pic: 2009 Control System, Mounted

[Billfred]

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[Gdeaver]

Wow, all that to generate a hobby PWM to control a victor? Kind of like using a 35 lb sledge hammer to set a finish nail. There are some missing pieces if First wants to go down this path. I feel a rant coming on. I'll stop here.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

Wow, all that to generate a hobby PWM to control a victor? Kind of like using a 35 lb sledge hammer to set a finish nail. There are some missing pieces if First wants to go down this path. I feel a rant coming on. I'll stop here.

From what I understand, it's a combination of the PDB and the breaker panels, with another set of things for the controls. It does look like overkill, though.

[Dillon Compton]

Why do I get the feeling that all of a sudden space in the middle of the robot is going to be at a premium?

I'm going to miss the days when an electronics team could get told they had a 2" x 12" x 16" space in which to mount everything and they could pull it off.

[Russ Beavis]

The long white module between the cRIO and PDB is an old rev of the Digital Sidecar (ie breakout module that allows cRIO to directly drive Victors, Spikes, digital I/O, etc).

That long module has already been replaced by the half-size module that's sitting next to the PDB.

Russ

[T3_1565]

its too clean looking!! it can't be a FIRST robot

[whytheheckme]

I love it. No longer will the electrical team be a crew of a couple of kids that works for 4 hours on Friday night before the scrimmage. The control system will have to be integrated from the start.

-Jacob

[Greg Marra]

How were the prototype white cases for the electronics components fabricated? They sort of look rapid-prototyped, but I am not sure, and didn't see them in person.

All-in-all, the new controls system is going to be an amazing upgrade for FIRST. You think driving in a circle was an impressive autonomous? Wait until you see what these machines will be able to do next year in the hands of 1400 FIRST teams.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

How were the prototype white cases for the electronics components fabricated? They sort of look rapid-prototyped, but I am not sure, and didn't see them in person.

Yes, those were grown cases.
They had examples of everything without the prototype hard covers too.

[Colin]

looks like a throw back to the old IFI breaker panels

[Zyrano]

It doesn't take up as much space as you think, mostly because you are replacing the backup battery, the power distribution blocks, and the 40 amp fuse blocks, as well as spikes for punematics. It is going to be heavier though.

[seanl]

it does seem like overkill but its much cleaner. any one know if we will be using a wireless router? because that would just seem weird if theres a router in the middle of the robot.

[vivek16]

Electrical board + (-wire nest) = [SYSTEM ERROR]

That is way too clean... I guess we will have to make up for the lack of entropy some other way...

-Vivek

[Alex Cormier]

So with all the talk about IFI going away, the new system comes in on a IFI kit chassis? My thought lately has been, will the kit chassis go away along with IFI?

I hope not...

*goes and starts to make numerous chassis in inventor/solidworks*

[Bob Steele]

Something else that I gleaned from viewing these things up close...
The power distribution board is, indeed, very similar to the old IFI board.
One change is that the ground and positive terminals are next to each other in the wiring.... you can see how short the wires are between the victors and the board in the picture... no bird's nest with all the black wires terminating in a bunch of terminals all stacked on one end as was the case for the IFI board.

This is pretty slick...