Secondary Computer on Driver Station

[Johnny_5]

This year, since we are planning on using on-board vision processing with RoboRealm, we would like to have a way to interact with the system on board and to view what the system is processing from the driver station. We thought that a secondary computer that would be on the driver station would be able to remote into the on board system when we are on the field. We know we can change the ports on the remote control interface, we are just questioning the legality of using a 2nd computer and networking it into the field as well.

And I would ask this on Q&A but it seems as if someone on our team changed the password and that same someone didn't attain it to memory.

[jasp]

It's fine to have a second computer. My team has used two computers to show two different camera feeds previously. The thing is to have a little switch on your drivers station to plug all the computers to the fps system.

[F22Rapture]

I can't find any rules against it, at least in the Operator Interface section of the manual.

However, in the interests of space, have you considered simply putting the RoboRealm window on some sort of portable USB display plugged into the Driver Station? If you are using a laptop with a 14+ inch screen, you could also change settings so that the Dashboard only takes up half of the screen, and pull up RoboRealm on the other half.

[cgmv123]

The only thing allowed to be in between the cable provided by the FMS and your primary driver station computer is a pigtail, so a secondary computer can't function over Ethernet.

[Mark McLeod]

No Ethernet hub between the field and your Driver Station.
The Driver Station connects directly to the field.

2.2.8 The PLAYER STATIONS

...
Each setup location includes a competition cable (to
provide Ethernet connectivity) that attaches to the Ethernet Port of the OPERATOR CONSOLE.
...

That doesn't mean you can't have a second laptop if you want.
It just has to be passed through the Driver Station laptop and out a USB port or some similar mechanism, for instance, a USB to Ethernet converter.

[Johnny_5]

Alright. Pending we find a way to pass through from a USB to Ethernet converter. What would we set our IP address as on our secondary computer?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Isaac,
This is a question best asked on the Q&A to find out if that is really possible and what the settings could be if it were allowed. After Einstein 2012, FIRST has modified it's approach to communications and security at the field.

[Mark McLeod]

Your question needs to be split up into two parts and submitted to FIRST.

1. The Game Q&A is good for a question on what's allowed this year.
2. But technical questions on how to do it are probably better posted on the FIRST Technical Q&A.

In the past, the second computer would just be placed on a different, e.g., 192.168.x.x, network.
That isolated it from the field network.

[protoserge]

If you are using Windows 7 on the driver station, you can try bridging the USB-to-Ethernet to the Ethernet adapter (Start > type "View Network Connections", ctrl+click both adapters, Right Click > Bridge Connections). You would then connect the USB-to-Ethernet adapter to the second computer and the driver station computer to the primary Ethernet. This is at least how to use a bridge on one computer. I'm actually currently sharing my WiFi via this method with a coworker that does not have WiFi.

Again, verify the second computer and this method is legal using the Q&A.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by stinglikeabee

If you are using Windows 7 on the driver station, you can try bridging the USB-to-Ethernet to the Ethernet adapter (Start > type "View Network Connections", ctrl+click both adapters, Right Click > Bridge Connections). You would then connect the USB-to-Ethernet adapter to the second computer and the driver station computer to the primary Ethernet. This is at least how to use a bridge on one computer.

Have you used this in competition? A few years ago, I was helping a team that was trying to do the same thing. They could not connect to FMS with the primary ethernet until they removed the bridged connection.

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Have you used this in competition? A few years ago, I was helping a team that was trying to do the same thing. They could not connect to FMS with the primary ethernet until they removed the bridged connection.

We've never used this in competition. My post was more for "this is how to bridge the two computers".

Now that I think about it, I would expect the non-driver station computer to be unresolved because the IP address of the driver station would be taken by the driver station computer. I'll have to talk to the C&C guys, but the DHCP client would need to allow for the number of clients to connect and attain unique IP addresses in this case.

[F22Rapture]

I'm going to again post that a secondary display over USB would be much easier

[faust1706]

1706 last year had a custom built computer that weighed 2 pounds. This year was are using an O-DroidX board. My mentor and I debated about what to use, but the DroidX board won. As for mounting, we designed a case in CAD, then used our 3d printer to mount it, as well as a fan on the mount to cool it. We 3d printed a mount for our kinect as well.