We tried out the FMS this weelend to test our code and run matches.
It was VERY COOL. I can’t imagine why anyone thought this program would be too complicated for teams to use. (Let’s face it, if we figured out how to build and program our robots, this was a snap
Connecting to the NXT with USB to read the team name and then initiate the Bluetooth worked much better than most of the other Bluetooth connection methods we’ve been using. We had our team practice the full pre-match hookup and setup.
It’s fun having a second monitor hooked up to the laptop to display the MatchTimer on a screen all by itself.
We just had two controllers and one robot so the matches were very one-sided
As for the question of whether the “End Match” or “End Of Autonomous” would halt the robot in the middle of a long movements… the results were very good.
I was surprized that most times the robot would correctly stop in the middle of a motion. We did have the occasional instance where the robot acted oddly while is was sitting there (shimmying back and forward), but that may have been a “regular” motor glitch
I guess the real answer here is that at the end of auto, the program is halted and the teleop program is started immediately in “Disable” mode. So the first commands issued in Teleop have the effect of resetting the motor controller back to idle.
This is the magic sequence that I wanted to discover to ensure that our robot would be code-legal. I’m confident now that we’ll get through inspections… Phew…
Thanks FIRST, for making the FMS public so we can get through this transition.
Note: After having to manually reset for NXT for auto several times, I do wonder why the FMS isn’t able to automatically start the bot in Auto AND teleop. I know the Chooser Program is used to put the name of the Teleop program in a text file so the FMS can know it… I wonder why BOTH program names arent done this way… then the match start could be fully hands-free Next year maybe …
I’m glad everything worked well for you. I put a lot of work into that piece of software.
We were concerned about the frequency of changing the automatically-run programs; as far as I know it is much more common to switch autonomous programs based on (for example) alliance setup than it is to switch tele-operated programs. Having your robot do completely the wrong thing (and probably crash into a wall or something worse) in autonomous because you forgot to update your config file is no fun. That’s why the FMS doesn’t run autonomous automatically.
That said, I think that the teams are overall taking pretty well to the Program Chooser and automatically-run tele-op program model, so maybe we don’t need to be as concerned about that in the future. What do you all think?
What happens when/if we don’t have an autonomous program? Do we just place the robot on the field, or do we have to select the teleop program or do we create an empty autonomous?
I recommend using an empty autonomous program. The template works fine for that. That way the program is doing some kind of diagnostic to the screen even if it’s just sitting on top of the platform.
Thanks to you and FIRST for putting out the FMS. I would have liked to have it much sooner but I’m thankful to get it now. The bluetooth hookup is much better than on the FTC Controller Station. Also the documentation is the best Bluetooth guide I’ve seen for troubleshooting.
Reguarding the Program Chooser, it needs updated since “single” is not an option anymore. Also I still see and get lots of questions about how to get Program Chooser on the NXT. Especially now that the FMS is available, a direct download of Program Chooser needs to be available, so that you don’t need to go thru FTC Controller Station to get it.
I believe you are correct that teams will want to be able to change autonomous programs on the fly.
