[jspatz1]

We had this identicle behavior at Kansas City which caused us to have poor or no communication in at least 3 matches. Problems occured only on the field FMS, never when tethered or wireless elsewhere, and never before we first hit the field. We were told that review of field data later revealed we had a communication conflict (sorry no specifics) with another team on at least one occasion.

The field staff recommended the following procedure to avoid problems with linking up and with proper ID at the field. It really should be part of the event instructions for everyone. Basically problems can occur when your system is started before your team ID has come up in the FMS. We never had a problem after sticking to this procedure, and know of at least one other team that solved their problems this way also. We recommend it to everyone, especially if you experience flakey behavior on the field:

1) Do not log into your DS or power up your robot before entering the field. If you need to do so to check something or to charge your pneumatics, do so early enough to log out and power off your robot.

2) When entering the field, wait for your team number to come up on the banner before logging into your DS. We have a robot handler signal the DS handler that the team ID has come up, then we wait a few seconds before logging on.

3) Log onto the DS and wait for confirmation that communication is established. We have the DS handler signal the robot handler that the DS is linked and ready.

4) Power on your robot only after the DS is on and linked. Stay with it until your indicator light confirms it is ready. Don't leave it to the field staff to check your status for you, they are busy. See to this yourself.

I would also reiterate the suggestion that you read the threads discussing problems with the KOP USB hub. We suspect we had problems with it as well, and replaced it.

Hopefully this will help others avoid some heartache.