[devicenull]

Originally Posted by pickle

But I do think that since electronics and programming are so related, its a good idea to have one team work on both. It keeps things less confusing. Last year we had to play the pick the pwm port game, where before almost every match they had rewired the PWM cables to different outputs because they didn't know which went where.

I found a really nice solution to this, provided you have someone who can follow a wire from one end to the other

//Left drive motors
#define drive_left_1 pwm01
#define drive_left_2 pwm02
//Right drive motors
#define drive_right_1 pwm03
#define drive_right_2 pwm04

I have a file full of those.. and I use the drive_left_1, etc in the code.. so when it comes time to wire the robot, I print the file, and then its just matching

Originally Posted by FreakyAntelope

Also, a rocker switch attached to the reset and program buttons in an easy to reach place is also a good idea.

Hrm, sounds like a good idea, I'll have to try that next year

I kind of learned electronics as I went.. Up until about a week ago, we had victors supported only by their wires on the practice bot, because I would wire them, and not know how to mount them, so they just kind of hung there.
Having to wait for someone to wire stuff up was not a fun way to do things, so it was much easier for me to learn to do stuff.. didn't seem that hard to do, other then verifying everything a couple of times.

Then again, I learned a lot this year.. the code would often be sitting waiting for someone to hook up the hardware.. with everything, pneumatics, wiring, etc... That happened until I started adding it myself.. then the program/spike/victor would be waiting for the actual robot component to be added.

Now I'm the first one called to the pit when something stops working, rather then last year, where they wanted me as far away from the robot as possible