RCX USB tower support

RCX with USB towerThis article provides instructions for installing the necessary drivers to use the RCX USB tower with ROBOLAB for LabVIEW. These instructions have been tested on Mac OS X 10.9 and 10.10 as well as 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7.

For RCX USB tower support…

1. Install LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS and/or the relevant MINDSTORMS add-on. See  https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-15615 for more details and links to these downloads.

2. Install ROBOLAB for LabVIEW.

3. Install  NI-VISA…

4.  If installing on Windows, you will have to run the VISA Wizard

a. Find it in your Start menu

 VISA Wizard

b. Choose USB:

hardware bus c. Select the LEGO tower (the tower must be plugged in to appear):

 USB - device selection

d. Give your INF files a name (default is fine)

e. Allow the wizard to install and hit finish.

Install the generated files

f. Restart LabVIEW and run ROBOLAB for LabVIEW (Tools > Robolab 2.9.4d…)

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Rob Torok

I'm a teacher in Tasmania, Australia, and have been using LEGO MINDSTORMS with my students since 2001. I'm the editor in chief for LEGO Engineering (this site) as well as the content editor for LEGO Education Australia (LEGOeducation.com.au).

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3 thoughts on “RCX USB tower support

  1. Hey Rob, I am using RoboLab in my high-school robotics class for beginners. I am having some trouble with getting our tower to talk to the program. I’ve gone through all of your steps thoroughly and carefully. I am on a Windows 7, 64-bit. When attempting to test the tower, there is no light generated. Would this be a hardware, or a software issue? If so, what would you advise me to do to fix it? Thanks!

    1. I just tried plugging a couple of different RCX IR towers into USB ports and the lights didn’t come on, so I guess it’s a software problem. It’s not a great solution, but if you can run a 32-bit version the the OS that might be the easiest option.

  2. Hi,
    I am testing NI-VISA for OSX but VISA Wizard doesn´t allow to select USB.
    I would like to use USB RCX Tower on OSX

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