2009 Control System Possibility?

[Tim Skloss]

Originally Posted by Abwehr

Seriously, though, this move could be devastating for FIRST. Years of refinement went into the current OI/RC system, and it finally works well. Throwing all of that out the window makes zero sense to me from a technical point of view.

I completely agree and I hope FIRST is listening to this thread.

In order to keep veteran teams happy FIRST must at a minimum support:
-code portability between FTC and FRC control systems, many teams count on using VEX to develop autonomous code for their FRC robots
-Gameport interface on the OI, too many teams have custom controls
-support USB to give the others an easy way to use COTS controllers
-real time terminal window to read back messages from the RC
-Dashboard support is critical for debugging
-support industry standard programming languages and not just something proprietary
-allow programmers to work at the system level, you want to see smart and impressive machines in autonomous don't you?

As long as FIRST can guarantee that we will gain features instead of loose them we accept the change. But if they opt to toss something out in exchange for a new whiz-bang goodie (or cheaper costs) they risk alienating mentors and schools who have put a lot of effort developing curricula based on FIRST products.

I agree with many who have posted on this thread: the IFI equipment works very well for our needs. It isn't broken, so don't fix it.