Building an arena controller

[cdawzrd]

To Miketwalker: I have read the manuals. The system you are talking about sets the LED colors based on the channels that teams can set on the channel switches. There are only two channels that have a blue color, therefore Triple Play wouldn't work that well... Also, the goal was to see if we could set the channel externally without the hassle involved (changing the team number MSB and getting every team to change their channel switches correctly).

To dez250: The reason we are doing this is 95% for the fun of hacking together (the good sense of the word) the back-end control system, not to have official stuff. We also don't have any money :-)

Note that the OI doesn't HAVE to receive power from the Arena Controller---we would have them bring their bricks to plug in. Same goes for the radio modems, we would have teams do it the old way.

We merely would have this system _available_ in the case we want to have an off-season event. As a programmer and electrical person, I would be doing it for the fun of it.

Also, no offense, but enough with the disclaimers. I have seen an OI blow up because of a miswired comp port dongle. We will be taking precautions and doing extensive testing before actually using the system with other teams' OI's.

[miketwalker]

Originally Posted by cdawzrd

Also, no offense, but enough with the disclaimers. I have seen an OI blow up because of a miswired comp port dongle. We will be taking precautions and doing extensive testing before actually using the system with other teams' OI's.

I wasn't necessarily placing the disclaimer just towards you, but if some person comes along reading this thread and says "OH I SHOULD DO THAT!" and when they blow something up say that I helped them out with ideas... I'm not in the mood to be yelled at and have people say I suggested something that cost them alot of money because of a mess up.

[dez250]

Alan and all, as far as i have been told by IFI up to last year 4 channels were available to everyone to practice with so you could scrimmage. This year 6 are available for the same reason. Now to access the other 34 the Firmware that is in your RC and the Firmware thats in the Arena Controller have sections that do some of that. Without IFI equipment you really cant open all 40 channels yourself.

[cdawzrd]

For everyone's reference, here's how you select the channels: Set the MSB of the team number (to make the team number higher than 2048) while having the OI tethered to the RC. Then, select a new channel from the six and reset.

I realize that it would be easy enough to get everyone in a scrimmage to set their team numbers correctly and then assign them channels. However, the idea behind this thread was to learn more about how the Arena Controllers work to set the OTHER 34 channels, not to be able to quickly hold an off-season event.

[Josh Hambright]

I put together a white paper on the last day of the build season explaining changing the channel with the 2005 system.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pa...le&paperid=445

[cdawzrd]

Well, if we cannot get something setup to act like an arena controller and automatically set the channel, so be it.

To CJO - This is how we were going to do the system:

A laptop with serial port to an IFI robot controller (2004 model). This would be the "arena controller." It would have a little bit of circuitry to hook together the auton mode switches into one digital output and wire the six disable switches to more digital outputs, then have some digital inputs running to a control board with instant disable switches for the six teams. The laptop would be running a program to have serial communication with the IFI controller, telling it when to start a match and when to go autonomous, etc. That would handle the timing. It would also be talking to a custom program on another computer over a network, that computer would be hooked up to the video mix and display the countdown timer and scoreboard.

I am currently working on all three of those programs:
-the display program: 10% done
-the master control program: 0% done
-the IFI-RC master program: 15% done.

Once those get a little closer to public release, I will set up a website somewhere and post them for anyone interested.

[devicenull]

Before you wire all the auton switches together, check what happens when the disable AND auton switches are connected. I'm thinking it will disable anyway, but the last thing you want is a robot running around by itself in auto mode with no way of stopping it.

How are you planning on creating the human player pads? We've been interested in building one, but can't really find a way. Wiring its no problem though.

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by devicenull

How are you planning on creating the human player pads? We've been interested in building one, but can't really find a way.

We simulated the human player pads at a pre-ship competition we held using some dead-man's switches. Basically, a momentary switch that is normally-closed (turned ON) unless you press it, then it opens up. We placed the switches where the pads should have been. This way, the HP has to hold the switch down for their robot to stay enabled, and when they let go to go deliver a tetra their robot is automatically disabled. It worked really well.

[steven114]

Originally Posted by devicenull

Before you wire all the auton switches together, check what happens when the disable AND auton switches are connected. I'm thinking it will disable anyway, but the last thing you want is a robot running around by itself in auto mode with no way of stopping it.

IIRC, it does exactly what you would expect - runs autonomous mode but does not move.

[cdawzrd]

The controller will operate the field the same way the IFI stuff does--keep the robots disabled until the match is started, then enable autonomous mode. Disable does prevent auton mode from doing anything, as it affects the master controller in addition to the user processor, but that won't be an issue.

Also, each individual station will be controllable in terms of disabling robots before or during the game. We will have e-stop buttons and disable switches on the master controller to disable robots for hazards or violations.

You can build floor mats with a little floor mat, a piece of plexi or aluminum to cover the bottom (insulate the metal though) and some strips of metal. Glue one strip to the bottom of the mat, then one stripto the underlying material (wood/plexi/insulated metal). These wires go out to connectors to the RC dig ins on the master controller. Then, you put strips of nonconductive material around the conductive strips, springy stuff like folded pieces of cardboard or something else that is springy but low-profile.

I have tested the mat idea before for use in a haunted house :-D it works. We will probably have overrides in case the mats fail during a match.

[ConKbot of Doom]

Anyone with an OI open, could you try to hook the microprocessor up to a programmer with ICSP (in circuit serial programming) capability, then try to read the hex off of the chip. I know that the guys at IFI are probably smart enough to use code protection, but it might be worth a shot. Then just disassemble the hex to get the assembly. Might not be super helpful to have the assembly, but it would be better than nothing.

Just my thought...

[cdawzrd]

Originally Posted by ConKbot of Doom

Anyone with an OI open, could you try to hook the microprocessor up to a programmer with ICSP (in circuit serial programming) capability, then try to read the hex off of the chip. I know that the guys at IFI are probably smart enough to use code protection, but it might be worth a shot. Then just disassemble the hex to get the assembly. Might not be super helpful to have the assembly, but it would be better than nothing.

Two reasons why I won't do that:

1) reverse-engineering the OI would probably get IFI people pissed more quickly than just messing with it

2) I am the only person working on this for now, and not being a genius programmer, have no clue how to take assembly code and figure out serial data structure from it...