cRio external 'co-processor' options

[Greg McKaskle]

I can't tell you much about the rules, but I can tell you that the serial port is accessible.

Greg McKaskle

[EHaskins]

Originally Posted by Greg McKaskle

I can't tell you much about the rules, but I can tell you that the serial port is accessible.

Greg McKaskle

Thanks, that what I needed to know.

[EricVanWyk]

I think we are all curious - what is this co-processor you are adding?

[Joe Ross]

There is also an I2C port.

[EHaskins]

Originally Posted by EricVanWyk

I think we are all curious - what is this co-processor you are adding?

I don't want to talk about the details, yet. I will say I'm not really going to be doing any processing that requires an external processor, but I now have a functional prototype and I'm concerned about the time involved porting and debugging it on another platform.

If I have time once the new system ships I will probably port it over, but I want to plan for the very likely scenario where I don't have that much time.

Originally Posted by David Brinza

Past rules will not necessarily apply to what will be allowed in 2009, but "co-processors" and other custom circuits were allowed on robots, subject to cost limits ($400).
...
But, before I'd worry about how to interface external processing capability, I'd want to understand what the cRIO system can do itself!

My current prototype is using a system which is far less than $400, and I'm not concerned that the cRio couldn't handle what I'm doing. I don't believe the time involved to port my current project to the cRio is worth the effort if I can simply interface with my existing hardware using a relativity simple protocol.

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

There is also an I2C port.

Didn't know that, thanks.

[tdlrali]

How much data do you have to transfer? If it's just motor values (since your co-processor mustn't control motors directly, correct?), then serial should be adequate.

[EHaskins]

Originally Posted by tdlrali

How much data do you have to transfer? If it's just motor values (since your co-processor mustn't control motors directly, correct?), then serial should be adequate.

I've been testing with serial between my prototype and a PC, and that seems to be adequate.