possible solution to the static problem

[BHOP]

have we determined that static is the main cause for strange cRio resets while on the field?

I was just wondering because we ran into a strange phenomena while at the lansing district quarter finals. It left our alliance dead in the water, then soon after they had full field problems.

I would describe what happened as a huge hit between our robot and the side of the field, followed by what the field tech said was a cRio reset(they check the packets...)

this caused our robot to be disabled for about 20 seconds while it regained connection to the field. By that time we had all ready been "dumped" on, and plus our other alliance member was having some serious field related issues as well.

Anyways just curious if static was determined to be the main issue with this years game?

[EricVanWyk]

Originally Posted by BHOP

Anyways just curious if static was determined to be the main issue with this years game?

It was certainly in style to blame static weeks 1 and 2 for everything, and it was probably the cause for a majority of the problems. The drag chains seem to have fixed that. I was in Philly this weekend, and all of the robot troubles I saw on the field could be traced back to a non-static problem.

For example, one team had a piece of debris in their cRIO's ethernet port and another had broken off the retaining clip on the cable.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Several things to respond to here.
Drag chains were added and in place in Milwaukee but so was the ample use of staticide spray at all exposed carpet boundaries on the field. As were all regionals that week and beyond. No static issues were reported to me at Boilermaker.
A CRIO showing loss of packets and then a 20 second loss of control is more indicative of a loss of power to the Crio and subsequent reboot than a static issue. As Bob has pointed out, the static issue has been related to the DS which lacks any static protection particularly on the ethernet ports. A power loss during a hard hit with the field or another robot is not uncommon as well as disconnected 37 pin connectors. Although the main breaker is robust, it may not remain connected during a severe shock depending on it's orientation and mounting. The contacts have a relatively low mass but a multi G shock may inject noise or momentary open circuit under this condition.