How to Use LaunchPad MSP430 in combination with Labview

[TBots]

We need a way to increment our winch system, so that by the push of a button, the cable connected to the winch goes up a particular degree. Is there a way to use the LaunchPad to complete this task in combination with labVIEW? If there is a way to complete this using only labVIEW, that is just as great. Any information regarding how to complete this, would be fantastic!

Also. If the LaunchPad is connected to the winch system, how do we control it with a joystick? Is there a way to connect it through the D-LINK?

Thank you for any help you can bring us.

[Ben Wolsieffer]

I don't really understand what you are trying to do.

It sounds like you are trying to use the Lauchpad on the robot to control winch from a computer with a joystick. If you are trying to do this on an FRC robot, it is illegal because all motors have to be controlled by the roboRIO, and I also don't see a reason for it.

If you are doing it just for testing, you need to write code for the Launchpad in C++ using Energia (AFAIK you can't program Launchpads in LabView). I'll explain it more if this is actually what you want.

[Alan Anderson]

If you want to be able to run a motor so that a mechanism moves to a desired location, you will need to have some way of measuring the mechanism's location. Depending on the details of the mechanism, it can be easy in LabVIEW to control a motor based on sensor values.

If there's a pivot point for something that moves along with the "cable connected to the winch", you can use a potentiometer or other absolute angle sensor as feedback to the roboRIO. If there's a limited range of linear travel, you can use a "string pot". You can use a rotary encoder to measure the number of degrees the winch has turned, and if you can ensure that you always know where the winch starts, that will let you know where it is at all times.

[billbo911]

Building on what Alan has already said, you also asked about using the LaunchPad.
Alan is correct in that you will have to use LabVIEW to control the motors, while also reading the feedback from the mechanism being moved. The feedback will be in the form of counts from an encoder, voltage from a pot, etc, etc.

The LaunchPad is intended to be used as a HID device on the driver station. Using it as such, you can assign buttons attached to it's digital inputs to be recognized in LabVIEW and move your lift accordingly.