EV3-gRPC

What and why

This project is a gRPC server for the Lego Mindstorms EV3. It allows you to control the EV3 from any programming language that supports gRPC and has two client implementations for Java and Python respectively. This project was developed as my project work (PA) for the ZHAW together with another student. However, I decided to continue working on this project after the PA was finished.

Development

Prerequisites

Install GO: Offical website, version >= 1.19

Server:

• Install dependencies: go install google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go@latest && go install google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/[email protected]
• Generate Go code: protoc --go_out=. --go-grpc_out=. ./protobuff/*.proto
• Compile server: GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm GOARM=5 go build -o ev3api-server -ldflags="-s -w" cmd/main.go

Java client:

• Copy proto files: cp protobuff/* clients/ev3api-java/src/main/proto
• Generate Java code: [clients/ev3api-java] ./gradlew generateProto
• Create shadowed Jar: [clients/ev3api-java] ./gradlew shadowJar

Python client:

• Install dependencies: pip3 install grpcio-tools grpcio
• Generate Python code: [clients/ev3api-python] python -m grpc_tools.protoc -I../../protobuff --python_out=. --pyi_out=. --grpc_python_out=. ../../protobuff/*.proto
• Build python wheel: [clients/ev3api-python] python -m build

Compile server for local use

This will build the server binary for your local machine. This is useful for testing the server locally.

• Compile server: go build -o server EV3-API/cmd