Question about a rule
 

During 2010 competitions in Breakaway, are the robots allowed to connect the DIO on the dashboard during autonomous mode?

Re: Question about a rule
 

I don't understand what you mean by "connect the DIO on the dashboard".

Except for crossing the center line, there are no special restrictions placed on the robots during autonomous mode. If they can do it during the match, they may do it during autonomous. I think the only relevant rule is the one that prevents team members from touching the controls until teleoperated mode begins.

There is one technical point that might make a difference. During autonomous mode, the Driver Station inputs the robot can read (i.e. joystick and Cypress board values) are frozen at what they were immediately before the robot was enabled. Nobody is supposed to be changing those inputs anyway; this feature is just enforcing the rule.

Re: Question about a rule
 

Okay, thanks. That should answer our question. We were just unsure if the robot could get DIO values from the Dashboard during autonomous mode-- we wanted to create a type switch on the dashboard to toggle between the 3 different starting positions.

Re: Question about a rule
 

As mentioned above, the robot cannot read new (changed) values from the driver station during autonomous. However, all of the Driver Station inputs (including joysticks, gamepads, etc.) can be read while the robot is disabled. An autonomous program can be selected by using the Driver Station input devices (e.g. joysticks, gamepads, etc.) while the robot is disabled before the match starts. Our team has used this approach for autonomous program selection (and setting of program parameters) ever since 2006. We use the Driver Station display to show the ID of the currently selected program and any parameters to the program.

Re: Question about a rule
 

The Dashboard is for display only. It has no way of communicating information back to the robot.

DIO values come from (or go to) pins on the Digital Sidecar on the robot. You can read (or write) them at any time without constraint. They will work whether the robot is in auto or teleop, and whether it is enabled or disabled.

Re: Question about a rule
 

The Driver Station software and Dashboard software are different. The bottom (smaller) window is the Driver Station software, and is REQUIRED to run during matches. The Dashboard is not necessary and can be replaced with custom software.

The Driver Station software has a Virtual DIO panel that is not read only. These are buttons that can be toggled by pressing on them. These can be set while the robot is DISABLED, and will remain in their state when the robot changes to Autonomous ENABLED. This means you can effectively use these Virtual DIO (not Read Only) as an autonomous mode selector.

These inputs do not come from the Digital Side Car and are read through a separate VI in the WPILib Dashboard palette.

Good luck!

Re: Question about a rule
 

you could also mount it to the robot, i should be able to read that