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Unread 15-09-2016, 09:24
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RyanN
AKA: Ryan Nazaretian
FRC #4901 (Garnet Squadron)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 1,126
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Re: custom button panel

I've been working on a project for this. Team Fusion has been using this for several years and I made a new revision that fixed a few issues for Garnet Squadron.

Currently I'm working on taking LabVIEW out of the equation and relying on Python and the wxPython extension.

Essentially, the board is an Arduino Mega 2560. The only special chip is the LED driver, which is a constant current driver made for driving LEDs. I have the output set at 20mA, which is very common with LEDs. It's easy enough to change though.



Here's the control board Garnet Squadron made for this year's robot:


Finally, below is the Python code in action. I'm currently working on a simulator because lets face it... I don't want to carry around the driver station everywhere I go.



The good news with the simulator is it works exactly the same as the real board. You can unplug/plug it in and toggle every input as well as see every output. Furthermore, since it works exactly the same as the real board, you can use the simulator to control the robot, or your simulated robot. The simulated robot with simulated button panel is where this can really shine.

This code isn't finished yet, but when it is, the GUI will not be shown by default. Instead, there is a taskbar icon that indicates the status of the control board. Green means good; red means bad.



Is this in mass production? No... I need to tweak a few more hardware things. For basic inputs such as switches and potentiometers and with LED outputs, it's great. There are some problems with running servos. They're interfering with the analog inputs. All the design files and software are in our repository here.
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Garnet Squadron
FRC 4901
Controls Mentor
@rnazaretian

Previous mentor and student from Team Fusion, FRC 364
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