Anyone interested in a Linux-based robot solution?

[taichichuan]

Originally Posted by gvarndell

Mike, I have the deepest respect for you, but NOOOOOOO!
I was really hoping we could reduce the number of 'no robot code' problems next year -- not catapult them off the chart. ;-)

Hey George!

I found that a lot of the 'no robot code' problems were because the kids couldn't deal effectively with the "download to a foreign O/S and get it deployed" issues of the FIRST-specific tab in Workbench. Obviously, I'm C++ centric and I can't comment on the issues encountered by the Java or Labview-based teams. But, I'm thinking more along the lines of simply having a SAMBA mount or NFS mount and drag and drop via file manager/Explorer (or via the FIRST tab which was really just an FTP session with a specific target name anyway). It would be a lot easier for folks if they could just see the file system using tools they're already familiar with. Of course, I did it with filezilla and bypassed the FIRST deploy code thing entirely. But, that was because I knew the target O/S pretty well.

Now, I've built hundreds of systems on both O/S platforms over the years. And, I'm finding that many of my customers are having a lot less trouble with Linux because it's more familiar. Please, don't misunderstand. I *like* VxWorks. But, the kids really don't get much time to play with the O/S because it only runs on the one platform. Also, their perception on the O/S is limited because much of what they see is the WPILib, and not the underlying O/S. Maybe if we had a viable copy of the VxWorks simulator with WPILib support, things would be different. What, specifically, are your concerns with Linux?

However, another aspect of this discussion is getting a target that is cheap enough that teams can afford multiple processor boards for work while the robots are in transit or after the build season. Some teams are lucky enough to have multiple cRIOs. But, many teams from cash-strapped school systems can't afford the gear. For example, just the chassis for the cRIO is selling for $475 on EBay. That would buy 3 Beagleboards from Digikey with no additional cost for the development environment. Of course, VxWorks runs on ARM platforms as well. Is there a Beagleboard port?

Also, there are a lot of inexpensive USB robot-oriented interfaces coming out. Using commodity USB cables *might* simplify the wiring and cable runs for rookie teams. I saw our kids spending a lot of time working with crimping tools and soldering irons. Not that that is a bad thing, mind you. I'm just thinking of ways to keep the kids thinking beyond the build season with something they could do at home or schools could do on a budget.

So, this is just positing ideas that could help address some problems that I've seen. And, your concerns are valid. That's part of why I started the thread. To get the concerns out on the table and find out if there's an interest and what the technical issues are.

Thanks for the reply.

Mike