Quote:
Originally Posted by NotInControl
5. Run the controller code on the robot, and allow it to control the hardware and keep my hand near the disable button incase things get out of control  This step has to be done carefully, because you are trusting your algorithm, and if its written incorrectly, you can start to break things on the bot. |
I'd like to highlight this part. One way that I like to bring up a new controller on the real hardware is to limit the available power in software to something that won't cause any damage. For example, only allow controller to command the talons with up to +- 0.1, rather than the full +- 1.0. Some of our systems move so fast that they can break themselves before someone could detect that something is wrong and react.