Broken Robot! Help Please!

[kleinian]

Our team's kit bot has been acting strange lately. Everything seems normal, from connecting the robot to my computer with the IP switched to running the program in netbeans, (we use Java) but no matter what I do, the robot will NOT drive! Any information into how i can fix this will help a lot! Thanks!

[Conor Ryan]

What mode is your radio in? Did you reprogram it since returning from competition? Use the Bridge Configuration utility here: http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/...onent-overview

[Wayne Doenges]

Take the robot off the blocks
Other then that, I'm no help

[zachrobo1]

You made sure that there was an actual established connection between your computer and the robot, right? Did you check that your joysticks are connected properly?

[Alan Anderson]

What are all of the diagnostic indicator lights on the Driver Station display showing you? What is the pattern of flashes of the big orange Robot Signal Light? What are all of the LEDs on the robot doing? Telling us what it won't do is of little use without a description of what it does do.

[Christopher149]

Has the code on the robot changed any since it last worked?
Has the robot physically changed ie removed/added anything, especially electrical components?
Is everything still plugged in that should be?
Do the motor controllers respond to input? Is there a mechanical issue with your drive?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

What mode is your radio in? Did you reprogram it since returning from competition? Use the Bridge Configuration utility here: http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/...onent-overview

I'm willing to bet that this is the issue. See it every year, with teams that forget or don't know, and you've got some of the classic symptoms: Robot that worked fine at competition suddenly doesn't work at home with no changes.

The other diagnostic that will tell you for sure: Tether it up. If it runs on the tether but not on the radio, your radio didn't get reconfigured.

[kleinian]

Just so everyone knows, we did NOT bring this robot to competition. This is our kit bot that we test stuff on at meetings.

[DampRobot]

Does the robot enable correctly? What happens when you try to drive the robot? Do the lights in the speed controllers change?

[Briansmithtown]

We had a similar problem, which we found out the Digital side car was fried... I recommend smelling around the digital sidecar, and the motor controllers to smell the sweet smell no one wants.

[Brandon_L]

Does the robot enter enabled mode, but the motor controllers just keep blinking? If so it could either be the Sidecar being fried as mentioned above, or the cable from the cRIO to the Sidecar is loose or broken.

If it does not enter enabled mode, does it actually connect to the robot at all? Which, if any, of the 3 red/green lights on the driver station are red? (Communications, code, joysticks)

[dmaciel10123]

As was mentioned earlier, if you're connected but it just won't drive, check the lights on the motor controller as well as check the sidecar and cRIO. Also, a Robot Signal Light should be on the robot to help with a visual aid to tell you what the robot is and/or should be doing at the time.

[Jpatterson1710]

We always troubleshoot by looking at each component as we move from human input to robot actions. Start with the DS, check connections of all joysticks/controllers(Joysticks in the correct position in the DS). Check DS to Robot Comms(Use a tether then use wireless). Check to see if the DS is communicating with the CRio (Is the CRio IP set correctly). Check to see if the CRio is sending information to the sidecar(Is the cable loose/frayed, is the RSL flashing). Check to see if the sidecar is sending information to the speed controllers(PWMs connected). Sound redundant? It is. If you look at each piece as it moves down the line, it can be much more simple to pinpoint where it goes wrong.