Looking for FTAs, FTAAs and Scorekeepers to test an app

[Doug Frisk]

I've been working on my own version of the Field Monitor for a while and have it in a position that some folks might want to try it.

It's a Windows 10 app, so you need a Windows 10 PC, Tablet or phone. Or a HoloLens, but I suspect I'm about the only one who has one. I didn't select the Xbox option because I don't have an Xbox to test and I didn't see anyone hauling an Xbox to an event just to watch robot stats, but if someone does want to I'd be happy to flip that bit. Perhaps more interesting, it should run on Win10 IoT and at some point I'll be trying it on my Raspberry Pi 3. That I could see as a useful thing given that a Raspberry Pi and monitor is a lot less expensive than any laptop.

Beyond something to run the app on, you also need an FMS and some robots. Though if you scroll to the bottom of the hamburger menu you can watch recorded data from last spring. It's from an actual match, but it's been manually edited to generate any possible field notification message.

Why would you be use this instead of a Panasonic Toughbook running Firefox and a web app you ask? Well, this version graphs voltage, trip time and radio signal strength so you can quickly see those stats during a match. More interesting is the notification function. When the app sees an Ethernet, DS IP, Radio, RIO or code error for a particular robot it will pop up a notification. If you happen to have a Microsoft Band, those notifications can pop up on your wrist as well.

It should be able to save you several seconds in identifying issues during a match because it actively notifies you of an issue rather than relying on you noticing a robot stopping on field or glancing at the Field Monitor to see the issue.

Some things to know.

• This is not sanctioned by FIRST. It establishes the same passive read only connection the Field Monitor web app does so it shouldn't adversely impact the FMS or field network and in testing I've seen no problems. Even so, I'd limit the use to off season events for the moment.
• Settings do not persist, Each time you start the app you'll have to set the FMS IP, unless it happens to be the same as my own off season FMS.
• While there is a button labeled "Add FTA note" on the pop up notifications it does not actually do anything at this point.
• A pre-start clears all data. So you can only see the graphs until the next match is pre-started.
• You can't disable pre-start notifications. That's a bug that was fixed right after I submitted it to the store.