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Robot Nightmare!
I am the head Programmer and Electrician for Team 1369 Minotaur and the robot is becoming a really big agitation to me. Here are some issues that I am having and I hope that you will comment, criticize, advise, etc. on ANY and EVERYthing.
Here are some issues: 1.) Robot Signal Light (RSL) On our robot, our Digital SideCar (DSC) has properly functioned including the little green "blinky light." When I connect the RSL to the DSC via the connector, it does not flash. This is annoying and perplexing for such a plug-n-play device. So my electricians and I have tested the points of metal exposure with a voltmeter all the way to the very insides of the RSL as as well as test the new and old lights, which the old light worked back in December 2011, and they both gave the same voltage reading, it was weird to read but it was oscillating. We even tried using other wires and other means of connections (bootleg placement of holding the wires there with three people to help = gave voltage, no lights). Some say that the cRio layout could correspond to this so here is our layout (to the best of my memory): Slot 1: empty Slot 2: 9403 Slot 3: 9201 Slot 4: empty Slot 5: 9472 Slot 6: empty Slot 7: empty Slot 8: empty I am almost 200% sure that there is error and that it can be corrected. Please do whatever it takes to correct me. 2.) PWMs, Relays, and I/Os -PWMs I have 4 Jaguars for the PWM slots. The first 2 are tank Drive motors which have had no problem except for the occasional error in programming. They are all set-up accordingly to -+S on the DSC and the Jaguars. The other two Jaguars (shooter and conveyor) are non-responsive. These are button launchers (shown in code later below) that are remaining in the blinking yellow state. This is confusing, especially when the error is due to not updated enough error:mad:. -Relays We are using relays for the window motors we have on a collector and a lever arm. The relays are hooked up in Relay slot one and two. At one point, I got a simple code to run on it to toggle on and off. Now they remain unresponsive. The light is RED and the fuse is intact. There is 12V going into it and no output voltage. I unplugged the wires to the motor from the spike and manually hooked it up to the battery. This proved the motor and subsystem work, but there is no output. The PWMs going into it ae my main issue. I could not remember which way it hooks up, the DSC was not a helpful diagram, so I hooked them in every way on the DSC and the Spike and still no response. This was very perplexing so any diagram, pic or layout would be much appreciated. -I/Os I am new to sensors, but I have done some research on them. The ones that I am focusing on are only the encoders (2) and the microswitches (2). First, I would like to see a DETAILED wire diagram and/or pictures of your wiring so that I understand what to do. Also with the DSC with slot a,b,+5,GND and the cRio (I can't think of the slot number or how to fully connect them.) With encoders, how do you mount them to CIM motors and window motors properly and how do you power encoders and microswitches. 3.) The program I have tried code from Iterative (A COMPLETE PAIN TO RUN SIMPLEST THING) to SimpleRobot (Something that works decently). Here are some of my codes (that I was very proud of): NOTE: Some areas were commented out only for the sake of getting to the problem. They used to be active in the program! Plus I wrote these within three ours at different times with Iterative first. IterativeRobot (PLEASE DO NOT STEAL!) Code:
/**Code:
/*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/4.) Watchdog I have to disable it at school to run the robot, but when competition comes, does it always stay on? (I know it stays on but why is there a difference where it is active?) 5.) Is DriverStationLCD required and if so, what does it do and how. I hear it is for user messages, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Thank you in advanced for you useful information in any way shape or form no matter how cruel. It's crucnch time and we are all going to make it. Happy Competitions and be Professional Gracefully, like a robot! P.S. I will be posting this in the Java section of Programming thread under same name. LINK: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=102952 |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
I may have an answer to number 1 for you.
