Troubleshooting help for LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime
Looking for troubleshooting help for LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime? We’ve got all the info you need.
Downloading the app
The LEGO SPIKE Prime app is available on the LEGO Education website.
Troubleshooting on a Chromebook
For the best performance on Chromebook you’ll need:
-
1.40 GHz Intel® Celeron® 2955U dual-core processor
-
4 GB RAM
-
3 GB available storage space
-
Bluetooth 4.0 or above
-
Android 7.0 or newer
Android System WebView
If the SPIKE app or EV3 Classroom app isn’t opening, you might need to update the Android System WebView through the Google Play Store:
- Open the Google Play Store
- Select ‘My apps & games’
- Find ‘Android System WebView’ and press ‘Update’
Admin managed devices
Schools may have a system administrator managing devices. Reach out to your IT department to get permission to download the SPIKE app.
Removing STEAM units
The SPIKE app is full of educational fun! Students can download STEAM units to unlock engaging lessons. Each unit needs up to 660MB on the device.
To save space, remove unused units from the device:
- Open the SPIKE app
- Click the gear icon in the home screen
- Select ‘General’ and then ‘DELETE ALL UNIT PLANS’
Updating the firmware
When you connect your hub with the app and a Hub OS update is available, you’ll get a pop-up in the app letting you know. Click ‘UPDATE’ to start.
Updating the hub’s operating system won’t delete any of your saved projects.
Resetting the hub to factory settings
You can reset the hub to factory settings in the app. Connect your hub via USB or Bluetooth and click on the connected hub icon at the top of your programming canvas.
Select ‘Reset Settings’. You’ll see a progress bar and after a few moments your hub will turn off and back on with factory settings.
Saving your projects to the hub
Saving is an automatic feature in the SPIKE Prime app so if you accidentally overwrite position ‘0’, it’s OK! You can locate all your programs in My Programs on the Home menu. Just open the project you need, change the position and download it to the hub.
Sharing projects
Sharing your project is easy using the sharing methods available on your device.
Deleting projects
At this time, there isn’t a way to delete projects from the hub. As a workaround, any unused memory slots can be written over.
Turning off the hub
To turn off the hub, press and hold the blue center button on the front for three seconds until you hear clicking and the display disappears.
Renaming the hub
Right out of the box, the hub has a default name of ‘LEGO Hub’. To change its name, connect your hub to your device and click on the hub icon at the top of your programming canvas and select ‘RENAME’.
Test program
LEGO Education SPIKE Prime has a default program that is preloaded onto the hub that allows you to play around with the basic functions of the motors and sensors.
-
Turn on the hub and activate the test program by tapping on the green center button.
-
Plug motors and sensors on either side of the hub. Make sure they’re on opposite sides.
-
The grid will light up to indicate your component is plugged in.
You can use the test program with large and medium motors and any of the three sensors in the following ways:
Color Sensor – Using the eight different SPIKE Prime colored bricks, the sensor will spin the connected motor at a speed that corresponds to the color.
Distance Sensor – Place an object in front of the distance sensor to spin the connected motor. The closer the object, the faster the motor spins.
Force Sensor – To activate the connected motor, push the force sensor in. The more pressure you put on the sensor, the faster the motor spins.
Coding with SPIKE Prime
Extension blocks
Extensions are groups of programming blocks that you can use to add additional features to your coding experience. You’ll be able to expand what you can do with your motors and sensors as well as access cloud data from the internet through the weather and music extensions.
To use cloud data in your program, make sure your device is connected to the internet.