Thank you to Kevin Watson

[mgurgol]

I would like to take a few minutes to say a big thank you to those people who have helped the FIRST community in the past.

With the announcement of the new control system, and all of the excitement and questions that has spawned, I just realized that I had not visitied Kevin's code repository in awhile. Without Kevin's help I know that my understanding of how sensors work and how they integrate into a program would be very limited.

I would like to thank Kevin Watson for all of the work he has done with FIRST, and for all of the assistance he has given over the past few years.

[cabbagekid2]

I'd like to second that!

Our team took a year off in 2004 and when we returned in 2005 we had to learn how to program in C (compared to Pre 2004). Without all of Kevin's examples and explanations I don't know how we would have managed to use both encoders and gyros they year after our break.

Thanks Kevin!

[billbo911]

Over the last 4 years, Kevin's work has been one of the greatest tool I have used to learn about C programming principals and sensor integration. Quite honestly, without his work, I would most likely still be in the dark.

THANKS KEVIN!!!

[Tom Line]

Totally agreed.

In '07, we relied on his encoder and camera code.
In '08, we relied on his gyro code.

Without him, most of that stuff will still be a mystery.

[Leav]

Yup, my team still refers to our code as "Kevin's code".

they learned a lot from it and added many things, but they know where the credit lies.

Kevin helped me out back in 2005 when I was a rookie with some Pascal programming skills (I knew really advanced stuff like case-switch statements and float variables ) and for every year since I have used and learned from Kevin's code.

Thanks Kevin!

-Leav

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by mgurgol

I would like to thank Kevin Watson for all of the work he has done with FIRST, and for all of the assistance he has given over the past few years.

It's been my great pleasure.

How's it going with the new control system? I've been super busy with my new day gig and haven't had much time to surf the forums to get a sense of how well teams are doing with the new system.

-Kevin

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by Kevin Watson

It's been my great pleasure.

How's it going with the new control system? I've been super busy with my new day gig and haven't had much time to surf the forums to get a sense of how well teams are doing with the new system.

-Kevin

Using LabView is a brave new world. Big learning curve, but well worth it.

[Mike Betts]

We are still using Kevin's code to develop traction control algorithms on an old controller and Kitbot chassis.

Indeed, Kevin's legacy lives on.

Thank you Sir...

Mike

[jamie_1930]

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't know Kevin, but from the sound of it he's done a lot so thank you Kevin. While we're on the subject of thanking those who have helped us I'd like to thank Rob Heslin as well. He did a lot for 1930 last year and wrote a lot of this years RIT powerpoints. For any teams interested they can be found here

[dpeterson3]

I did't get to use Kevin's code for more than just practice (i finally learned how to code last year's bot and then they switched controllers. Oh well). But Kevin's code was a big help learning. Thanks.

As per Kevin's question. I like C++. I don't like WindRiver. It doesn't work well. If anyonw knows a better one, please let me know.