[apalrd]

IMO, what teams REALLY want to do on the practice field is:

-Run and calibrate autonomous
-Test and calibrate shots - This could include alignment, and actual shooting
-Climb

All of these are generally done with humans reloading, resetting, or watching the robot closely to identify problems seen and what causes them. The first two often require a code laptop to be connected actively for calibration.

I don't think it's possible to calibrate at all while connected through FMS due the strict port blocking (e.g. we need both LabVIEW realtime and FTP to do anything realistic with code, both are blocked by FMS effectively making the practice field useless for us).


The real answer is to have a practice field attendant ask teams where they need to have their robot, arrange all of the robots on the field so they don't interfere with each other, and let them run on tethers. I can't really think of an event I've ever been at where this method did not provide enough development space or time. In fact, the 2011 championship practice fields ran in this way (but with time cards).


Maybe if they want to give CSA's a place to do FMS testing, they should setup a spare FMS somewhere with a little carpet for FMS testing, just enough to prove a robot moves and responds to controls. Realistically, if a team hasn't gotten field issues resolved by qualifications at CMP, aside from the larger overcomplexity/general unreliability of the current system, there's not a whole lot more you can do.