Utlizing the Driver Station to Assist Autonomous Mode

[Vikesrock]

Switches or similar sensors either on the robot or on the driver station (value read during autonomous disabled and stored) are common ways to have multiple autonomous modes.

Before the match set the switches for the appropriate mode and you're all set.

You will be able to have 2^(N) modes where N is the number of switches used.

[Chris is me]

You can even use switches to set the number of seconds of delay you use in an autonomous with said switches. Could be useful for cooperation with alliance partners.

[DavidGitz]

Looks like I beat Greg to this. You can also use the virtual I/O on the Dashboard, same functionality without all that messy hardware! (Note: I love the messy hardware...)

[helenajoy]

Originally Posted by Vikesrock

Switches or similar sensors either on the robot or on the driver station (value read during autonomous disabled and stored) are common ways to have multiple autonomous modes.

What the names of such switches or sensors? Or do you have any tutorials that would help me to better understand them?

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

You can use digital or analog inputs and a multiple-position switch to tell the robot what you want it to do. Or you can put a selector on your driver station and have the robot remember its state before the match begins so it can be used during autonomous.

Where would I get a multiple-position switch and how would I program that? Do you know where I could get some examples or tutorials to follow?

Originally Posted by Chris is me

You can even use switches to set the number of seconds of delay you use in an autonomous with said switches. Could be useful for cooperation with alliance partners.

What are these switches called?

Thank you so much for all of the great advice, guys!

[Tom Line]

By putting the necessary code into the "Disabled" VI, you can create a small VI to use joystick buttons to increment a global variable. Use that global variable in your autonomous VI to select the routine you want to run. You can feed this back to either a custom dashboard, or use the "User Messages" VI (which feeds back to the user display in the lower left of the driverstation) so you can actively watch what you're selecting.

In this manner you don't need to build any switch, and can select the routine to run after your drivers hook everything up on the field and turn the robot on.

Remember: Disabled only means that outputs on the robot aren't set. Your code in the disabled VI is still running, so you can do work there.

[Team1824]

how could you use joystick buttons to increment a global variable?