pic: (447) How do YOU keep programmers out of the electronics?

[devicenull]

Originally Posted by pickle

But I do think that since electronics and programming are so related, its a good idea to have one team work on both. It keeps things less confusing. Last year we had to play the pick the pwm port game, where before almost every match they had rewired the PWM cables to different outputs because they didn't know which went where.

I found a really nice solution to this, provided you have someone who can follow a wire from one end to the other

//Left drive motors
#define drive_left_1 pwm01
#define drive_left_2 pwm02
//Right drive motors
#define drive_right_1 pwm03
#define drive_right_2 pwm04

I have a file full of those.. and I use the drive_left_1, etc in the code.. so when it comes time to wire the robot, I print the file, and then its just matching

Originally Posted by FreakyAntelope

Also, a rocker switch attached to the reset and program buttons in an easy to reach place is also a good idea.

Hrm, sounds like a good idea, I'll have to try that next year

I kind of learned electronics as I went.. Up until about a week ago, we had victors supported only by their wires on the practice bot, because I would wire them, and not know how to mount them, so they just kind of hung there.
Having to wait for someone to wire stuff up was not a fun way to do things, so it was much easier for me to learn to do stuff.. didn't seem that hard to do, other then verifying everything a couple of times.

Then again, I learned a lot this year.. the code would often be sitting waiting for someone to hook up the hardware.. with everything, pneumatics, wiring, etc... That happened until I started adding it myself.. then the program/spike/victor would be waiting for the actual robot component to be added.

Now I'm the first one called to the pit when something stops working, rather then last year, where they wanted me as far away from the robot as possible

[mtaman02]

Personally Having Sub-Teams and the team as a whole is good and bad.


Sub Teams Bad: Lack of Communication, Place of Blame is always diverted from the ones who caused the mess (Just be honest and say sorry its my fault - no reason to lie), If the person just comes around to "only program the robot" you run a very good risk of them not being able to show up and further complicating things.

Sub Teams Good: Your able to concentrate more at the matter at hand, You feel better that you have control as to whats going on and everyone else has to guess =), Brings in more team members who can find a place or their fortee - ( what they can do the best )

Personally I like having subteams, It gives everyone the time and place and order to which things should be done. First The Build Team builds the structure, Electrical Wires up the structure, Programmer comes in and tells the structure what to do. If for some reason the programmer sees that something would cause the program not to work he should consult someone before taking action. The only thing a programmer has say is where he would like the robot controller to be so he can access tether and programmers port -OR- which i have never seen yet:

A DB9 extension coming from both the tether and the Programming Ports and placed on the robot for easy access so that the programmer doesn't have to dig around / remove things to get access to the RC.

[rufu5]

A DB9 extension coming from both the tether and the Programming Ports and placed on the robot for easy access so that the programmer doesn't have to dig around / remove things to get access to the RC.

we put one of those on our robot ... then in the first regional, we took them of for weight ... ROFLOLMAOL!

its the little luxuries that go first

one good thing about sub teams is it lets the individual aspects of the robots be excelled beyond "just getting it done"

the small success our team has been blessed enough to have in the way of innovation awards, i like to believe, comes from specialization based on sub teams

if you just want to "wire up that there robot" yes, electronics is just wiring that anyone can do. but if you want to learn and excel, its best to have sub teams were you can concentrate and flourish in your individual area of interest

don't get me wrong though, everyone on our team is expected to be proficient in at least two "areas" so communication between sub teams is made much much easier

[JohnnyB]

Is that Victor an 883 or an 884? I can't tell...



(surprised no one said that yet)

[rufu5]

Its definitely a red 884 ( which are far more reliable than the blue ones )