Recent Updates
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Updated on: Apr 23, 2013
Constructing the robot program
Sample program for driving a simple robot with a Mecanum drive, wrist and elevator both with potentiometer feedback, and a gripper that operates open-loop by time. This is the sample that was developed for the 2013 World Championship Conference session.
Manual RobotBuilder -
Updated on: Apr 02, 2013
Light codes on control system components
Many of the components of the FRC Control System have indicator lights that can be used to quickly diagnose problems with your robot. This guide shows each of the hardware components and describes the meaning of the indicators. Photos and information from Innovation FIRST and Cross the Road Electronics.
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Updated on: Mar 04, 2013
Converting a Simple Autonomous program to a Command based autonomous program
This document describes how to rewrite a simple autonomous into a command based autonomous. Hopefully, going through this process will help those more familiar with the older simple autonomous method understand the command based method better. By re-writing it as a command based program, there are several benefits in terms of testing and reuse. For this example, all of the logic is abstracted out into functions primarily so that the focus of this example can be on the structure.
Manual Command based programming -
Updated on: Feb 25, 2013
Using the NI Parkway System for Help at an Event
If you have any Control System issue at your event that you need assistance with, each event has at least one Control System Advisor who is there to help. This year FRC will be using the NI Parkway system to help teams connect with the CSA and indicate they have an issue. The Parkway System can be accessed using the Parkway Kiosk found at your event (ask Pit Admin if you can't locate it) or via a mobile device.
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Updated on: Feb 13, 2013
Running commands during the autonomous period
Once commands are defined they can run in either the teleop or autonomous part of the program. In fact, the power of the command based programming approach is that you can reuse the same commands in either place. If the robot has a command that can shoot Frisbees during autonomous with camera aiming and accurate shooting, there is no reason not to use it to help the drivers during the teleop period of the game.
Manual Command based programming -
Updated on: Feb 13, 2013
Creating groups of commands
Once you have created commands to operate the mechanisms in your robot, they can be grouped together to get more complex operations. These groupings of commands are called CommandGroups and are easily defined as shown in this article.
Manual Command based programming -
Updated on: Feb 08, 2013
Displaying the status of Commands and Subsystems
If you are using the command-based programming features of WPILib, you will find that they are very well integrated with SmartDashboard. It can help diagnose what the robot is doing at any time and it gives you control and a view of what's currently running.
Manual SmartDashboard -
Updated on: Feb 01, 2013
Axis M1013 Camera Compatibility
It has come to our attention that the Axis M1011 camera has been discontinued and superseded by the Axis M1013 camera. This document details any differences or issues we are aware of between the two cameras when used with WPILib and the provided sample vision programs.
Manual Vision Processing -
Updated on: Jan 29, 2013
Measuring Bandwidth Usage
On the 2013 FRC Field (and at home when the DAP-1522 is configured using the FRC Bridge Configuration Utility) each team is limited to 7Mb/s of network traffic (see the FMS Whitepaper for more details). The FMS Whitepaper provides information on determining the bandwidth usage of the Axis camera, but some teams may wish to measure their overall bandwidth consumption. This document details how to make that measurement.
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Updated on: Jan 28, 2013
Smart Dashboard Standalone/Vision Installer
This article details the installation of the SmartDashboard with Vision extensions, including the configuration of the Driver Station necessary to launch the installed dashboard.
Manual SmartDashboard