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I was wondering if it is possible to increase the computing power in a Lego Mindstorms robot. For example by either being able to switch components on the mainboard or by completely exchanging the "original brain" with another device, e.g. a Raspberry PI or Arduino. As far as I am aware there is also a way to plug additional custom boards into the v4. Is it possible to attach an additional processing unit to some port and use it to execute calculations on the attached unit?

Unfortunately, I did not find anything about this on the internet other than for the EV3 version.

If that is possible, are there any manuals to do this out there or possibly even preassembled kits?

If nobody has ever done this, is it likely that this is possible by "hacking" ports and sending custom data to a custom-built unit? Since it has been done for the EV3 I would guess it is just a matter of time, right?

Thank you for any help

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    $\begingroup$ "Unfortunately I did not find anything about this on the internet." Googleing lego mindstorms raspberry pi returns tutorials on how to use a rpi to control mindstorm robots. $\endgroup$
    – 50k4
    Dec 4, 2020 at 13:08
  • $\begingroup$ @50k4 You're right, thank you. I guess I got stuck googling too complicated search terms for hours. I updated the question to only ask about the v4 version. $\endgroup$ Dec 4, 2020 at 15:46
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    $\begingroup$ There is a kit called Brickpi3. It is an add-on board to any raspberry (likely even for pi 4), so computing power can be increased substantially. I have done a setup with raspberry pi 1 for cross compiling in C via Docker and using ev3dev as the platform. One can use python, go and other languages as well. If you like I can post an answer explaining how this works. $\endgroup$
    – r0berts
    Jun 9, 2022 at 10:38

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Yes, you can use a Raspberry Pi with Lego Mindstorms. I am making a Rubix Cube solving robot using a Dexter Industries BrickPi case and a Raspberry Pi Model B. That specific robot needs an older EV3 Mindstorms kit but I was able to buy all the components recently.

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