2015 RoboRIO/Control System Feedback

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Thad House

Oh thats good to know. I didn't see that get published anywhere. For demos in the past where WiFi connection was awful, we would sometimes put the computer in the robot, and use a wireless keyboard or controller to enable and disable the robot. Good to know there is still a button combination to allow this.

See #2. http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/...e#OperationTab

[MrRoboSteve]

I posted before on my feelings about the success of the control system. We need a physically rough game to make a final statement of success (hint hint GDC).

We used the current monitoring as a substitute for limit switches in one scenario.

Some areas for improvement:

. Transition between tethered in the pit and connected to the field was a continual issue.

. Certain laptops had trouble connecting when operating on battery. Theory is that certain network chipsets have some deep power saving mode that interferes with connectivity.

. physical retention for control cables at the roboRIO -- maybe someone should design a 3d printed part that sticks to the top/side of the unit, with retention like the Jaguar?

. Time between cold boot of robot and field connectivity was a lot longer this year than last. We actively avoided the power cycle this year, because it took so long. Maybe that was good, though, in the end, because we identified some faster ways of fixing things.

--

Regarding the complaint about match length, we did a fair amount of checking match length at one regional and didn't run into issues with running time. Jared, was there an event you noticed the issue at?

[JamesD]

Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve

. Certain laptops had trouble connecting when operating on battery. Theory is that certain network chipsets have some deep power saving mode that interferes with connectivity.

I've noticed this for several years now. You need to go into the properties of the WiFi adapter on the laptop and disable all power saving options. Otherwise when the battery gets below a certain level the Wifi adapter will actually disappear from the operating system until the power cord is plugged in again.

Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve

. physical retention for control cables at the roboRIO -- maybe someone should design a 3d printed part that sticks to the top/side of the unit, with retention like the Jaguar?

Team 111 Wildstang did this season: http://wildstang.org/blog/?p=225

[tcjinaz]

Originally Posted by JamesD

I've noticed this for several years now. You need to go into the properties of the WiFi adapter on the laptop and disable all power saving options. Otherwise when the battery gets below a certain level the Wifi adapter will actually disappear from the operating system until the power cord is plugged in again.



Team 111 Wildstang did this season: http://wildstang.org/blog/?p=225

We used the Wildstang part this year, worked like a charm.

Thanks 111!

[MrRoboSteve]

Originally Posted by JamesD

I've noticed this for several years now. You need to go into the properties of the WiFi adapter on the laptop and disable all power saving options. Otherwise when the battery gets below a certain level the Wifi adapter will actually disappear from the operating system until the power cord is plugged in again.



Team 111 Wildstang did this season: http://wildstang.org/blog/?p=225

Thanks for the pointer. I noticed in today's email blast that AM has a product to address this as well.