Flash Force Wiki Interactive browser →
Wiki / Protocols
#protocol#barcode#vll

Barcodes (Code Pilot)

The Code Pilot (Technic set 8479, 1997) is programmed by sweeping a printed barcode card past its light sensor. The printed bars are literally a paper form of VLL: as the card moves, the sensor sees light/dark transitions and decodes the same kind of pulse stream.

So "barcode" and "VLL" are two delivery methods for one optical protocol: one is spatial (bars moved past the sensor), the other temporal (a light blinked in place).

Printable Micro Scout VLL "barcode" card

MicroScoutVLL.pdf (archived in Sources) renders the Micro Scout's VLL commands as the same kind of swipe-bars — a 1-D spatial drawing of each VLL pulse train (black = one light state, white = the other; bar width ∝ pulse duration). Its labels map 1:1 to the VLL opcode table: Direct (Forward 0, Reverse 1, Stop 10, Beep 1–5 = 4–8, Reset 71, Run 33, Next 70, Delete 34) and Script (Forward/Reverse 0.5–5.0 = 16–23, Beep 1–5 = 24–28, Wait 29, Seek 30, Code 31, Keep Alive 32). In principle a stored program could be built by swiping Delete → step cards → Run; VLL's ratio-based, scale-tolerant (~0.5–1.4×) decoding is what makes a roughly-constant hand-swipe plausible.

⚠️ But on a Micro Scout this most likely won't work — and it's not device-confirmed. The swipe-barcode method is a Code Pilot feature (it has a barcode-reader behaviour); the Micro Scout has a plain VLL light sensor meant to receive a flashed (temporal) signal, not a card swept past it. Provenance of this specific PDF is also unknown (looks hobby-made). Treat it as a neat spatial rendering / reference, not a working emitter — for the Micro Scout, flash the same codes in time instead (Phone torch (Flash Force), Powered Up hub (Pybricks VLL)).