Go to Post It never stops. Championships will be in your head forever!!! MWHAHAHAHA!!! - vadyr [more]
Home
Go Back   Chief Delphi > Technical > Programming
CD-Media   CD-Spy  
portal register members calendar search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read FAQ rules

 
Closed Thread
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #1   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 31-01-2011, 23:28
Randy Forgaard's Avatar
Randy Forgaard Randy Forgaard is offline
Parent 1729, former mentor 3126
FRC #7129
Team Role: Parent
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: Hollis, NH, USA
Posts: 48
Randy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to behold
Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? LabVIEW

Quick survey: What is your team using to create a custom dashboard this year? ZomB Dashboard? SmartDashboard? Writing one in LabVIEW? Something else completely?

We would like to create a custom dashboard for our robot that uses some simple graphical controls and can display the video from the camera on the robot.

We wrote our custom dashboard in LabVIEW last year, and that worked very well, but our one LabVIEW programmer left at the end of last year. Rather than get up-to-speed on LabVIEW, we'd like to try something else this year. (Our team's software engineers this year are all C++ and Java programmers.)

We've been trying to get ZomB Dashboard up and running for the past 4 days or so, including the just-posted ZomB v0.7.1.350, but no success yet. The features look great, we just haven't been able to get it to work. It would be wonderful if a well-written Quick Start document existed for ZomB. The user manual for ZomB is good, but does not seem to have careful, tested, step-by-step instructions to get it going. I know at least one or two other teams are using ZomB rirght now. If one of those teams would be willing to post step-by-step instructions for how to get started with ZomB, that would be awesome, and be useful to many other teams.

SmartDashboard looks potentially quite interesting. I'd like to know if other teams are successfully using it.

There is also the CARDS Dashboard. We tried to use it briefly this past fall, but there is very little documentation, and we couldn't figure it out. The last posting was in May 2010, so I'm not sure it is still being maintained.

There is the IFI Dashboard Viewer, but it doesn't seem like it's designed to be customized.

Is there any other obvious custom dashboard system I haven't listed here?

So, what is your team using for a custom dashboard this year?

Any advice, hints, pointers, or instructions in this area would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!
  #2   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 31-01-2011, 23:55
sjspry sjspry is offline
Registered User
FRC #1984
Team Role: Programmer
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: Kansas
Posts: 125
sjspry has a spectacular aura aboutsjspry has a spectacular aura aboutsjspry has a spectacular aura about
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

If you want to use something pre-existing, I'm guessing ZomB would be your best bet based on what I've been hearing. However, here's no better advice than to just try them all

Sadly, I don't have much to suggest in the way of the pre-built dashboards (except that I noticed the same problems you had with CARD), as I'm new this year and just jumped right in to making my own dashboard. I'd suggest this if your programmers think they're capable of it and need something to do (I'm not sure how much experience other FIRST programmers have), as there's always the problem of many programmers, one robot.
  #3   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 31-01-2011, 23:59
Patrick Chiang Patrick Chiang is offline
Programming
FRC #3070 (Team Pronto)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Seattle
Posts: 162
Patrick Chiang is a name known to allPatrick Chiang is a name known to allPatrick Chiang is a name known to allPatrick Chiang is a name known to allPatrick Chiang is a name known to allPatrick Chiang is a name known to all
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

We're writing our own Dashboard in Java. And we'll share when we're done with it. Probably at the end of build season. It's documented nicely, but the code itself is repetitive and will make all sane object-oriented programmers cry.

In the semi-likely event we don't get it done by shipping day, the code will get finished before the competition, debugged at the competition, and shared after the competition.

If your Java or C++ programmers are interested, we started by looking at the documentation for sockets and it turned out to be pretty simple. Run a server on the robot and client on the driver station. For some reasons the Java writeUTF method puts two extra bytes in front of each line we readLine, so we substring'ed them out in the client-side program.

