Help for a rookie team?

[cjackson]

So, this is our first year competing in FRC and we are running into problem after problem. There really isn't any help around us. No other active teams in town, no past teams around, or willing to help, and our regional guy simply told us to post on here, and the FIRST Forums.

The problems we are having are as follows:

• We cannot get our robot code light to turn green on the driver station after several run-throughs of the setup PDF files.

• We are unclear on whether or not our Classmate should have Labview installed on it.

• If it does, how do we install it without a disc drive?

• If we aren't installing LabView onto the classmate, how do we get, and launch our code from the cRIO?

We're Rookies. I don't think we're incapable by any means, but we've been banging our heads against a wall trying to setup the classmate and cRIO since Kickoff and we've made very little progress.
I thought the Classmate was supposed to come with everything we need pre-installed, but instead, it seems, at least so far, that we're part of an unorganized wild goose chase when it comes to setting the electronic part of our robot.

I don't mean to sound whiny, but we really don't have much support or knowledge of what to do.

[CodeMonkeyMatt]

When you set up the classmate, did you image it with the flashdrive provided before doing anything else?

Also, what language are you using to program the robot?

[cjackson]

Yes, the image was the first thing we did. And we're using LabView.

I assumed LabView was preinstalled in the Classmate, but it isn't.

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by cjackson

I don't mean to sound whiny, but we really don't have much support or knowledge of what to do.

Welcome to ChiefDelphi!

You don't sound whiny Answering your legitimate questions is what we're here for, and as far as I can tell, your questions are legitimate. I don't have enough knowledge to answer them, but someone else in the the CD community can. You did a great job of stating your questions clearly and directly, which is going to get you more specific help. Good job!

[CodeMonkeyMatt]

Huh, that's odd. Unfortunately, I do not have access to our Classmate right now so I can't check, but I'm pretty sure that Labview was included on ours. We use Windriver though, so I never had reason to confirm that. If it turns out that you do need to install from the CD, what we did was put the CD into a computer with a drive, and then transfer the files to a flashdrive and run the installation from there.

And ditto with what Karibou said. I am new to posting on CD, but I have read these forums for a couple years now. The people on here are very helpful. I'm also not sure I have enough knowledge to help, but I'll see what I can do until someone better comes along.

Originally Posted by cjackson

Yes, the image was the first thing we did. And we're using LabView.

I assumed LabView was preinstalled in the Classmate, but it isn't.

[davidalln]

First of all, just take a step back and relax. Setting up the control system for the first time will be the most frustrating experience of your life, but once you get it done you'll be golden for the season.

Make sure that you have installed all of the updates on this page (you need an NI username/pass, but you can register for free).

As far as I know, LabVIEW is not on the Classmate this year. But the installation discs are in the Kit of Parts and you can use any laptop to load code onto the cRIO.

From the information you've given us, I have no idea how far you are in the process to setting up your control system. Can you tell us specifically what you have done so far? What is the "robot code" light? Are you getting a No Code error or a No Communication error?

In the meantime, take a look at the files the Uberbots have mirrored here under Logomotion Documents -> Control System. They may be able to help you out further.

[rsegrest]

I agree with Karibou this is the place to post these types of questions. Delphi has been one of the greatest resources we have had in my four years of doing this!

As far as your coding question I have a call out to my programmers to see if one of them can login from home to help you AND we used LabView until this year so we feel your pain.

[2829ron]

Cjackson,
Welcome to the world of FIRST! Don't worry it's lots of fun. Hey, I use Labview so if you need help you can PM me and I will try to answer your question. Hope you guys do well this year.

David
Team #2829

[cjackson]

I'm relaxing now Thanks guys, it's nice to know we aren't alone lol.

Ok, so as for what has already been done:

• We went through the How to Set Up Your 2011 Driver Station pdf with no problem. We imaged the classmate, set up Windows 7, ran the update, and set our team number. Oh and the AVG trial.

• We then installed the other 2 updates

• Next we went through the How to Configure your cRIO pdf. We have been through it many times, step by step, taking in every word, but at the end, the Robot Code light will not turn green, as the pdf says it should. Hence problem 1.

• To trouble shoot this, we tried writing some code to put onto the cRIO using the logic that if we hadn't put any code on, the light won't light up. So we used the 10 minute video "FIRST Robotics Competition: Joystick Motor Control in 10 Minutes" from the NI site to see how to put code on. Since our Classmate does not have LabView on it, we used my laptop which I am typing on now, to attempt to put code onto it.

This is where we ran out of time. One of our Mentors who knows programming well, was able to run some vi that checks a port or something on the cRIO. I don't really know what it did, but it like checks the status and syncs it with a slot or something. I'm still learning how this works and have not grasped it yet, as you can probably tell.

Also what do you need installed to put code onto the cRIO? just LabView? Is there a way to put code on using the Classmate if LabView is not installed?

[Jason Law]

This may seem like a dumb question, but I'm assumingthe rest of your control system is set up correctly?

And yes, if you are using Labview you must have Labview on the classmate (if that is the device you use to deploy your programs)... If you use your laptop, then the classmate does not need Labview I believe...

[~Cory~]

I would check and make sure that the physical cRIO is set up properly. I think your mentor may have done this, but connect a serial cable to the cRIO and read the output. Any potential errors will pop up then. If you can't find anything post the output here so we could take a look.

[cjackson]

What do you go to to read the output?

[sam_who]

Originally Posted by cjackson

What do you go to to read the output?

There is a DB9 on the cRIO. You can connect this to a serial port (direct connect or via a USB dongle) on your PC. Using a terminal program (like hyperterminal), you can view messages as your cRIO boots. I believe the comm setup is 9600 baud, 8 bits, no parity and 1 stop bit. Also, I'm pretty sure you only need three pins connected: 2, 3 and 5. I can't remember whether 2 or 3 is transmit (or receive).

To use the DB9, one of the rocker dip switches on the cRIO needs in the correct position. Can't remember which one. Can't remember what position.

[ATannahill]

You said you installed two updates, IIRC there were three. A LabVIEW update, utilities update and driver station update.

Are you deploying the code or just running it?

Are you remembering to build the code first?

[dsmith14469]

When deploying code you also have to make sure you use the "Run on Start" or something close to that. If this option is not chosen the code will download to the CRio but not run when the CRio is powered on.