[PhilBot]

SInce this seems to be a good place to discuss Labview FTC issues, I have some observations and comments.

I've been playing with the LabVIEW NXT and FTC VI's for a while now, and I've also started using Team 288's cool template.

So far, my satisfaction with the new FTC system is not so hot.

My biggest compaint is that the telemetry isn't fast or reliable.

For example, I'm running the Controller application on my somewhat dated desktop (2GHz pentuim 4 CPU), The screen responds to joystick changes pretty fast, but the robot's response is pretty sluggish. It doesn't seem to matter whether I use Bluetooth or USB.. I get the same response.

I can jog the joystick and let it return to home, before the NXT even starts to turn it's wheels. Almost 1/2 a second delay. That makes it hard to drive.

I've also noticed that the wheels don't always respond on command. Thsi may be since I've installed the new FTC toolkit, but I'm not sure.

Since I like to try my best to debug problems, I needed some way to determine where my problem lies. So what I did was add an audio debugger to the NXT. I basically wired a very short tone to the same signal that's driving the motor controller. I used a base frequency of 1000 hz, and used the motor drive signal to sweep the tone by +/- 400 Hz.

Now I can see if the link is the problem or if it's the motor controller.
I only get a tone when a GOOD command is received by the NXT from the PC.

It was quite interesting what I learned.

1) The first thing I learned was that the delay is certainly before the motor driver. The tone follows well behind my joystick movements.

2) Next I learned that the telemetry link is pretty reliable. It does seem to change it's update rate a bit, based on where the robot is located, but it never drops out unexpectedly.

3) Since the link seems solid, the flakey motor behavior must be in the Motor controller or it's interface. Every now and then a motor will run on, or fail to start, even though the "tone" clearly indicates that the NXT knows the motor should be doing something.

Not sure where this leaves me, except to ask the comunity if my results are typical or unusual. Was there a FTC beta test group and what did they discover?

I've added a picture of the audio debugger I created.. it's actually fun "hearing" what the link is requesting.