help with LabVIEW framework

[Ether]

Our team is having some difficulty with the LabVIEW framework.

Here are the specifics:

- we built the real time application from the unmodified 2010 FRC Robot project.

- we right-clicked the application in the project explorer window and selected "run as startup"

- when it prompted to re-boot the cRIO we said yes

- the communication and robot code indicator lights on the FRC Driver Station went red (indicating that the cRIO was re-booting)

- the "communication" and "robot code" indicator lights on the Driver Station then turned green. the "stop button" light is yellow (we disabled the stop button)

- the FRC Driver Station indicates (via the diagnostics tab) that our joystick is joystick1.

- we clicked the "enable" button in the FRC Driver Station.

- the lights on the jaguars turned solid yellow.

- when the buttons on the joystick are pressed, the joystick indicator light in the FRC Driver Station diagnostics tab window turns from green to blue.

- BUT, when we move the joystick, the lights on the jaguars do not change.


If the above description lacks necessary detail, please tell us what is missing.


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[Alan Anderson]

That's a great description of what you did and what you're seeing. I don't notice anything wrong with the steps you took. It would help to know what the RSL on the Digital Sidecar is doing, and what the three power status LEDs show. Since the Jaguars go steady yellow when the robot is enabled, it looks like your wiring is correct, but it's always worth double-checking that you are correctly supplying power to the Digital Sidecar.

Do you see any activity on the PWM section of the Dashboard display when you move the joystick?



You did apply the LabVIEW and Driver Station updates, right?

[Ether]

<<You did apply the LabVIEW and Driver Station updates, right?>>

I did not personally do this, but I have asked more than once and have been assured that the updates were downloaded and applied. I will double-check this tonight (by asking the team) to make sure.

Is there a way to tell for sure that all the updates have been installed, like by looking at "Help About" or something like that?

I just went over to the USFIRST website to double-check this. I see there are 4 updates:

Mandatory LabVIEW Update - posted 09 Jan 2010

Mandatory Driver Station Update/Driver Station Installer (for use on any PC) - posted 09 Jan 2010

Fix for Driver Station Missing 'nicyapi.dll' Issue - posted 11 Jan 2010

CAN/Jaguar Update - posted 11 Jan 2010


Are there any other updates besides those listed above?



<<Do you see any activity on the PWM section of the Dashboard display when you move the joystick?>>

I will have the team check this. They did not have the Dashboard running at the time (we are using an XP laptop for development, not the classmate, because we wanted the classmate to remain "pristine" as advised in the FRC docs)



<<It would help to know what the RSL on the Digital Sidecar is doing, and what the three power status LEDs show.>>

Hate to be so clueless, but what is the RSL? I'm not sure my team will know what this means. Are the power status LEDs located on the power distribution board?


Thanks.

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[Mike Betts]

Originally Posted by Ether

...Hate to be so clueless, but what is the RSL? I'm not sure my team will know what this means...

Please read the manual:

<R59> ROBOTS shall use the diagnostic Robot Signal Light provided in the KOP. It must be mounted on the ROBOT such that it is easily visible while standing three feet in front of the ROBOT in the NORMAL CONFIGURATION. The team has no direct control over the light and no programming is required.
A. The Robot Signal Light must be connected to the “RSL” supply terminals on a Digital Sidecar (see the FRC Control System Manual, Section 3.5 and the item bulletin online at http://literature.rockwellautomation...063-177-01.pdf for connection details). These terminals provide power and control for the light.
B. The Digitial Sidecar must be connected to a NI 9403 module in Slot 4 of the cRIO-FRC. If it is connected through any other slot, the light will not function properly.
C. The light must be wired for “solid light” operation, by placing a jumper between the La and Lb terminals on the light.

[Mark McLeod]

Here's a photo of the status lights Alan is asking about.

The really bright one is the RSL that is just repeated by the big yellow light that Mike told you about.

• off = off or booting
• blinking = disabled
• long on/short off = teleop
• solid = autonomous

To check your versions:

• LabVIEW: Help -> About FIRST Robotics Competition Software... (should be Software Update 2.0)
• cRIO: On the Driver Station Diagnostics tab, once you connect to the cRIO (should be ..._v19)
• Driver Station: Driver Station Diagnostics tab (should be 2010.01.06.00 or later)

[Ether]

Thanks Mark and Alan and Mike.

I will pass this information along to the team tonight and we will go over all the suggestions together.

[kws4000]

I also have a question:
When opening the compressor in the BEGIN sub-VI, what is the difference in the "Pressure Switch DIO Module" and the "Pressure Switch DIO Channel"?
I know they refer to different pieces of hardware (digital sidecar and pnematic breakout), but which one? Do I need to use both of them? What about the "Relay Module and "Relay Channel"?

Thanks

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by kws4000

I also have a question:
When opening the compressor in the BEGIN sub-VI, what is the difference in the "Pressure Switch DIO Module" and the "Pressure Switch DIO Channel"?
I know they refer to different pieces of hardware (digital sidecar and pnematic breakout), but which one? Do I need to use both of them? What about the "Relay Module and "Relay Channel"?

Thanks

Each Module has a number of different channels on it.

The Pressure Switch DIO Module refers to which slot of the cRIO the module attached to the Digital Sidecar is in. The Pressure Switch DIO Channel refers to the channel number (printed in white on the Digital Sidecar) that the switch is attached to.

The relay module and channel are similarly defined.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by kws4000

When opening the compressor in the BEGIN sub-VI, what is the difference in the "Pressure Switch DIO Module" and the "Pressure Switch DIO Channel"?
I know they refer to different pieces of hardware (digital sidecar and pnematic breakout), but which one? Do I need to use both of them?

They refer to the same piece of hardware. The "Module" selection is used to specify which cRIO Module (and thus which Digital Sidecar) is being used. The valid choices are Slot 4 and Slot 6; Slot 4 is the default that will be used if you don't wire anything to that input. The "Channel" selection specifies which DIO pin on the Digital Sidecar has the pressure switch wired to it.

What about the "Relay Module and "Relay Channel"?

Similarly, the "Module" selection indicates the slot that the cRIO Module is installed in, and the "Channel" selection indicates which Relay pins on the Digital Sidecar are connected to the Spike.

[kws4000]

Thanks a whole bunch! About a half dozen other questions were cleared up by your responses.

Thanks again!

[Ether]

We got the LabVIEW framework working. I had the team review all the suggestions, and then very carefully repeat all the steps... and now it works.

I suspect they may have missed a step the first time or inadvertently modified something. At least I hope that's the case - and not an intermittent hardware problem (yikes).

Once they got the framework working, they modified it to add their own custom-designed mecanum drive code which they have been working on the past 3 weeks. It works.

It's wonderful to end the evening on an up note.

Thanks for all the help.


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