After that, it was all just busy work getting the values to display on a nicely crafted dashboard (which we're still working on). I highly recommend the Swing GUI builder in Netbeans because it's easy to use. It has some general limitations but are easy to deal with. If all you want are string values to display, you can get it running in hours. If you want a nice GUI, it will take longer than that.
  #4   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 12:38
byteit101's Avatar
byteit101 byteit101 is offline
WPILib maintainer (WPI)
AKA: Patrick Plenefisch
no team (The Cat Attack (Formerly))
Team Role: Programmer
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Worcester
Posts: 699
byteit101 is a glorious beacon of lightbyteit101 is a glorious beacon of lightbyteit101 is a glorious beacon of lightbyteit101 is a glorious beacon of lightbyteit101 is a glorious beacon of lightbyteit101 is a glorious beacon of light
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy Forgaard View Post
We've been trying to get ZomB Dashboard up and running for the past 4 days or so, including the just-posted ZomB v0.7.1.350, but no success yet. The features look great, we just haven't been able to get it to work. It would be wonderful if a well-written Quick Start document existed for ZomB. The user manual for ZomB is good, but does not seem to have careful, tested, step-by-step instructions to get it going. I know at least one or two other teams are using ZomB rirght now. If one of those teams would be willing to post step-by-step instructions for how to get started with ZomB, that would be awesome, and be useful to many other teams.
I'm currently working on some quick start tutorials for ZomB, but what there is out now should get you going. Have you looked at NetConsole? If it is spewing Duplicate symbol errors, try reinstalling ZomB.out (Start>Programs>ZomB>install bindings to robot) and if that fails, try the C++ DBPacket workaround (in the Bindings Help pdf in the ZomB Start menu folder)

Other than that, make sure you are setting your team number in Visual ZomB and that the sources (click the ... button) contains urls that start with zomb://.yourteamnumber, and then creating a dashboard (r350 should prompt you for it though)
Also, make sure you are initialize correctly on your robot code:
ZomBDashboard z;
...
constructor():
z(ZomBDashboard::GetInstance(AllTCP, "10.xx.yy.zz"))

where xxyy is your team, and zz is the computer running zomb (only necessary for sending to the robot)
__________________
Bubble Wrap: programmers rewards
Watchdog.Kill();
printf("Watchdog is Dead, Celebrate!");
How to make a self aware robot: while (∞) cout<<(sqrt(-∞)/-0);
Previously FRC 451 (The Cat Attack)
Now part of the class of 2016 at WPI & helping on WPILib
  #5   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 15:29
demosthenes2k8's Avatar
demosthenes2k8 demosthenes2k8 is offline
Graduated but not gone
AKA: Matt Soucy
FRC #0166 (Chop Shop 166)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Rookie Year: 2007
Location: Merrimack, NH
Posts: 589
demosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to beholddemosthenes2k8 is a splendid one to behold
Send a message via AIM to demosthenes2k8 Send a message via Yahoo to demosthenes2k8
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

My team made a Labview one last year, but this year we basically decided immediately that we would rather use SmartDashboard. It works extremely well, especially for testing, and it's simple to learn/teach.

Nobody on our team actually knew Labview last year, apart from a little experience I had with it two years ago (just playing around), but it was relatively simple to learn it AT COMPETITION.
__________________


GSR Dean's List Finalist 2011
  #6   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 16:07
apalrd's Avatar
apalrd apalrd is offline
More Torque!
AKA: Andrew Palardy (Most people call me Palardy)
VRC #3333
Team Role: College Student
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Auburn Hills, MI
Posts: 1,347
apalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond reputeapalrd has a reputation beyond repute
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

We will be using LabVIEW again. It plays so nice with LabVIEW cRio code.

