Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Ok, so, this may be the most mindless post here, but im a first year programmer, and our teams other programmer is in the same position as I am; neither of us know what anything is.

No one on our team knows how to get the programming to the robot, we dont know what cRIO is, we dont know if we have to program on the small laptop provided in the kit, we dont know how to connect the small laptop to ours to transfer code, we dont know how to assemble or assign ports or even what they are, we are utterly clueless, any help on any of this would be very much appriciated :D

We do know how to program (vaguely, we started learning JAVA febuary 3rd, but we are very fast learners)
Also, has anyone else noticed the lack of guides or samples on youtube or google?

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Sounds like you need to find another team in the Phoenix area to help. Come on Phoenix teams, this is what FIRST is all about!

If all else fails, make a plea to Ryan Clark, one of the professors at University of Advancing Technology in Tempe. He probably has a dozen robotics students that would love to help.

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

First if I may mention, and I mean no offense, but you are WAY behind and there are a bunch of FIRST manuals you need to look through check all of these links:

PS: that small laptop you are talking about is called the Classmate PC

These links are all gathered from this webpage:
http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/....aspx?id=10934

Control System Introduction
http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Com...Rev-0.5%20.pdf
Control System Bench-top test
http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Com...ed-Rev-0.7.pdf
FRC Java Manual provided by WPI
http://first.wpi.edu/FRC/frcjava.html

MANDATORY UPDATES:
Labview update for driverstation
http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/lang/en/id/1534
driverstation update
http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/lang/en/id/1535
Fix for the Driver Station missing nicyapi.dll Issue
http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-8891
CAN/Jaguar update
http://first.wpi.edu/FRC/frcupdates.html

Hope this helps a little bit!

Also the cRIO looks like this:


Connect a Crossover Ethernet cable from Port 1 on the cRIO to the network input on the Classmate PC, or the PC you are programming on to upload code, or run your robot.

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Thanks to both the posters above, we are checking the links now, and we will try to get ahold of another team, we might be behind, but im sure we can catch up XD

So I understand what cRIO is and I understand what Classmate is, reading now about cRIO imaging tool and all that...

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Still need help, should this be in a different forum, such as technical or java?

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Not wanting to step on toes or open a can of worms, we felt a bit helpless when it came to the entire realm of programming and all that. After some time and some searching its starting to come toghether.

Having said that, the one thing that I found would have been helpful would have been some type of generic, overall flow chart or diagram of what was communicating to what and an overview of the sequence of how things interrelated.

Some of it was just oversight and being a bit overwhelmed at the scope of what we had to do and what to do first, this is where more clarity would have been very helpful.

Its doable though, hang in there , theres tons of people out here who are willing to help out.

Mike

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Mike, I have to admit that's where I struggled the most too a year ago when they first introduced the labview framework. The best thing I did was have the kids create a flow chart showing how the robot would move through the different modes.

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Download the java docs and look at the sample code.

Sample code is under New Projects -> FRC -> Simple Robot Demo

If you use ctrl + space in NetBeans it almost programs itself. Example: "Joy" + ctr + space will allow you to select Joystick and will add the necessary import for you to use the joystick class.

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Anyone wanna show me one of their flow charts, i just need to know what our boards should look like, with the jaguar motor controls, the motor controller, and cRIO and stuff

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

FIRST conveniently provides such documentation.

The Power Distribution Diagram should show you how to power everything.

The Data Connectivity Diagram should show you how the data wires (PWM, ethernet, etc.) are connected.

If you have any specific questions about these diagrams or how to wire things up, feel free to ask.

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Did FIRST include a chart like this one from 2009?
It's only a high-level overview. The driver station is the Classmate now.

Re: Lost in every sense, no errors, no clue
 

Mark,

I have not seen one. Pity... It would have been helpful to rookie teams...

Mike