Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Guess that answers my concerns. The joys of building complex systems. :)

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Out of curiosity, how many ports does your team use/need? Answers welcome from all comers.

Greg McKaskle

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Ideally, we'd like a minimum of 3 but 4 would be better. The ports are used as follows:

Port 1 - RoboRIO
Port 2 - Co-Processor (Nvidia Jetson, Raspberry Pi, Etc)
Port 3 - First Laptop (or External Switch, meaning not on the robot, a static feature in our pit)
Port 4 - Second Laptop

Laptops being used are typically for debugging or updating code. The first is typically for the drive code and the second is typically for the co-processor.

****I realize we're in the minority on this before anyone starts throwing <strikethrough>stones</strikethrough>DAP-1522s at me.****

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Asking, ..., not judging. Thanks for the info. Anyone typically use more?

Greg McKaskle

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

One year I believe we used 5 (cRIO, coprocessor, camera 1, camera 2, and laptop for deploying code). This was the year before I joined, however, so take this information with a grain of salt. We haven't used more than 3 since then, and I doubt whether we will ever use more than 4 again.

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

It looks like these, as access points, don't have an inbuilt DHCP server. Can anyone confirm/deny this? Similarly with mDNS?

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Having two ports available for laptops is nice - debugging from one while driving from another is often a nice way to split up responsibilities and ensure you have screen room for everything.

Other than that... the roboRio is still pretty new. A lot of teams are still using old Axis camera's that use ethernet, although USB ones are pretty easy to use now (and bonus - you don't have to provide USB cameras with additional power... the barrel jack for the axis camera was always a bit touchy). So one for a camera is enough for most teams, although some teams have used two in some years (I know my team has talked about it a couple of different times, for various reasons, and even did it once).

Given all that, I would personally say 3 is necessary, while 4 would be nice to have. Even if you have an ethernet camera and only 3 ports, you can utilize an off-robot switch to hook up multiple laptops for debugging/tethered driving as necessary in your shop/pit/practice field. Maybe in a couple of years we'll find that ethernet cameras become so extremely rare that we could drop that down to 2 minimum... but we can't get less than 2, as we need to be able to tether in the pits at competition.

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

You can always use the USB on the roborio

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Nothing can be fully confirmed or denied yet. They'll most likely be set up with customized FRC firmware (based on DD-WRT), and I don't think the final decision on configuration and features has been made.

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

We didn't try it this year because it's new and might have bugs, but I believe it is possible to deploy code, etc through the USB B port on the RoboRIO. Perhaps someone who actually used this functionality can comment on how well it worked or whether it would be feasible to eventually replace the Ethernet teather with a USB cable. If it is, we would then not need the port for the laptop on the radio.

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

Yes, it is possible (We've done it)... but keep in mind that running tethered the maximum length for USB is about 5 meters, generally... while you can get 100 meters in an ethernet cable. When trying to test auto routines on the practice field, extra length is always a plus - it's amazing how quickly you run out when the robot makes a turn or two, and I don't want to have to run behind it to keep the laptop in range!

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

At one point at our competition this year we could only deploy to the Roborio Via the USB port. For us it worked just fine. Not that I timed the difference but it seemed to take the same time to deploy code. (We used Labview)

However using a USB cable to connect is only really feasible when the robot is on blocks. If you are testing on the practice field an Ethernet cable is still going to be required if you are moving long distances.

(We figured out the Ethernet issue, it had something to do with the computer but since this happened over 5 months ago I can't remember what it was specifically.)

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

DD-WRT or something in that vein would be amazing. Anything with a SSH terminal for config would be a god-send.

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

"Most likely"? Has there already been work done (code altered, deployed, and abused, not mere theoretical explorations) on an FRC-specific firmware build?

Re: FRC Blog - Behind the Scenes at IRI
 

If they do follow through and change the radio, it looks like we'll be using Velcro for mounting again...