FRC Blog - myRIO Expansion Port - It's back!

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http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...-Port-Its-back

Today’s blog post was written by Kate Pilotte, FRC Kit of Parts Manager.

I’ve received approval to let you know that MXP rules will remain the same for the 2016 FRC season (Reference last year’s blog introducing the MXP and R43, R57, and R58 from the 2015 Competition Manual).

Image credit: ni.com/frc

These rules were written so if you’re using the MXP for sensors, lights, or anything else that isn’t going to actually move or cause movement, the sky’s the limit and you can do whatever custom circuitry you like via the MXP. Remember though that upon disable, the 10 pins that double as PWM pins will also be disabled – so don’t use those pins for anything on which you’ll rely while your robot’s disabled.

As soon as you decide to use those PWM pins to cause robot parts to move (and you're not connecting via options A or B), you’ll have to use an approved device that FIRST has pre-vetted and listed in the manual as legal. This is to ensure that when those 10 pins are disabled, that disable signal that’s so important to us isn’t obscured or interrupted. It’s also an attempt to keep the inspection of that clean, simple, and objective.

We are interested in approving additional devices for the 2016 rules and think the process we used last year worked well. If you’re interested in getting a device approved, here’s the requirements list:

1. The Active Device must be designed and produced such that

A. PWM pins must be a direct pass-through
B. the breakouts for PWM pins are visibly obvious

2. Complete proposals must be received by frcparts@usfirst.org by November 27, 2015. FIRST will review and provide feedback and legality decision within one week of receipt. Legality is considered confidential until disclosed publicly by FIRST (which will be published by Kickoff, at the latest).

3. To be considered complete, proposals must include the following components

A. At least 5 device samples.
B. A description of how inventory and distribution will be managed such that devices will be commercially available to the FRC community.
C. Submitted by or in conjunction with a company that meets the 2015 definition of "VENDOR".
D. Preliminary documentation (e.g. user guide, specification sheet, etc.) and description of other relevant user resources (e.g. videos, websites, etc.)
E. Device pricing.

There’s no prohibition on sending descriptions, documentation, and other information ahead of the samples.

While it’s not required, we do recommend that any Active Device accommodate a pass-through for any unused pins so users can still access them.

NI has provided a comprehensive roboRIO MXP Developer’s Guide with all the tools and guidelines you'll need to create your custom MXP board. The dev kit includes free access to NI's Multisim circuit SPICE software, Ultiboard, PCB layout software, templates, examples, and tutorials that will help you create any kind of board you want.

If you have any questions about this (surely I didn’t address everything in one blog!), we’ve created a forum in the 2016 FRC Beta Test Forum specifically for MXP discussion - please post your thoughts and questions there. If you’re interested in developing an Active Device and have questions about the approval process or your specific device, please send your question to frcparts@usfirst.org.

Thank you!