Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Chiang
If you guys have the time, can you also please explain the classes in the networking package? It seems like they're some sort of info communication between your dashboard computer and the robot.
However, I don't see it being implemented anywhere else in your project. I would appreciate a quick example of how I could implement it (or how you implemented it last year) if I wanted to build a custom Dashboard. (which I'm assuming it's for, right?)
Thanks!
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No, the emulator that was written by these students does not interact with the dashboard or simulate the dashboard at all. I can't speak for any other project in this regard.
What it does do is produce a series of graphical objects that are used to take input in place of actual joysticks and display output results without actual electronic speed controllers like the Victors. Hence it needs no additional hardware besides the most basic computer with a mouse and keyboard.
So while there is a graphical component to it, and they even have graphing, those graphics are entirely unrelated to anything that goes on with the dashboard computer in the real world with the cRIO and the LabView control dashboard.
It's more an emulator than a simulator because while the code is very similar to the actual code for the robot in Java, it doesn't consider details like the WiFi bridges, some of the idiosyncrasies of the cRIO and it certainly doesn't have any underlying physics, kinematics or graphical simulation itself.
Its basic value is testing the processing of information from the input to the output and some very basic scenario mock up. It will never replace entirely the raw value of actual testing. However, from an educational perspective it lacks the daunting aspects of testing with real hardware. So someone can sit and tinker with it harmlessly and learn how their ideas will interact in a more controlled setting.