[Venkatesh]

There were many resources which I used to learn how all the parts of the control system fit together. The FIRST manuals were ok, providing background information.

The single most useful source of information and experience for me was the pneumatics demo board. Yes, that is correct. The pneumatics demo board. The board contained a 2001-2003 series Robot controller, relays, etc. Playing around with that assembly was incredibly useful. You could easily see if your outputs were affecting something, in the form of a piston moving in or out.

Another thing - on team 30, the electrical, electronics, and programming teams all act as one large group, which splits into subgroups as needed. This allowed very good communication between electrical and programming, we just switched hats (in a manner of speaking). To program well, you need to have an understanding of how things are wired and connected, and to wire/create circuits, you need to know what programs are doing and what they require to run well.

Good luck.