Thread: Robot gone wild
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Unread 03-04-2003, 16:41
KenWittlief KenWittlief is offline
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there are several things that can make your bot wack out:

1. if someone in the pits has a comp-port adapter, and they unplug the tether with the bot still powered up, the bot and or OI can be transmitting (some teams dont know you dont need the powersupply for the OI with the tether).

If the 'pit-bot' does not have the same team number programmed then they will not be taking over control of your bot on the field, but if they are on the same channel it can jam your link, causing your bot to stop running, or to become erratic.

2. if you output 255 to any PWM in your code, then the serial out link looses sync, and the data will no longer be going to the right devices- PWM data may end up going to relay spikes, PWMs may use the wrong PWM outputs. You should always use the

drive= (2000+drive)min 2000 max 2254)-2000

line right before your serial out section, for all your PWM variables, if there is ANY chance the math your SW uses might end up with 255 in a PWM variable.

3. low voltage on the robot controller, or on sensors, will make your bot shut down, or act flakey if its right on the edge. I would like to see FIRST use a separate battery for the RC and sensors, since pulling 120A out of the gelcel can drop its output very low. We had repeated problems with our bot at the Canadian regional, saying 'low battery' when we had a fresh bat - we replaced several wires, including the main battery wire, but never did figure out why it was happening.