[FTC]: Field Management Software Review

[PhilBot]

We tried out the FMS this weelend to test our code and run matches.

It was VERY COOL. I can't imagine why anyone thought this program would be too complicated for teams to use. (Let's face it, if we figured out how to build and program our robots, this was a snap

Connecting to the NXT with USB to read the team name and then initiate the Bluetooth worked much better than most of the other Bluetooth connection methods we've been using. We had our team practice the full pre-match hookup and setup.

It's fun having a second monitor hooked up to the laptop to display the MatchTimer on a screen all by itself.

We just had two controllers and one robot so the matches were very one-sided

As for the question of whether the "End Match" or "End Of Autonomous" would halt the robot in the middle of a long movements... the results were very good.

I was surprized that most times the robot would correctly stop in the middle of a motion. We did have the occasional instance where the robot acted oddly while is was sitting there (shimmying back and forward), but that may have been a "regular" motor glitch

I guess the real answer here is that at the end of auto, the program is halted and the teleop program is started immediately in "Disable" mode. So the first commands issued in Teleop have the effect of resetting the motor controller back to idle.

This is the magic sequence that I wanted to discover to ensure that our robot would be code-legal. I'm confident now that we'll get through inspections... Phew...

*Thanks* FIRST, for making the FMS public so we can get through this transition.

Note: After having to manually reset for NXT for auto several times, I do wonder why the FMS isn't able to automatically start the bot in Auto AND teleop. I know the Chooser Program is used to put the name of the Teleop program in a text file so the FMS can know it... I wonder why BOTH program names arent done this way... then the match start could be fully hands-free Next year maybe ...