Legacy edition, no longer supported: SharpShot Vision units shipped before 2026-10 (School and WRO editions) are no longer supported; their guides and examples stay here for reference. To upgrade to the current SharpShot Vision, contact the distributor you bought it from and send it back: the firmware update is free, and the buyer pays shipping both ways. Looking for the current SharpShot Vision? →
MBC SharpShot Vision (ESP32CAM) School edition × EV3 clev3r

Read the SharpShot Vision with clev3r in three steps

A clev3r (EV3 BASIC) program goes in this order. First create the project and pick the port. Then set the sensor mode. Last, read values and show them on the EV3 screen. Follow the steps on the left, and the program on the right grows with you. Drag the blob in the pretend camera picture and change its colour and size to see what the EV3 screen shows.

1

Create the project, pick the port

clev3r needs no extension and no files to import. On the EV3, the sensor pretends to be the LEGO infrared sensor (type 33), so you read it with the normal Sensor commands. The first line, folder, sets the folder the program goes into on the EV3.

  1. Install clev3r (we tested version v1.7.1.0).
  2. Turn on the EV3 first. Then plug the sensor into the port you pick below.
  3. Make a new program and write the lines below.
  4. Press "Compile and download". On the EV3, open the file menu and run it from the folder that starts with MBC_.
Which port is the sensor on?

The first number in the program (for example Sensor.SetMode(1, 0)) is the port. 1~4 are the EV3 ports 1~4.

2

Set the mode

The sensor has several "modes". Each mode sends back a few numbers at once. Sensor.SetMode(port, mode) picks one. Use only one mode in a program: the EV3 needs about 1.1 s every time it changes mode.

Pick a mode (if you pick a reading from another mode in step 3, this changes too):

3

Read and show on the screen

Sensor.ReadRawValue(port, which one) takes one number from the current mode (counting starts at 0). LCD.Text writes it on the EV3 screen. The EV3 screen can only show English letters and numbers, so the labels are short English words. Click a reading, and the program and screen change to its example.

Pretend sensor (what the camera sees): drag the blob and watch the output on the right

The pretend picture is only a guide: the numbers are simplified, and a real sensor can be a few steps off because of the light. Cross = sample point (the spot you picked on the sensor in "Setup 1: COLOR"); hue, saturation and brightness are read at the cross. Green box = the blob the sensor is tracking (the colour you picked in "Setup 2: TRACK"). X: left 0, right 98. Y: bottom 1, top 75.

An example for every reading

Full examples


        
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Good to know

    
    
      
  1. Use only one mode in a program. Mode 1 gives 8 numbers at once (hue to blob height) and is the most used. For colour only, you can use mode 0. The EV3 waits about 1.1 s every time it changes mode.
    2. 
      
  2. Unplugged = 0. In clev3r, Sensor.ReadRawValue gives 0 when there is no data, and the program keeps running. A hue of 0 looks like red, and a blob width of 0 looks like "nothing seen". To check the cable, use Sensor.GetType from the "Is the sensor plugged in?" card.
    3. 
      
  3. Colours are set on the sensor. The hue comes from the sample point of "Setup 1: COLOR", and the blob from the colour picked in "Setup 2: TRACK". You can only set them with the buttons on the sensor. Without Setup 1 the hue is always 0 (the same as red).
    4. 
      
  4. Check whether the blob width is 0 first. When nothing is found, X, Y, width and height are all 0. Work out the area as width × height. Directions: X goes left → right with the centre at about 50; Y is small at the bottom, big at the top.
    5. 
      
  5. What clev3r cannot read: the sensor ID and firmware version (the EV3 does not get them). The EV3 screen only shows English letters and numbers, so use short English labels in LCD.Text.
    6.