Classmate Netbook

[Biolore]

Can you use the classmate Driver station to control things on the robot, or does everything have to be from a controller and autonomous?

[Alan Anderson]

I don't think you phrased that in a way that will get you a useful answer.

The answer to the question I see there is this: Yes, you can use the Driver Station to control the robot. In fact, you must use the Driver Station software in order for the robot to function. You don't have to run it on a Classmate, as any recent Windows computer with an Ethernet connection should be able to support it, but you do need it. You can make everything autonomous if you want to, but you probably shouldn't.

(The answer to a question I think you might be asking instead is this: The MINIBOT doesn't have to have something called a controller, but it must be completely autonomous once it has separated from the HOSTBOT.)

[Biolore]

I want to make preset heights for an arm (I'm my team's programmer), but I don't want to make the arm only be able to go to the preset heights. I just want to know if I can put buttons on the driver station on the Classmate (or whatever laptop is used) in order to tell the arm to go to some predetermined height, within what is allowed in the teleop portion of the game.

[andreboos]

Teams are allowed to create custom control boards using the Cypress I/O board. You can wire up physical controls (dials, arcade buttons or joysticks) to the board and read their values from the robot.

[Biolore]

Ok, but can you put virtual buttons on the dashboard to be used during the game?

[Zuelu562]

Originally Posted by Biolore

Ok, but can you put virtual buttons on the dashboard to be used during the game?

From personal experience from last year, NOT in the DRIVER STATION section (the lower half). The Dashboard (the upper half), however, can be changed through the use of LabView, and I would assume it's possible.

[Bot190]

As far as I know, you can not send data back from the Dashboard to the robot, so if you wanted to use something other than a joystick to set the height, you would have to use the cypress I/O board.

[Owen Meaker]

Originally Posted by Biolore

Ok, but can you put virtual buttons on the dashboard to be used during the game?

You cannot put virtual buttons on the dashboard, but there are already some there on the input tab. You can use these if you wish. I used them last year to set driver settings (eg. inversing the controls for the people who like it that way).