The behaviour of the EV3 robot is simulated in the simulator. This is convenient to quickly test programs when you momentarily don’t have access to an EV3.
You can use the 'ev3dev2' python library to program the EV3. The simulator installs a fake 'ev3dev2' library on the PC. When using this library on the PC, every call to this API is forwarded to the simulator which uses it to simulate the behaviour of the EV3 robot.
For an example see: https://github.com/ev3dev-python-tools/thonny-ev3dev/wiki/Simulator-example
The running program can be seen in the following video: http://www.cs.ru.nl/lab/ev3dev2simulator.html .
The thonny-ev3dev plugin makes it easier to program the EV3 programmable LEGO brick using the Thonny Python IDE for beginners. The thonny-ev3dev plugin for the Thonny IDE comes with the ev3dev2simulator.
For more info about the thonny-ev3dev plugin see: https://github.com/ev3dev-python-tools/thonny-ev3dev/wiki
For more info about Thonny: http://thonny.org
The ev3dev2simulator enforces that only one instance of the simulator can be run.
When a simulator is running, and you then startup a new simulator window:
- the new simulator sees that another simulator is already running and exits
- the already simulator's window is raised so that it becomes visible again.
When you press the key:
- q : Quit the simulator
- m : Maximize simulator window
- f : Show simulator fullscreen (toggle)
- t : Toggle screen on which to show simulator in fullscreen mode.
Install with pip
pip install ev3dev2simulator
Then you can just run the simulator by running the executable:
ev3dev2simulator
$ ev3dev2simulator -h
usage: ev3dev2simulator [-h] [-s WINDOW_SCALING] [-t {small,large}]
[-x ROBOT_POSITION_X] [-y ROBOT_POSITION_Y]
[-o ROBOT_ORIENTATION] [-c {left,right}] [-2] [-f]
[-m]
.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-s WINDOW_SCALING, --window_scaling WINDOW_SCALING
Scaling of the screen, default is 0.65
-t {small,large}, --simulation_type {small,large}
Type of the simulation (small or large). Default is
small
-x ROBOT_POSITION_X, --robot_position_x ROBOT_POSITION_X
Starting position x-coordinate of the robot, default
is 200
-y ROBOT_POSITION_Y, --robot_position_y ROBOT_POSITION_Y
Starting position y-coordinate of the robot, default
is 300
-o ROBOT_ORIENTATION, --robot_orientation ROBOT_ORIENTATION
Starting orientation the robot, default is 0
-c {left,right}, --connection_order_first {left,right}
Side of the first brick to connect to the simulator,
default is 'left'
-2, --show-on-second-monitor
Show simulator window on second monitor instead,
default is first monitor
-f, --fullscreen Show simulator fullscreen
-m, --maximized Show simulator maximized