iPhone Driver Station, No Computer Needed

[mobilegamer999]

Title pretty much says it all.
I have created a iPhone/iPod touch (sorry iPad users) application, that allows for full, 100% control of the robot without the need for the driver station, becasue the application IS the driver station.

The app features the ability to

• Enable/Disable the robot
• Teleop/Autonomous Control
• Read battery voltage and robot state
• Full digital and analog I/O
• 10 joystick buttons
• 2 virtual joysticks
• accelerometer control

Future Abilities will include

• Camera View
• Robot debug messages
• Anything suggested that is "reasonable"

This app will have a few final improvements to be made (icons, splash screen, etc) but should be submitted to apple shortly. Updates will be posted on the state of the applications submission progress

Also attached are a few images of what the UI looks like so far. As always on CD, any and every comment/suggestion is more than welcome.

Edit:
This application also requires no flashing/specialized reprogramming on the robot to work, joysticks are initialized and read in as normal.

[davidthefat]

Can I ask how you got it to communicate with the robot without the driver station.

I always thought the communication was proprietary.

[MrHance]

This is great news!

But what about those that do not use the I-phone/I-touch?

Is the program able to be transfers to other systems?

Are you working on an I-Pad version?

Can this be uses for a touch screen laptop computer?

These would be excellent options for various other input devices.

Again, Great work.

[mobilegamer999]

@davidthefat
#EDIT
I used a mix of packet analyzer (wireshark - a program to analyze the packets being sent to/from the drivers station) and packet definitions found in WPIlib to determine how the robot and driver station communicated so I could make an iPhone application that would communicate in that manner.

@MrHance
It could be written for other systems without a tremendous amount of work, more details about what system you would like it made for would be helpful. Also, i would like to make an iPad version of this to test with, but the lack of an iPad to test with is kinda an obstacle (however i might be able to borrow one from someone)

[linuxboy]

Originally Posted by mobilegamer999

Also, i would like to make an iPad version of this to test with, but the lack of an iPad to test with is kinda an obstacle (however i might be able to borrow one from someone)

I have some experience with iOS programming as well as an iPad. I'd be happy to beta test the ipad version or even help with the app if you would find that agreeable. I can always email you copies of NSLog's output as well as safes of instrument runs. (At least I think you can save trials from instruments)

Good luck
Oliver

[raymohi2181]

Originally Posted by mobilegamer999

Also, i would like to make an iPad version of this to test with, but the lack of an iPad to test with is kinda an obstacle (however i might be able to borrow one from someone)

I have an iPad, so I could test it and send feedback. If you would like. The current robot I would use has a verity of custom senors and outputs.

-Ray H.

[DDSLoan96]

When will it come out and what is it going to be called??

[mobilegamer999]

Originally Posted by DDSLoan96

When will it come out and what is it going to be called??

It will most likely be called simply "Drive Station" or "FRC Driver Station" and it will be submitted to apple as soon as I make an icon and a splash image for it.

[MrHance]

I have been following this thread with great interest as I am sure that FRC is as well.

I am not a programmer so bear with me.

I am a Design Engineer so these questions are to help me understand the relationship of the system with the existing FRC controls.

Some other questions as far as using it at comps.

Will it be legal?

Will the WiFi signal interfere with other teams that maybe using the same applications or other application?

What is the range limitation?

How does this interface with the driver station controller?

Will this app. work with other systems like VEX, NURC and LEGO controll?

As I think of other applications I will post the questions here.

Agian, Great work and I hope this will help you all make it thru college.

[mobilegamer999]

MrHance, I'm glad you brought that up, and that is probably something I should have stated in the opening post, this would not be a legal control system during competitions, due to the fact that it is WiFi based and any wireless is not allowed on the field during a match except for the wireless the robots are using. On a side note to that however, I am looking into a possible way this could be modified to be a legal control method, but its unlikely that it would be very practical if it were in working, legal condition.

As far as your question of "How does this interface with the driver station controller?"
This is actually a complete replacement for the drive station, this application runs 100% independently by itself with no computer required anywhere in the system.

And No, this application is not programmed to work with the VEX,NURC, or LEGO controllers, it can only control FRC robots.

This app is mainly expected to be used for demonstration purposes, or in any circumstance where it is inconvenient/impractical/impossible to use the driver station. As far as the range of the system is concerned, if the iPhone is within the range of the WiFi network, and so is the robot, they you have control, which typically, line of sight would be about 200-300 feet, and with many walls in between about 100 feet. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me.

[buildmaster5000]

Originally Posted by mobilegamer999

This app is mainly expected to be used for demonstration purposes, or in any circumstance where it is inconvenient/impractical/impossible to use the driver station. As far as the range of the system is concerned, if the iPhone is within the range of the WiFi network, and so is the robot, they you have control, which typically, line of sight would be about 200-300 feet, and with many walls in between about 100 feet. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me.

This is all well and good, something I am really interested in actually buying (I never buy apps for my itouch), but I have a few questions:
1. If it connects via wifi, what, if anything would have to be done to the gaming adapter on the robot?
2. For joysticks, does the app have virtual joystics on screen, or does it use the accelerometer in the device?
3. How would a user go about changing user I/O? I personally think this needs to be easily accessible at all times.

[mobilegamer999]

Originally Posted by buildmaster5000

This is all well and good, something I am really interested in actually buying (I never buy apps for my itouch), but I have a few questions:
1. If it connects via wifi, what, if anything would have to be done to the gaming adapter on the robot?
2. For joysticks, does the app have virtual joystics on screen, or does it use the accelerometer in the device?
3. How would a user go about changing user I/O? I personally think this needs to be easily accessible at all times.

1) no changes need to be made to the gaming adapter
2)it uses 2 onscreen joysticks (video page 2) and the accelerometer
2) there is a screen for setting/reading digital IO and the analog inputs

[buildmaster5000]

Originally Posted by mobilegamer999

1) no changes need to be made to the gaming adapter
2)it uses 2 onscreen joysticks (video page 2) and the accelerometer
2) there is a screen for setting/reading digital IO and the analog inputs

After so many "gaming adapter problems" threads, it is nice to hear that you seem to have put a lot of thought into this app. I look forward to getting my hands on it. One thought: it might be nice to have the capapbility to set the accelerometer as two joystick axis...

[Ethan E]

I knew that creating a custom dashboard was (relatively) simple, but was under the impression that the driver station (I/O, joysticks, enable/disable) was locked down by FIRST. Did they publish an API, or did you reverse engineer it, or what? (Sorry if the answer is obvious, I don't frequent CD too much)

[BrendanRadabaug]

really want it, cant wait to try it out and possibly break our robot with it.