What are we supposed to do!?!?!?!??!?!

[Bomberofdoom]

We've went over the code, looked a bit at the functions and other macro stuff.

But we don't have a clue what's going on there!
What's with the PWMs?
Where's the parts with the engines moving?
What are we supposed to write?(as in, in the intilazation, what happens there, the autonomus, what do we use; in the free part, what needs to be modeled....


WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!?!?!
(sorry, just totally desprate trying to understand what we need to do while we're being shouted at from every direction, being asked to start writing while we have no clue what to do).

[Qbranch]

If youre totally lost and havent programmed before, I'd suggest that you use the easyC, personally its not my favorite but it is easy to get started... you can find it in your KOP.

The 'pwm's are pulse width modulators, in effect they control the speed of motors. If you want more detailed explanation I'll be happy to give you one. From the programming interface the pwm drives are insanely easy to use, just remember that 127 is neutral, 254 is full forward, and 0 is full reverse. Everywhere in between is variable power output on the motors in forward and reverse directions.

hopefully that answers a few questions, if you have more, i'll be happy to answer them.

-Q

[Bomberofdoom]

Yes, I know about the PWM numbers of forward and backwards and I'm expirienced with C(even with Visual c++), but what am I supposed to do now? You say the drive system is easy, but I don't understand what am I supposed to look at that it shows that it's easy!
I've asked someone from another team in my country and from what I understood, he said that it is all written there.
But I don't see it! I only see that they put the values of p1_y(which is what?!?!) to pwm01 and all kind of other stuff, but I don't see anything with number values(mabye except with the leds). Is that where I'm supposed to write the engines part??

[Gdeaver]

If your using MPLAB and you find yourself blown away, dazed and confused, I would heed the EASY-C recommendation. There are several Easy-C totorials included in the software and online.

[Bomberofdoom]

But we don't know what to do in EasyC. We're used to raw C code. These blocks are confusing(safe, but confusing).

[Francis-134]

Originally Posted by Bomberofdoom

But we don't know what to do in EasyC. We're used to raw C code. These blocks are confusing(safe, but confusing).

If you are at all confused by anything in easyC, simply press F1 on the keyboard and go to the help file. Similarly, there is a button on every block that will bring you directly to the help page about that block. Intelitek spent literally months writing the help file. It is extremely detailed about every function included in easyC Pro.

[P1d40n3]

Originally Posted by Bomberofdoom

Yes, I know about the PWM numbers of forward and backwards and I'm expirienced with C(even with Visual c++), but what am I supposed to do now? You say the drive system is easy, but I don't understand what am I supposed to look at that it shows that it's easy!
I've asked someone from another team in my country and from what I understood, he said that it is all written there.
But I don't see it! I only see that they put the values of p1_y(which is what?!?!) to pwm01 and all kind of other stuff, but I don't see anything with number values(mabye except with the leds). Is that where I'm supposed to write the engines part??

p1_y -> Port 1's y-axis (Ie: The y-axis of the joystick plugged into port 1)

pwm01 -> this is the code representation of PWM01 on the RC

the code pwm01 = p1_y would map the y-axis of port 1's joystick to PWM output 1.

I recommend the RC Reference guide, found here. Reading that should answer your questions.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

These power points taught me to program the robot 4 years ago. The code has changed a little since then but the concepts are still the same.
http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...nt.aspx?id=482
Watch all of them.

[SoD]

Hello, I am from team 2230 too.

We have a default code in our mplab program (like everyone else).
What are we supposed to change in it? It seem to be quite complete

[Bomberofdoom]

We already went through the presentation of the C and it didn't give us the real help. It told us where to go but not specifically what to do(yes, write your autonoms code. But what values, varibles, functions etc. are we supposed to use in it?).
What really helped was the the RC reference guide, thx!

[jakk]

Remember that this program actually runs in a HUGE loop. In other words, the program runs through lots of times per second. Program will check the status of the Operator Interface and will adjust the values of the PWMs accordingly. This is how the robot is able to have variable speeds.

As for the PWMs, looks in user_routines.c and look around for the "pwm=xx;" where xx is a number or perhaps another variable like the value of the joysticks.

The default code provided by FIRST controls the Kitbot rather nicely. If hooked up correctly, the Kitbot can move with either 1 joystick or 2.


-----------------------------
The following explaination is based off of the code we used 2 years ago. I'm sorry if I get some things wrong and if I do, please correct me. It has been 2 years since I was a programmer.

void User_Initialization (void)
this is where you initialize the ports on the RC. In other words, you are setting those pins on the Robot Controller to do something, like be an output(gives out power) or input(receives a signal for a sensor).

void Default_Routine(void)
this is where the controls are at. Remember how I said that the program runs in a HUGE loop? Well this is part of that loop. This function looks at all the values of the Operator Interface (like the joystick values) and through some "if" and "else" statements, it can control the motor's speed.

---------------------------------------

Like Qbranch said, easyC is a good introduction to C programming. I think it is setup so there is an "operator control" section and "autonomous" section so it well orgranized.

[Matt Krass]

There is a function in user_routines.c called Default_Routine(). This is basically your playground, this function runs about 38 times a second (26.2 milliseconds) and you put all your logic in here. Your OI data (joystick values, buttons pushed) is all available in aptly named variables (p1_y, p2_x, p2_sw_trig, etc) that you can check with if statements. For example to make the trigger on the joystick connected to Port 1 drive the robot forward and your motors are on pwm01 and pwm02 you might try this:

// in Default_Routine()
...
	if(p1_sw_trig) // If the trigger is pushed
	{
		pwm01 = 255; // Left motor full speed forward
		pwm02 = 0; // Right motor full reverse since it's likely facing the  opposite direction
	}
	else // Trigger is not pushed
	{
		pwm01 = 127; // Motor stopped;
		pwm02 = 127; // Motor stopped;
	}

Note this is not a recommend way to drive, you're better off mapping the pwm outputs to the joystick inputs like this:

...
pwm01 = p1_y;

That should be enough for you to get started, it's all just basic logic.
Good luck!

[Bomberofdoom]

Originally Posted by Bomberofdoom

Autonomous Mode means that the RC will ignore all data from the Operator Interface and it will not
require a link with the Operator Interface to execute code.

If you wish to run the Robot Controller exclusively in Autonomous Mode, one way to do this is to set
your team number to zero. This is done by setting the team number on your OI to zero, linking your OI
and RC by tether, and then disconnecting from tether. After your RC is reset it will be in Autonomous
Mode.

To exit Autonomous mode if your team number is zero, you must re-tether and change the team number
to anything but zero.

An additional method for getting into Autonomous Mode is described in the Operator Interface
Reference Guide in the “Competition Control LED” section. See the Programming Reference Guide for
details on how to program for Autonomous Mod

Where is the team number value?(which source file?)

[Bomberofdoom]

Ok, so I read about the joystick movment thing.
Do we need to build that code of if's? Do we need to make these macros to check the joystick axis status?

[jakk]

Actually, can't you make something that will simulate the master controllers used at FIRST? You can connect some switches to that 'competition' port on the top and run either autonomous or disable the robot. Not really sure what pins but it can be done.