[FRC Blog] The 2016 Season, by the Numbers 2

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

I was slightly thrown off by the lack of "encoders" considering we had 6 incremental and 1 absolute encoder, but I'm 95% sure that line 592 is us.
Most of our encoders were plugged directly into the TalonSRXs.

Not a lot of 2006 Rookie year C++ teams with no pneumatics. We definitely had more than 7 Talons on our CAN interface, though I don't remember 10.

This leads to another question about the data....when was it taken? If this was from the first time robots connected for the season it would be a lot different than if it was from a team's last match. Maybe it is an average or maximum for all of the categories.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

This leads to another question about the data....when was it taken? If this was from the first time robots connected for the season it would be a lot different than if it was from a team's last match. Maybe it is an average or maximum for all of the categories.

It was based on team number and I'm 93.2% sure it is based on the last time the team connected to the field so you are seeing the output from the final run.

I know it was based on team number and the number of controllers we have listed only happened for 1 match at NC DCMP.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

This leads to another question about the data....when was it taken? If this was from the first time robots connected for the season it would be a lot different than if it was from a team's last match. Maybe it is an average or maximum for all of the categories.

It's in the original [re]post - the largest for counted objects and latest for language and framework:

Originally Posted by OP

- Counted objects and TRUE/FALSE show the largest number of any given object used in any one match (i.e. if a Robot had 2 Encoders in match 1 and 3 Encoders in match 7, 3 will be reported). Language and Framework report what was used in the last recorded match.

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by catmanjake

What does the 3114 total mean? Is that how many teams participated in an event this year?

...the total number of data points on the sheet. likely equal to number of the teams that competed this year.

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

The number of total motor controllers reported used is probably lower than it actually is, mainly due to the number of teams that use Y cables to power their PWM motor controllers.

This is supported Strongly by the fact that there are 6962 Talons reported and 7731 CANTalons reported. Given the learning curve involved, I would expect the number of talons used to be much higher.


What team would like to claim line 508 - 2005 year... 7 Jaguars... in CAN?! Bold move cotton.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

...the total number of data points on the sheet. likely equal to number of the teams that competed this year.



This is supported Strongly by the fact that there are 6962 Talons reported and 7731 CANTalons reported. Given the learning curve involved, I would expect the number of talons used to be much higher.

All reported PWM motor controllers: 14821
All reported CAN motor controllers: 7750

Based on the observational data across events that REV folks attended we think that the number is actually somewhere like 2/3 of teams use PWM and 1/3 use CAN, so the error bars on the data might be pretty wide. I suspect the CAN data is more accurate due to the way that they are addressed in code.

[AlexD744]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

There are 8 teams that show having zero motor controllers.....

I can see this happening if they only had a drive base and initialized it with the RobotDrive constructor that takes in port numbers instead of motor controller objects.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by AlexD744

I can see this happening if they only had a drive base and initialized it with the RobotDrive constructor that takes in port numbers instead of motor controller objects.

I encountered more than one LabVIEW-using team that used Drive for all of their motors, not just drivebase ones.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by marshall

So how do we get more encoders on more motors?

Shouldn't the question be "How do we get more magnetic gear tooth sensors onto robots?"

A tip of my hat to the team who made the old tech work!

Jason

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by marshall

So how do we get more encoders on more motors?

I feel like mixing it up and adding something worthwhile to a conversation so let's try to workshop this.

The adaptation of something by a FIRST team might go something like this.

We give the team a fish (the kit of parts frame), we show them how to get that fish (build season) and ideally, the activity of teaching them to fish can lead them to an event that can show them other people's fish and those people can show them how they caught them.

Wow, what a terrible analogy. I'm leaving it anyway.

So I believe CTR gave everyone a magnetic encoder in the kit this year. I think if someone who is qualified in programming and/or is more intelligent/motivated than myself can create a video tutorial and/or workshop that can show teams a useful application for the encoder and how to get the most out of it, that can only lead to bigger and better things for more and more teams. Probably... maybe.

I also do not know if this is available, but if we get the DigiKey and AutomationDirect or other relevant vouchers, maybe FIRST can work with experienced mentors and the suppliers to create a "Top 10 Ways to Use Your Voucher" guide that you can access through TIMS.

[bobbysq]

The magnetic encoder in the KOP wasn't helped by being a Talon SRX encoder, which only connects to a Talon SRX without a breakout.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by bobbysq

The magnetic encoder in the KOP wasn't helped by being a Talon SRX encoder, which only connects to a Talon SRX without a breakout.

Talon SRXs were free through a voucher.
CTR Breakouts are $10 a pop.

Not quite all around perfect but it's pretty close. It would be interesting to know the redemption rate for the IFI/CTR voucher and the breakdown of motor controller options.

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by marshall

So how do we get more encoders on more motors?

For me? Get over one bad experience in 2011 with USDigital? encoders on the drive train. If I could trust the hardware, there'd be encoders on a lot more.

[Knufire]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

For me? Get over one bad experience in 2011 with USDigital? encoders on the drive train. If I could trust the hardware, there'd be encoders on a lot more.

Which model encoder?

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by Knufire

Which model encoder?

Probably the KOP ones (don't remember model off the top of my head).

[Knufire]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

Probably the KOP ones (don't remember model off the top of my head).

Probably the E4P. These work great when installed correctly; the problem is they're very easy to assemble incorrectly or damage while assembling.

I've had much better luck with the S4/S4T. This is nearly the same encoder, but has a integrated shaft instead of a through hole. Part of the outer body is threaded so there's no need to open the encoder itself to mount.