Mentor seeking advice.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by ROUS

Hi, so I'm a former FIRST team member (animation, oddly enough) and I've just begun mentoring a team for the 2016 build season.

My primary skill set rests in fabrication and mechanical, however I have past experience with electronics and programming. I'd like to acquire a working knowledge of the communication/control system so that I might be of more use to the team. I haven't been on a FIRST robotics team since I was in high school (think 2001) so I'm a little out-of-the-loop, technology-wise.

Where does one start learning about Talons and LabView and C++, and making them all work together? Is there an inexpensive starter kit I can buy to tinker with at home, and learn how to write code to control a simple robot?

You are in Philly?
Any chance you are a NextFAB member like me?

I might be willing to work out something to give a class with my robot and control systems.

[Ty Tremblay]

GameSense did a show on the current control system last year as part of our Behind The Lines series.

[ROUS]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

You are in Philly?
Any chance you are a NextFAB member like me?

I might be willing to work out something to give a class with my robot and control systems.

I was a nextfab member, but I let my membership lapse when I moved away from Washington Ave. and I stopped going very often. I took classes in ShopBot, laser cutting and 3D printing, but never got anywhere near any robots.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by ROUS

I was a nextfab member, but I let my membership lapse when I moved away from Washington Ave. and I stopped going very often. I took classes in ShopBot, laser cutting and 3D printing, but never got anywhere near any robots.

That would be because I was not bringing an FRC robot there at the time

I live in Northern, NJ and as a NextFAB member I could come there with said stuff.
Hence it works for me to go 2.5 hours south.

It would simply be neutral space and since you had to pass shop safety to get to the ShopBot at least I know you know how to not dismember yourself

[GreyingJay]

The wpilib Eclipse plugin includes lots of example programs. Just go New->Project and select wpilib Java Example or C++ Example. You'll get a window with a list of examples. Select one and start poking around.

Would have saved me a lot of time and Googling had I known about this during last year's build season!

[couvillion]

Has anyone played with this SparkFun Inventor's Kit for LabVIEW with an eye towards learning LabVIEW for FRC?

[JStein]

A couple of Team Argos mentors (me included) worked through the off season to build a training platform for the FRC community. We've used the Argobot throughout our build season to get our software/controls students up to speed quickly, with many students able to go from never having run LabVIEW to getting the Argobot running in 60 minutes. They've learned about using touch, proximity, ultrasonic and inertial sensors over the past 6 weeks, most of which are being used on our robot. It's based on the Digilent WF32 board running LINX, and has a whole host of tutorials on YouTube to get started.

[ROUS]

Originally Posted by JStein

A couple of Team Argos mentors (me included) worked through the off season to build a training platform for the FRC community. We've used the Argobot throughout our build season to get our software/controls students up to speed quickly, with many students able to go from never having run LabVIEW to getting the Argobot running in 60 minutes. They've learned about using touch, proximity, ultrasonic and inertial sensors over the past 6 weeks, most of which are being used on our robot. It's based on the Digilent WF32 board running LINX, and has a whole host of tutorials on YouTube to get started.

This is very cool. The Argos seems like the perfect place to start, however the price is a wee bit steep for an impulse-buy. I guess it's an investment in my knowledge and ability to help the team. Is there no cheaper (think $100-150) way to get into this?