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Originally Posted by dlavery
Actually, this would not work. A similar question came up in another thread, so I asked Tony Norman at IFI exactly how and when various data may be passed between the OI and RC. Tony double-checked and said that the field control system will not allow any data to be passed between the OI and the RC prior to the start of the match and the completion of the autonomous period. The OI and RC will both be active, but the field control system (which is different this year than last year) will prevent them from communicating.
So if you want to have a switch or dial setting to choose between autonomous programs, you should put it on the robot and not on the OI. The RC will be able to read the state of any switches, sensors, etc. that are local to the robot when it is powered up, and can use that information during the autonomous period.
Just to complete the story, if the robot is disabled later during the teleoperated period (like when the human player steps off the pressure pad sensor) communications between the RC and OI can continue. But the field control system will disable all the outputs from the RC so the system cannot activate any motors or actuate any other devices.
-dave
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OK, forget (almost) everything that I just said. I talked to Tony again tonight, and we are revising our answer (in other words, I got it wrong; I blame it on sunspots affecting my cell phone and causing static so I could not hear what he really said the first time). The CORRECT correct answer is that prior to the start of the match, the OI and RC do indeed communicate. The motor outputs are disabled, but data from the OI can be received by the RC (in other words, the robot is in "disabled" mode as described earlier). When the match starts and the autonomous period begins, the communication channel between the OI and RC is interupted, and they can no longer pass data. Then the autonomous period ends and normal operations begin.
So, yes it appears that it is indeed technically possible to set switches/controls on the OI prior to the start of the match, and have the RC receive the information. However, before we all rush off to implement that capability, note Question #1598 just posted on the FIRST Q&A system:
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Q: At the start, the robot is disabled and then in autonomous mode. While disabled, is it possible to set switches (on the OI, and not the RC) to tell the robot which autonomous program to run?
A: Yes it is technically possible, but you will not be allowed once the vision tetras are placed on the field.
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Oh well, so much for that idea...
-dave