pic: Tiki Techs - FRC 2015 Robot

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by EDesbiens

What are the rules concerning arduinos and other micro-controllers? And can we connect them to the Robot-Rio to communicate?

Yes, but they cannot have anything to do with actuation. IE no PWM/relay/can/etc control over motors.

They can collect sensor data (such as camera or otherwise) and perform computation to offload roboRIO resources though.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

Yes, but they cannot have anything to do with actuation. IE no PWM/relay/can/etc control over motors.

They can collect sensor data (such as camera or otherwise) and perform computation to offload roboRIO resources though.

Originally Posted by 2015 manual 4.8-R44

CUSTOM CIRCUITS shall not directly alter the power pathways between the ROBOT battery, PDP, motor controllers, relays,
motors and actuators (per R18), pneumatic solenoid valves, or other elements of the ROBOT control system (items explicitly mentioned in R55). Custom high impedance voltage monitoring or low impedance current monitoring circuitry connected to the
ROBOT’S electrical system is acceptable, if the effect on the ROBOT outputs is inconsequential.

An arduino/equiv is considered a custom circuit.

Obligatory "this year's rules aren't necessarily next year's" but this rule has been in here for a while.

[EDesbiens]

Cool, thanks, didn't know about the sensor part... So we can connect the outpout and input pins of a micro-controller to the robot-rio? And is it simple to program?

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by EDesbiens

Cool, thanks, didn't know about the sensor part... So we can connect the outpout and input pins of a micro-controller to the robot-rio? And is it simple to program?

I have exactly zero experience programming these things. I'd imagine it would be easier to communicate via the USB port or ethernet (or perhaps even CAN), though there is no reason the DIO wouldn't be allowed

Usually teams use independent boards for vision processing. Normal sensors usually take only a tiny fraction of CPU power. Also note that if you are using a Talon SRX with CAN, sensors can be plugged into the breakout board for the motor controllers (which may be in a more convenient location [like our tether-bot this year]) and the roboRIO can read those sensors over the CAN line

[EDesbiens]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

I have exactly zero experience programming these things. I'd imagine it would be easier to communicate via the USB port or ethernet (or perhaps even CAN), though there is no reason the DIO wouldn't be allowed

Usually teams use independent boards for vision processing. Normal sensors usually take only a tiny fraction of CPU power. Also note that if you are using a Talon SRX with CAN, sensors can be plugged into the breakout board for the motor controllers (which may be in a more convenient location [like our tether-bot this year]) and the roboRIO can read those sensors over the CAN line

Oh, didn't know we could plug sensors on can... That's pretty cool actually Thanks guys! I'll start working on that!

[logank013]

At one point, we considered outing LEDs on using an Arduino. Unfortunately, we never had extra weight. (I'm pretty sure all of our weigh ins were 119-120 pounds at every competition). Either way, awesome looking bot. It takes talent to make a robot. It takes craftmanship to make a robot look pretty. It takes a lot of both to get both results. Good work.