New Subsystem or Miss a Packet

[magic31415]

Hi. I am currently working on code in Java for the Drive Train using Netbeans and WPI templates. We have pneumatic gear shifters on the wheels which work just fine. However, due to the way the robot is programmed, only one command can be executed on each subsystem at a time. Since I put the shifter and the drive wheels on the same subsystem, the shifter must 'interrupt' the wheels. This does not seem to be an issue since the wheels will only be interrupted for one packet of information while the gear shift is sent (about 30 ms). This missed information is not visible, but the stopping of the motor may be unhealthy for the robot in the long term. So, should I make a separate subsystem for the shifter so the drive motors don't turn off or does it not really matter?

Thanks!

Max Corwin
North Shore High School, Team 3950