<side note> Code written in LabVIEW does not need a dashboard to graphically display data during development, as the VI front panel is accessible when running code from a laptop.
__________________
Kettering University - Computer Engineering
Kettering Motorsports
Williams International - Commercial Engines - Controls and Accessories
FRC 33 - The Killer Bees - 2009-2012 Student, 2013-2014 Advisor
VEX IQ 3333 - The Bumble Bees - 2014+ Mentor

"Sometimes, the elegant implementation is a function. Not a method. Not a class. Not a framework. Just a function." ~ John Carmack
  #7   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 16:10
NetPlanet NetPlanet is offline
Registered User
AKA: Michael Bilinsky
FRC #0296 (The Northern Knights)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: Montreal, Qc
Posts: 23
NetPlanet is an unknown quantity at this point
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

We have already had a lot of success with the SmartDashboard, it is a piece of cake to setup and send data. But our team has decided to use the labview dashboard due to its greater selection of features and the professional look. Though we have already ran into complications with the LV dashboard so whether we will be sticking with it is not guaranteed. We have never tried, or ever really considered ZomB due too complications other teams have recounted to us.
__________________
Checkout my new blog! >> www.netopyaplanet.com
~yay

Last edited by NetPlanet : 01-02-2011 at 16:15.
  #8   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 20:32
John Heden John Heden is offline
Registered User
FRC #1073
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Hollis, NH
Posts: 29
John Heden is an unknown quantity at this point
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

We are creating our custom Dashboard in C# (.NET) using Visual Studio Express (free). We use the WPI Dashboard class to pack up whatever robot data we are interested in receiving and capture it with a simple .NET UDP listener for graphical display and manipulation. We also capture the camera images (.jpg) using a similar TCP listener. The images were a bit trickier to string back together into separate images given that single packet can contain the end of one image and the beginning of another. It’s really cool to capture all of these images and string them together to make a video of what the robot actually saw. We are excited this year that our Dashboard can actually transmit data to the robot using UDP 1130 which opens up a variety of interesting previously prohibited possibilities….
  #9   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 20:33
davidthefat davidthefat is offline
Alumni
AKA: David Yoon
FRC #0589 (Falkons)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: California
Posts: 792
davidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud ofdavidthefat has much to be proud of
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

None
__________________
Do not say what can or cannot be done, but, instead, say what must be done for the task at hand must be accomplished.
  #10   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 01-02-2011, 21:08
Greg McKaskle Greg McKaskle is offline
Registered User
FRC #2468 (Team NI & Appreciate)
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Rookie Year: 2008
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 4,748
Greg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond reputeGreg McKaskle has a reputation beyond repute
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

I'm just glad to hear so many teams building dashboards. If you have any issues, please ask questions. The debugging, logging, and feedback potential is huge, and it is very safe, and relatively easy to improve over the default -- one-size-fits-all dashboard. All teams should shoot for some form of customized DB.

Greg McKaskle
  #11   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 03-02-2011, 21:09
Randy Forgaard's Avatar
Randy Forgaard Randy Forgaard is offline
Parent 1729, former mentor 3126
FRC #7129
Team Role: Parent
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: Hollis, NH, USA
Posts: 48
Randy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to beholdRandy Forgaard is a splendid one to behold
Re: Survey: What is your team using for a custom dashboard? ZomB? SmartDashBoard? Lab

Say, byteit101: We tried your new Quick Guide for ZomB Dashboard, and it worked great. We got a very simple custom ZomB Dashboard working in about an hour, with a graphical display of the joystick position (the equivalent of "Hello World" for ZomB Dashboard). Huzzah! Thanks so much for writing that Quick Guide, it was a huge help.

We will now start adding more sophisticated controls to our ZomB Dashboard, including the camera image. This looks like it's going to save us a ton of time, and I think we'll end up with a very nice custom dashboard. Thanks so much for creating and sharing ZomB Dashboard! This looks like it's a great resource for teams that want to create a nice custom dashboard without learning LabVIEW or writing a lot of C# or Java code with custom graphics.
Closed Thread


Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:41.

The Chief Delphi Forums are sponsored by Innovation First International, Inc.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Chief Delphi