[apalrd]

Originally Posted by Dale

In our case we needed to use CAN for current and voltage sensing throughout our robot. For example, our front ball magnet would capture a ball and then stall by design with the current held at a constant value so as not to smoke the motor. It could also sense if it had a ball by looking at the voltage being delivered to the motors.

Our kicker would vary it's kicking power by monitoring the current going to the winch as it's being cocked.

Interesting uses for the current sensors. We used a broken-beam sensor and pulsed the roller, although we didn't have any problems with heating (with a FP). It would spin so much that the ball would begin climbing up the front of the machine and get carrying penalties, so we pulsed the roller to keep torque on it while not continuously forcing it. If we back up, the roller runs full.

We used a potentiometer for our kicker. The kicker motor is actually on a Spike, and Spikes don't have current sensors. We had no jaguars at all (all Victors and Spikes), so CAN wasn't a question we asked. (the answer would have been NO unless we needed the current sensors).