Part Restrictions

[Sixis]

i'm gonna have to use a rookie card on this one. I plan on looking but while i'm here can anyone tell me what sort of connections the cRIO can take? Serial? i2c?

I also want to apologize for my confusion and seemingly pointless topic however, i was under the firm impression that there was a limit to additional sensors/ components in addition to having to connect them through the cRIO. Thank you guys for clearing it up for me

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Sixis

i'm gonna have to use a rookie card on this one. I plan on looking but while i'm here can anyone tell me what sort of connections the cRIO can take? Serial? i2c?

The cRIO can take anything coming in from the Digital Sidecar, or on the CAN bus (which is some relative of the i2c).

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by EricH

or on the CAN bus (which is some relative of the i2c).

This is not really accurate, read up on CAN, it is at best a very very distant relative of i2c.

The cRIO can read analog and digital inputs, as well as i2c. There is also a serial connection on the cRIO but in the past FIRST has limited its use, of course rules don't always carry from year to year.

[Vikesrock]

Analog through the Analog Breakout, I2C and General Purpose Digital I/O through the Digital Sidecar (Can use multiple of these to set up SPI)

You can also utilize the CAN bus through either Ethernet port 2 using the 2CAN or through the serial port using a Black Jaguar.

[EricH]

I'll give you a general overview of the '90s rules.

You were limited to the KOP, a certain amount of raw material, and $X from Small Parts Inc. The KOP contained such items as a cordless drill, a dot-matrix printer (1992), and some other stuff of that nature, depending on the year.

Exactly what the raw material amounts were and what the cool stuff for you to take apart was depended on the year. The rules opened up around 2000, IIRC, and then some more later.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

John,
Some of the restrictive language is designed to make you think harder to overcome problems that other disciplines face everyday. (weightlessness for one and high temps for another) You can run parallel processing under certain conditions and many teams actually do. This year's game did not lend itself to as much of that as I have seen in the past. The output of the parallel processing can be very inventively ported through some of the digital inputs. The only restrictions that have and will remain is the need for all motor and power output devices to be controlled by the single main controller which this year is the Crio. This need revolves around the requirement to start and stop the robot under field control and to prevent any robot movement with a single command of the person in charge of the field. Bluetooth products may be used in the future but some controls will need to be added to prevent parallel operation which is not under field control. The size and weight, motor type and number, battery and control system all add to premise that all teams are forced to design around and for these added "virtual real world" problems. By doing so, teams are asked to design to a very strict list of problems in addition to the game. That actually adds to the creativity of the design rather than limit it. If you have any specific items that you don't think you could have used, please ask here or PM me and I will let you know if they were possible. I can also forward your comments to interested parties.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Sixis

i'm gonna have to use a rookie card on this one.

Rookie Card granted.

A closer examination of the rules shows that there are few real restrictions. Those that are real exist for safety.

Of course, some of the restrictions are there to just make our lives difficult force creativity.