Hello CD,
My name is Jake Fischer (formerly trilogy2826). Though this is the first post on my new user name, I have been a member of FIRST for 8 years now. Most of you may know me from Wave Robotics 2826. Just didn't want you saying "Who is is this guy?"
OK, now that the formalities are out of the way, I wanted to bring up a subject that I am very invested in: On Board Diagnostics, or in FRC's case
On Bot Diagnostics (OBD).
I have worked in the automotive industry for over 12 years now and one thing that has been constant for all that time: OBD is key to providing vehicle customers with a positive ownership experience. Most car customers don't even realize the diagnostics are even part of their vehicle, but when it's needed, it becomes a critical part of the repair methodology.
Just recently, I realized that FRC bots are missing this function, I believe to the detriment of providing teams with that "positive ownership experience". We do have access to a massive amount of information directly on the driver station, but my experience has shown me that at times, this just doesn't quite provide what is needed. Recent events have shown that when the remote interface is the only option available, it is difficult, if not impossible to really tell what is happening on the bot.
In the event of a radio or ethernet related issue our options are:
1. Reset the robot and hope all goes well
2. Go over to the robot and plug a laptop via an ethernet cable into cRIO or Radio, which is implausible in competition scenarios. This also changes the potential failure paths because a variable is added into the system
What all this points to is needing an alternate diagnostics path directly to the cRIO, preferrably directly mounted to the bot as to not add the aforementioned variables.
What I brainstormed and experimented with eventually came to conclusion as a component I wanted to share with all of FRC:
The InsightLT from
www.bitbuilttech.com.
InsightLT Requirements:
- Small and Lightweight so it can be permanently mounted to a bot.
- Inexpensive for access to all FRC teams
- Easy to set up and use
Though there may be other uses, my main focus was to provide use:
- In the queue line: As soon as the cRIO boots (about 25 seconds), you can get information on anything your code has access to
- Setting up for Auto Mode: Get alignment data from cameras and sensors so you don't have to make wild hand gestures through the glass.
- In the pits: After a match, the pit crew can go through a systems check and see if anything is out of tolerance.
- During Development: Get info independent of the radio and DS status. This was the main reason the InsightLT was developed in the first place.
So to meet the requirements, the display had to be as simple as possible. We set up our display into 2 to 4 user configurable zones, with each zone scrolling information at the rate specified by the user. This allowed us to be able to clearly display user data, without even having to use menus or buttons.
The display is compatible with all FRC software languages and software is provided that you include in your compiled code.
Basically, let me know what you think about having OBD as part of your robot. As we have gone through the testing and development of the InsightLT, I have found that it's a great tool to have at your disposal. I appreciate your honest feedback.
Publishing your code and designs = good. - MrRoboSteve [more] 
04-01-2013, 17:02
Hybrid Mode
