E- Stop and The New FRC Control System

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

Yes, I Know there are provisions for a diable and e-stop. How ever it appears that these are easily by passed and are not intrinsic to the operation.

Originally Posted by Ken Streeter

Actually, with the new Driver Station, the robot defaults to disabled unless the "competition port" is connected. (With the prior IFI system, the default was to enable the robot if nothing is connected to the competition port.)

I think this answers GDeaver's question. I can probably speak to the mindset behind his question though. I imagine his concern is that the IFI disable switch was nowhere close to actual E-Stop functionality. That is, the disable was a normally open connection, so it could completely fail to stop the robot if it, say, were unplugged by a rampaging robot or had some lint on the switch contact. True E-Stops should rely on a normally closed connection. Preferably two in series. That way, if the E_Stop circuit is unplugged, the wires are cut, or a solder joint comes loose, the robot will refuse to operate. Two NC switches also means that both have to fail to open for the E-Stop to fail, which is rather unlikely.

So, if the new DS always disables the robot without a (preferably normally closed) switch connected to the competition port, then all is well with the functioning of the new system. It can obviously still be jumpered around with a soldering iron, etc., but it generally makes it much more difficult to kill yourself.