Future Technology?

[Vikesrock]

I saw a presentation on the FIRST Robotics Conference schedule called "FRC Future Technology Showcase".

Could anyone that attended this share a brief overview of what the Future Technology is for those of us that weren't down in Atlanta or couldn't make the presentation?

[j_johnson]

The first thing is that we will have a choice of using Java next year. See http://sunspotworld.com/frc/Welcome.html.

The second is that somewhere in the future, the CAN bus will be opened to us on the Jaguars. There is a PID controller in the Jaguar that can be used to control position or speed of the motor, plugging a potentiometer or quadrature encoder directly into the jaguar. It can also use voltage control directly, similar to the pwm signal we have now, or a current control to provide a constant torque with the motor.

We will also be able to read the current going to the motors as well as the temperature of the Jaguars through the CAN bus.

[360skier]

Also, it was announced that either a completely new Driver Station was going to be issued, or a thorough overhaul of the current technology could be expected.

[animus_nero]

Well, it's not necessary future tech, but they explained the many ways in which teams can utilize the FPGA to their advantage. From what I remember, there was something about robot positioning and analog sensors. Unfortunately, they ran out of time and were unable to elaborate on all of the 30+ slides they had on the subject.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by animus_nero

Well, it's not necessary future tech, but they explained the many ways in which teams can utilize the FPGA to their advantage. From what I remember, there was something about robot positioning and analog sensors. Unfortunately, they ran out of time and were unable to elaborate on all of the 30+ slides they had on the subject.

Will this information be published? I know that I was stuck in Scholarship Row all weekend instead of getting to see the cool seminars and stuff.

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Will this information be published? I know that I was stuck in Scholarship Row all weekend instead of getting to see the cool seminars and stuff.

I recall Brad Miller of WPI saying that many of the presentations would be available on the WPI FIRST site "later next week" i.e. this week.
I assume they will be posted on ThinkTank http://thinktank.wpi.edu (I wasn't taking proper notes, so maybe another attendee could confirm the location)