Do you have the wiring right? This screwed me up for awhile. "N" should be negative, while "La" and "Lb" should be positive, and be connected by a wire. |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
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1. 9201 (Analog Breakout)Quote:
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The E4P encoders have 4 wires: an orange, blue, yellow, and brown. These 4 wires will splice into two digital I/O connections. The orange connects to a +5V; the brown to a ground, and the yellow and blue to two signal pins (these are channels A and B of the encoder output; I can't remember which is which). It doesn't matter whether the power pin you use is next to the yellow or the blue, and it doesn't matter for the ground pin, as long as they're from the digital I/O. Neither encoders nor microswitches need separate power supplies to function. Your engineers should be the ones asking how to mount the encoders, but the answer is anywhere around a 1/4" output shaft. The E4Ps are designed to read the rotation of a 1/4" shaft, and as such, should be appropriately mounted such that they are doing so. Most Andymark provided gearboxes include methods to mount encoders. For applications like window motors, you can include idler shafts that are spun by the driveshaft for the encoder to read, or turn the end of the driveshaft down so the encoder can be mounted there. |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
One problem we were running into for our PWMs was that the cables were plugged in wrong, or they were broken. Hope this helps
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Re: Robot Nightmare!
my team had a similar problem with the light and we also found we where having problems with some of the pwms so we tried our spare digital sidecar and it still wouldn't work so we did some other diagnostics and figured out that the ribbon cable given to us in the kop was bad so i suggest trying another ribbon cable
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Re: Robot Nightmare!
Marco,
If the green LED next to the RSL connector on the Digital Side Car is flashing then the RSL should also flash the same. The LED is in parallel with the connector. Although rare, it is possible you have two dead RSLs. It happens. You did not specify that your DSC is connected to the PD so I am going to mention that is also a common problem. There must be three LEDs on the DSC that must be illuminated and bright. It is possible for the DSC to receive some power through the 37 pin connector but not enough to drive everything including PWM, relays and the RSL. Now I am going to remind everyone who is reading here that some ribbon cable shipped in the KOP was improperly terminated and can produce some of the results you are reporting. Did you make the repairs as suggested on the FIRST website? You now have the correct layout for modules in the Crio. This will help with many of your issues as well. |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
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Re: Robot Nightmare!
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Re: Robot Nightmare!
Marco,
You must connect a power cable from a PD breaker output to the input of the DSC. The lights you are seeing are an indication that you are getting some leakage through the 37 pin cable but not enough to turn on the circuitry on the DSC. The power for the RSL comes from the +12 volt input to the DSC. Without it the RSL will never come on. |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
Thank you, the light works because it was in a 5V plugin and is now in a 12V 20amp lugin. Can anyone supply simple spike relay code because the one I got to work no longer works and tell me how the PWMs go in. The diagram earlier was not helpful. Does the PWM GND go towards the inside of the spike. And does the PWM of the relay go towards the blue lock on the DSC?
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Re: Robot Nightmare!
UPDATE: we have a moving drivetrain, working RSL (now that it's on, it is annoying, lol), working Jaguar and spikes, simple robot based Java program, not using encoders.
NEED TO DO: I understand what the symbols on micro switches do, but how do I plug it in? Where oncRIO and DSC? What wire do I use? Please be more specific. We are getting the Axis 106 camera and trying to get that to work as well as the Kinect. Any advice or tutorial would be appreciated and I know it is late to be working on this part this late in build season :yikes: . Can anyone tell me why IterativeRobot does not like my input, even when based off sample programs or other team's previous years' programs (for testing ONLY)? Thank you again in advanced and for all your help! Happy Competition and good luck! |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
if you are using microswitches to limit motion, you can plug them directly into the jag. On the right side, there are two jumpers. If you take a jumper out an replace it with a limit switch, it will prevent movement in one direction only. When the two pins of the switch are electrically conducting to each other, movement is allowed. when they are disconnected, movement is prevented in that direction.
On Spikes, the three wire cable port has a B label for the Black wire. Is your RSL on solid when enabled, or does it blink off very quickly every so often? |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
The micro switches are for adding and subtracting balls, so how can I hook them up as digital inputs for the cRio and the DSC. it is simplistic yet I do not know where to start.
Thank you in advanced! Happy Competition! |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
The switch should be wired to a DIO on the Digital Sidecar. C (Common) on the switch goes to (-). Either NO (Normally Open) or NC (Normally Closed) goes to SIG. The center +V pin of the DIO is not connected.
If you choose the NC pin, an activated switch reads as true and a non-activated switch reads as false. Swap that for NO. |
Re: Robot Nightmare!
What type of wire should I use because it seems that I have to cut off a male end of a PWM and attach it somehow. So is that how to wire it, if so, how do I isolate the poles? Electrical tape for protecting and holding wires that may be looped thru the switch area?
Thank you in advanced, this is getting clearer but not there yet. |
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