Quote:
Originally Posted by AustinSchuh
... It still would be nice if they let us program the FPGA ourselves.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NetElemental
... If the FPGA is designed to automatically do many of the low level functions that we as programmers normally have to wrangle with (like what Kevin Watson's libraries are used for), it would be an incredible help. Imagine never having to write code to interface with the camera, or have the gyro angle automatically calculated for us instead of having to do it ourselves - there are much greater problems that could then be tackled.
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Some teams might like to program the FPGA. Other teams might like to design their own custom motors. FIRST wisely limits the degree to which teams can engineer at the component level, for several good reasons. Safety is a big one. Reasonable limits on work during build season are another. Keeping teams focussed on the game challenge, rather than component details, is still another.
I'd favor no team programming of the FPGA.
[But of course I'm not a VHDL programmer.]
I also favor keeping the rule against custom motors.
[And I am a motor designer.]
__________________
Richard Wallace
Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)