2009 Control System Feature Wishlist

[qnetjoe]

The more that I think about various sensors, I would really like to see more rs-232/485 ports on the controller

[dtengineering]

Well, I'd really like to have a DWIM programming interface (Do What I Mean) as opposed to our current "Do What I Say" system. That would really make life easier, and allow our programming team to make full use of that half-hour period they get to work on the "finished" robot before it goes in the crate!

As far as sensors... the Banebots Encoders are nice... so I echo the requst for multiple quadrature encoder support in hardware. We've run up to four encoders at a time... although we used Banebots decoder board to simplify the inputs, it would still be nice to just have a plug'n'play hookup for multiple encoders. The maxbotix sonars are great, and while they work great with their easy-to-use analog interface they have a couple other modes as well that could be supported.

But my biggest request is that the whole system be tested on a very large scale (perhaps an off-season event) in the early autumn so that there is time to work out any bugs that show up when multiple systems run conncurrently in a public environment. We typically compete in Portland (a first weekend regional) and really hope we aren't serving as one of the first large-scale public testbeds for the new system.

Jason

[lynca]

Now that the controller can do I2C similar to the NXT, I would like to see drivers on the cRio for all Lego NXT sensor products.

Mindsensors - http://www.mindsensors.com/
Hitechnic - http://www.hitechnic.com/

In terms of interfaces, here is my priority list,
1. I2C
2. Serial Ports
3. Quadrature Encoders
4. Analog
5. SPI

Eventually having more interfaces for SparkFun's huge product line would be nice as well,
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/cat...hp?cPath=23_85 an IMU would make life so much easier

[jhersh]

Originally Posted by lynca

Now that the controller can do I2C similar to the NXT, I would like to see drivers on the cRio for all Lego NXT sensor products.

Mindsensors - http://www.mindsensors.com/
Hitechnic - http://www.hitechnic.com/

In terms of interfaces, here is my priority list,
1. I2C
2. Serial Ports
3. Quadrature Encoders
4. Analog
5. SPI

Eventually having more interfaces for SparkFun's huge product line would be nice as well,
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/cat...hp?cPath=23_85 an IMU would make life so much easier

The NXT has 4 I2C sensor ports on it that are used as a point-to-point bus, and as such, every sensor has the same address. You are only be able to put one NXT sensor on a given I2C bus.

SparkFun.com is awesome.

-Joe

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by qnetjoe

The more that I think about various sensors, I would really like to see more rs-232/485 ports on the controller

Your wish is granted!

Well for one RS-232 port, at any rate. Certainly better than none, and there are RS-232 and RS-485 expansion modules available that we might get to use in the future.

[petek]

This is probably more a function of the master control routines, rather than a user function, but I'd like to see more comprehensive diagnostics indications on the robot and OI. For example, on the robot: a status display indicating go/no-go status of the robot control hardware, digital sidecar, battery charge level and wireless connectivity. On the driver control OI: display the OI & robot status, field control state (enabled/disabled, autonomous/teleoperation, e-stop), plus wireless status and packet loss, etc. for diagnosing robot communications issues.

[AustinSchuh]

I would like to be able to interface one of these to the bot.

http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R93-SRF04.html

[dcbrown]

gryo w/drift compensation and programmable op-amp gain (similar to those used on model helicopters like ICG400).

sensorless motor feedback using back emf measurement sync'd with pwm cycle (i.e. automatically interrupt pwm setting, substituting neutral for a couple of cycles, but sync'd with start of pulse train). programmable op-amp gain would be a bonus. Should be available on any pwm output, but would require A/D channel to get the measurement. Would need sync signal on when to acquire analog sample.

[Jon236]

I would like to see the LabView PID toolkit included in the KOP.

[rfolea]

Design the entire system so it is easy (and inexpensive) for off season events and individual teams to build their own field controller system, using nothing more than a laptop, a wireless router and an NI USB 6008 or 6009 multifunction IO module or two (ie COTS materials).

Field controller software would be an open source download. Install it and go. Ideally, this would be a Labview App.

This would include built-in monitoring and diagnostics, of course.

With 1500 teams testing it out for 6 weeks we might get a lot of valuable feedback prior to the events themselves ...

[thefro526]

Maybe it's already in the works but, I'd love to have an easy way to get program info without a computer. So possibly a built in text LCD or something similar.

[usbcd36]

It would be nice to be able to set certain constants without having to reprogram (for PID tuning and such). Something on the OI would be nice.

[tdlrali]

Let us customize the information displayed on the OI - Possibly even full control of the LCD.

[ay2b]

Of the items not yet mentioned, the most important one to me is to be able to program it entirely from Linux (use of Wine is acceptable).

[jhersh]

Originally Posted by ay2b

Of the items not yet mentioned, the most important one to me is to be able to program it entirely from Linux (use of Wine is acceptable).

I'm not sure if the tools will work with Wine, but I'm sure you can use the tools in a VM running Windows on Linux. That's not to say that it won't run on Wine, I just haven't tried it.

-Joe