As something to keep me busy during the offseason, I've looked into possibly making some circuits for the RoboRIO's MXP Breakout Port.
Unfortunately, upon reading
this article, it seems that PWM devices MUST be a direct passthrough. I suspect this will bear some issues regarding sensor based response (i.e. a Trim) for the PWM port.
While I can see why FIRST is doing this (in the interest of safety), I was wondering if there's a way to interface with the PWM on the breakout without passing it directly to a motor controller, i.e. putting circuitry inbetween. While there is an approval process, there is nothing in the article that I can see stating it as being coherent enough to include this type of control.
Additionally, approval process states that the report must be in conjunction with a company as a vendor, and all information disclosed at kickoff. I see the MXP board as an extremely powerful tool, but for some teams they may want to keep this interface board private, or just not have to deal with manufacturing for other teams (i.e. build for their own usage). I hope to see FRC make this interface legal for single-team use, as Electrical Engineering in FRC hasn't really delved much further than 'plug the thing in the thing'.