Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

I *have* realized that LabVIEW has more support.......that helps alot

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

Don't forget about the RobotBuilder Java Applet tool available this year. As coach of a team and 0 robot programming knowledge, but knowledge of the concept, RobotBuilder should be a great asset to your team this year. This works for C++ and Java and is included with the installation of Netbeans or Windriver.

I forget which directory the files is in, but a search for "RobotBuilder-r608.jar" on your computer should find it.

Here is a great video introducing the software

Good luck this year!

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

Alright thanks I'll look into it:)

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

Somewhere in this thread, there seemed to be a question as to what LV was used for and some confusion as to whether it is a programming language.

The moderately short answer is, it is an engineering tool and a domain specific language. The domain is science and engineering. LV is used by most large research labs, college research labs, manufacturing, and manufacturing test. The code written in LV tends to interact with hardware and either monitors, tests, or controls the hardware.

The obvious difference with LV is that it is graphical. The important difference is that it executes your code based on data flow. LV has no pointers, whenever possible refers to data by value, and makes parallel code execution very very easy. These aspects tend to make it good for robotics and machine control when in the right hands.

I'll be happy to answer other questions, but it sounds like you should get busy learning some programming language and making a robot move.

Greg McKaskle

Real Life Experience
 

one of the other teams here in town was a rookie team last year. In spite of the fact that the sponsoring school already taught C++ to sophomores, they did their bot in LabVIEW last year because of the tight tight timeline (team didn't get formed until Nov or Dec). During the season, they were worried about getting to competition, they judged that having good support from other local teams helped that more than reusing what they knew. You can argue that it was or was not a good decision, though frustrating for the C++ programmers, but the team did well, and the programming did not hold them back, near as I could tell from the sidelines.

But as soon as competition was over, the students rewrote last year's robot in C++, learned all the foibles of running on the cRIO, along with how to use the WPIlib. This fall, the school did a Saturday C++ class for the freshman and anyone else that hadn't taken it at school. They are doing this years bot in C++, and I have no doubt that they will have great code. Student ownership was key.

Greg's earlier statement still stands: you need to get the bot to move in the next few weeks. You have time later to rethink your language decision when the pressure is off (but you need to dedicate yourself to actually doing it in the off-season).

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

I think going with Labview is a decent choice for your first year. Once your season is over, you can spend your off season reprogramming your robot to do the same thing in C++ if you wish to learn it; this way you have a target to reach without a crunch for time, and you'll be able to decide which you like better.

Another way to look at the LV vs C++ question is to think about where you want to go in life. If you are really into computers, and think you want to be a Computer Science/Engineer someday, then learning C++ (or Java) will give you a head start. Other engineering disciplines are more likely to use Labview, which is better for developing machine controls much more quickly; though in FRC this speed advantage is much less apparent because WPILib provides a C++ toolset that provides the same "blocks" as Labview.

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

Alright so its official...We're using LabVIEW this season. Are there any good places (other than the FIRST website) where I can find some tutorials for LabVIEW?

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

FRCMastery as previously mentioned above

Team 358 has some awesome information

National Instruments' website is also quite nice.

I haven't checked this one out properly, but a company called Sixclear is apparently offering free Labview training for FRC teams.

And of course, you can ask specific questions here...

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

The Getting Started window has a Tutorials tab, and in Support tab is the Example Finder tool. The videos and such are on the web site.

Greg McKaskle

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

Thank you soooo much!

Our head programmer and I did some work on LabVIEW today and actually made some progress! We mapped out the buttons on our controller and have started to slowly learn the inner workings of LabVIEW:)

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

I would suggest that you find a Team close to you that uses C++. One team I know for sure uses LAB View in California is Monte Vista HS, Cupertino, Ca. Are there any large companies near you that you could talk a Retired/ Layoff Programmer to help you? Is there a University near you that teaches C++ Classes? If so, try to get a Grad Student to help you. Where there is a will there is a way. Ask FIRST for specific help on Programming. Ask the regional Director.

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

We finally have the drive train running:D Thank you all very much for your help!

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

Thank you all for all of your help!
This year my team was able to go 17-1 at Bayou regional and was the captain of the number one alliance who went on to win! We were able to go to St. Louis for the first time and we had a blast!

Thanks for making all of that possible:D

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

I know you guys have probably learned many things since the initial posting. I just wanted to throw out there that I am teaching a LabVIEW class in New Orleans. If you are at all interested (maybe in some more advanced topics?) PM me and I can get you more information.

Re: Very New and Very Clueless!
 

I would definitely like some help in vision processing, pneumatics, and just general drive train coding!