[FTC]: NXT Lockups in LabVIEW

[iPenguin]

Originally Posted by TRWSHSHLX

Last year when our robot's NXT locked up, we found out it was due to static electricity build up.

Originally Posted by PhilBot

After we had this happen a few times, one of the kids thought he remembered that it had hapenned on their robot a few years back and it was "caused" but metal shavings falling into the NXT wire sockets on the motor/servo controllers.... that is... an electrical problem on the communications bus.

As an FTA, I can confirm that both of these cases can be likely causes of the NXT locking up. I don't believe it has anything to do with specifically using LabVIEW or RobotC - I've seen equal cases of both. What can happen is that Samantha will for some reason send a "bad message" to the NXT, and the NXT doesn't know what to do with it, and therefore locks up. I've spoken with other FTA's and, unfortunately, we really don't know why this happens, or what to do to prevent it.

Phil's suggestions for vacuuming and covering unused ports are good ideas. That USB cable between NXT and Samantha is very critical. Make sure it is secured tightly. It's also been suggested to get a couple small USB extension cords that permanently stay attached to the NXT and Samantha. This also helps for your Software Inspectors who need easy access to Samantha's USB port.

Hope this helps!