Spontaneous stopping

[lemiant]

Yesterday we got our robot driving while tethered, and then after a code download it stopped working all together. We went back and pressed ctrl+z until the code was back to the way it had been and deployed, which fixed nothing . We are using cpp. does anyone know how to get the debugger going while tethered (so, that you can drive on the classmate and watch the debugger somewhere at the same time)? Also, is there a component between the cRio and the jaguars (which are flashing yellow) which breaks often?

Thanks

Lemiant

[J.Warsoff]

As far as I can tell, it seems like more of a hardware problem rather then a code problem. Unless there was some kind of virus code that shut down your robot, I'm thinking it would have to do with maybe the cRIO. It could also possibly be that one of the components in the electrical system may have either short circuited or not have been wired correctly. Make sure you check your wiring, look for bad components that may have stopped working, etc.

This is merely a possibility, so if anyone else can correct or give me some insight, that would be great.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[BitWizard]

Lemiant, can you see the boot messages on the cRIO when you reboot or turn it on? The cRIO may be complaining about something else entirely.

We usually get cRIO messages in our IDE (NetBeans), but when things are really hosed up, that doesn't work.

The all-else-fails method is to hook a serial null modem cable (this was a royal pain for us to set up -- we use five consecutive converters and gender benders to get null modem serial male D9 to USB) from the serial port on the cRIO to a laptop running puTTY or other terminal console software. We can then control the cRIO from its "console," and when rebooting, see its messages as well as any we may have imbedded in our code.

Bit
Team 279

[lemiant]

Thanks guys. We managed to get it fixed at competition, big thanks to Simbotics. It appears it was a code problem. He coding mentor from Simbotics rewrote our drive code in java (it was C), and now it works fine.

[Matt Krass]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Also, is there a component between the cRio and the jaguars (which are flashing yellow) which breaks often?

Thanks

Lemiant

Just to be on the safe side, are your Jags controlled by CAN or PWM? If it's CAN, more often then not its a bad crimp or a bad/missing terminator. These can cause extremely intermittent, very difficult to solve problems. I'd verify all of this before calling it fixed.

Matt

[davidthefat]

Check your thermal amp breakers on the power distribution board. We tripped them way too much because our gear ratios were whack, so the motors would stall a lot.

So, next time, listen to the breakers and it will "tick" then the robot will stop moving, then 30 seconds later, it would start back up. Feel the breakers and the motors if they are overheating. Our CIM became so hot that it literally burned someone.