlock to program your creation, you’re on your own. However, the Arduino (the board the MegaPi is built on) community is HUGE and helpful, so the language used has tons of support. The program you'll use to code has tons of support. The thing is, if you get to where you're doing coding by hand, you'll probably know much of the stuff you need anyway.Right now, this field is EXPLODING. Makeblock is trying to stay ahead of the curve and offering things like the upcoming Airblock drone and more than a few robot kits. The MegaPi is certainly one of the best boards out there. Based on an advanced processor and offering lots of options to expand, it’s a really good choice for your next project.If your kids have any interest in drones or robots or Lego kits, getting them a base starter bot chassis and a MegaPi might spark a lifetime interest in technology that goes beyond being a simple consumer - they could be a maker. For the price of about ten cups of coffee, you could start your kid on the path - or get yourself the base for your own 3D printer, laser engraver or robot tank. Who doesn’t want a robot tank? or three.Highly recommended.

such a powerful tool, really well engineeered!

Figured I would write an unpaid review. This is a good product aside from the fact the power switch was incorrectly wired and in order to properly use this product a strong knowledge of python or C++ is a must. The review stating "Plug and Play" is an utter lie. Potential buyers beware, the support base is slim to none. If you're expecting a community driven product such as the likes of Arduino, you're looking at the wrong product.

great

Arduino Mega2560 pin assignments in a convenient form factor for PWM power control and switch input. Only down side is that the external motor connectors have unique mating connectors that are hard to find. Available addons provide easy access to control a variety of motor types (DC, Servo, stepper, DC plus encoder).

I was told I could use the Arduino IDE to program this. It works a little bit but not fully. There is no documentation that goes with this. I had to figure out what were the servo and motor ports. Need some documentation

Modules are as described!