2015 RoboRIO/Control System Feedback

[Alan Anderson]

I saw lots of teams with lots of control system issues this year. None of them was really the fault of the control system itself. When the instructions are followed by someone who actually pays attention to them, and who is not sloppy with the wiring, things just work. The roboRIO's web console is great, and the rework of the DS-to-robot communication protocol seemed to make a positive difference in connectivity. I just wish Windows weren't so unpredictable in how it deals with switching between networks with and without DNS active.

I do have one other mildly negative observation: the Weidmuller connectors seem to be happiest with 20 gauge wire, but teams seem to want to use 18 gauge or thicker. This makes inserting the wires without risking short circuits more difficult than it ought to be.



More than one team accidentally enabled their robot by pressing the F1 key while in another application on the Driver Station, so using F1 to enable was changed to the three-key "[]\" combination.