[adamdb]

I don't agree about the size of Java. I have used a JVM in the past that runs on the LEGO RIS controller (which has WAY less horsepower and memory than the FIRST controller) and it was quite usable. Of course it was a minimized system without a lot of the bells and whistles of regular Java (which you don't need for this application anyway). It also showed me that the OO paradigm is very applicable to robotics. The ability to abstract common attributes of, for instance, sensors and then derive from them can be very useful.

The issues in this case are: 1. I don't think there is a JVM available for the PIC processors used, and 2. Many of the great features of Java like multi-threading just aren't possible in this environment because we have to turn control over to the master processor, then wait for it to call our routines again. But things like event and exception handling, as mentioned before, would be very useful.

Great discussion! Keep it coming.