[Dave Flowerday]

Why is it that every single piece of the new control system seems to be twice the size (or more) of the old stuff? IFI's stuff was more-or-less 10 years old - you'd think that the advance in technology would make things smaller, or at least the same size considering there's more powerful stuff inside.

How much functionality are teams going to have to sacrifice to make room for all the extra space needed by the new stuff? I know several of the robots we have made in the past would simply not be possible now (2001 for example).

Another thought: with the increase in functionality offered in the new controllers I hope they're getting a very serious and thorough testing. Adding that much complexity and software to something that's as safety-critical as a speed controller definitely increases the risks of bugs. Having a bug in something that's supposed to turn OFF the motor when the robot is disabled would be scary... I think a lot of people have taken for granted that with IFI, when you disable the robot with a disable switch it is OFF. Personally, I'm not going near a robot w/ the new control system unless it is physically powered-off until I gain enough confidence that it works the way it's supposed to. As a software guy I know all too well that trusting software for my safety can be a dicey proposition.