Grove LEGO Adapters

The Grove system (seeedstudio.com) has many sensors and actuators that can be linked in software interface to LEGO inventions either by the Grove Sensor Adapter (mindsensors.com) or a GrovePi/Raspberry Pi. But how about the hardware interface? That is, how can Grove modules be attached to LEGO bricks? One way, used in my book “High-Tech LEGO,” is a mounting kit available from mindsensors.com. This mounting board has two cross holes for attachment via Technic axle pins.

A newer mount for Grove modules has come out from Seeedstudio, called a Grove Wrapper. Two sizes of wrappers are available, pictured above. There’s a 1*1 wrapper with a 3x3 array of LEGO-compatible circles on the back, and a 1*2 wrapper with a 3x6 array on the back. The back of a wrapper can be pressed onto a baseplate, as was done in the photo above. I have a thumb joystick, three button switches, and an LED in the example above. These five Grove modules are connected to a GrovePi (dexterindustries.com). Care must be taken to see that not all Grove modules will fit into the wrappers--some modules are larger and some modules have the connector and sensing area on opposite sides of the circuit board. Grove wrappers can be hard to find in stock at stores at reasonable shipping cost, so I buy extras and sometimes have them for sale at my Marketplace blog post.