Any news on a roboRIO replacement?

[EAcosta]

Has there been any word on a roboRIO replacement? When do they typically announce control system changes?

[Thequackmaster]

as far as I know is that the roboRIO will be the main system until after 2020

[risho900]

But I heard there’s a new radio!

[Jon_Stratis]

[FRC Blog] We've Got 2020 Vision

Posted on the FRC Blog, 4/12/2018: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/blog/2018-2020-vision We’ve Got 2020 Vision *Written by Kate Pilotte, FIRST Robotics Competition Kit of Parts Manager. * https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/frc/Blog/2018-thats-cool-ni.gif It’s official! In case you haven’t heard, today National Instruments (FIRST Strategic Partner and FRC Crown Supplier) announced that they’re extending their generous support of FIRST Robotics Competition w…

Announced about a year ago, NI and FIRST extended the contract for the RoboRio through the 2021 season.

The last time a new control system was adopted (when the RoboRio was introduced) FIRST did the following (Reference - my team was an Alpha/Beta test team for the control system!):

• Alpha testing in 2013.
  • 9 teams were asked to adopt their 2013 robot to the new control system in order to allow FIRST to test it, starting in the summer.
  • In the fall, those teams gathered in NH for “alpha testing weekend”. FIRST had a full field set up and ran matches for testing. Very informative, we discovered the radios FIRST wanted to use didn’t work properly in a competition environment, although they did just fine solo!
• 2014 champs, the NI booth was packed with information, and Alpha test teams were asked to bring their control boards with them (if they earned a spot) so they could show them to other teams
• Fall 2014 - beta testing. Similar to current beta testing efforts, but included the entire control system, not just updated software (and maybe a new component)
• 2015 season - RoboRio adopted by all, included in the KoP for every team.

If we assume FIRST will follow the same pattern, it means we should start hearing about things next year. Probably an announcement at Champs (it seems like something that would be bigger than a simple blog post), followed by a call for teams to apply to be Alpha testers the summer/fall of 2020, and then a larger beta test in the fall of 2021.

[Jon_Stratis]

But I heard there’s a new radio!

Source? With OpenMesh becoming a part of Datto Networking and transitioning to a subscription model, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a new radio… but I haven’t actually seen anything official yet.

[jnicho15]

Here’s the source of that https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/blog/2018-first-steps-next-wireless

They only gave companies about a month to submit a proposal, so the general thought is that they either already had a supplier in mind, or were looking for a COTS solution.

[risho900]

One of 1257s mentors talked about. He said that it’s much more robust than the current one (he said it was a strong runout). I’ve also seen it mentioned on CD a few times but I forget where.

[ExploitSage]

Oh man if it hits that 20sec boot requirement itll be so nice!

[rtomp]

The original implementation date in the RFP was for the 2020 season, but it was indicated in the comment on the blog post that they had to extend the deadline for proposals and that pushed everything back. I’ve seen no communication about it since then or any call for alpha/beta testers, so I’m cautiously optimistic about it happening for next year