Introducing the
RobotOpen Control Shield for Arduino and the
RobotOpen Protocol.
Our RobotOpen Control Shield fits the standard Arduino platform. It was specially designed for FIRST teams as a way to keep robots running without the use of a cRIO. The shield is fitted with a 37-pin connector that directly connects to your existing Digital Sidecar and gives you access to 10 pwm outputs, 8 digital I/O and 6 analog inputs.
Keeping old robots up and running or developing practice bots with this system is simple and low-cost. The Arduino at the heart of the system is open-source, student friendly and well supported throughout the hobby community. The system comes pre-loaded with basic drivetrain software including tank drive, arcade drive and swerve controls. More drive styles will be available soon.
Along with the shield we have developed the RobotOpen Protocol and associated Arduino libraries. The protocol and libraries, when combined with our Driver Station App make setting up joysticks and controlling your robot via wifi a cinch. The Robotopen Protocol is the real gem of this system as it takes the mystery out of UDP based wifi communications for your robot...and it's completely open for you to explore and modify.
The driver station app is platform neutral and is designed to work with most popular USB input devices. Our protocol also supports transmitting data back from your robot to the driver app making it easy to diagnose issues and monitor sensors.
This FRC specific product is the first in a series of similar control products based on the RobotOpen Protocol; including some exciting work we're doing with tablets and smart phones!
Learn more at
www.RobotOpen.biz and
www.221Robotics.com