Our Crio Won't Run deployed Code and there are no Error messages

Technical Programming
1

Hi, Our Crio has not been able to use the driver station since day one of the build period and we have been madly trying to get it working

here’s what we are doing.

we format the crio according to the documentations instructions exactly
then we push down the basic default code, and we have tried some of our own versions as well with no avail

after that we log into the driver account and it says we have the crio image in diagnostics and all of the lights are green. the only problem is is that our controls do not make our jaguars work but we do have green lights on our controls and when we press the trigger the light in the driver station responds, it’s just our control board doesn’t

2

First,

There are 3-5 main languages used by people to program the robot. Can you please specify what language you are using?

3

Sorry about that, we are using c++ in windriver as our language

4

Are the green lights you mentioned communications, robot code and the stop botton?

5

I’m making the assumption that you’re attempting to control the jaguars via PWM. Can you confirm?

Have you connected the PWM cables to the correct channel on the digital sidecar?

They PWM cables can be plugged in white-red-black or black-red-white
Are the PWM cables plugged in correctly? At both ends?

Also, did you set your team number at Window -> Preferences -> FIRST Downloader Preferences (can’t remember how crucial this last item is)?

6

Whenever I deploy new C code, I have to issue a ‘reboot’ command over the serial port or power cycle the crio for the changes to take effect.

7

Are you enabling the robot?

When the crio reaches some magic point during its boot sequence, the signal light starts blinking rapidly. Once the crio is fully booted and ready to be enabled, the signal light blinks more slowly than before. When the robot is enabled, the signal is on with very minimal blinking. For all intents and purposes, the signal light is on steady.

Once you see the above three states, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

The driver station has a setup tab. Is the team number set correctly?

One last thing while I’m thinking about it. Does the driver station show the battery voltage?

8

yes we are using pwms we reboot it every time, yes i mean the communications robot code and stop button green lights the team number is set correctly, the pwms are correctly plugged in yes the driver station shows battery voltage

thanks for looking at this sry i took a while to reply

9

Are you pressing the green enable button? The status indicator should read “Teleoperated Enabled” in the driver station after you push the button.

When you try to drive, do you notice if the lights on the Jaguars are doing anything? I believe when they’re receiving a neutral PWM signal they’re solid orange, and then they flash green and red depending on which direction you’re driving them. This is based on my (somewhat quirky) memory and CAN mode, so I’m not 100% sure. What are your Jags doing?

Matt

10

Remember to change your battery constantly… If it drops below 11V, it sometimes does not respond.

11

After we enable it, it syas teleop enabled and the jaguars lights keep flashing yellow like they are on standby. Our battery voltage is just above 12v

12

Flashing yellow like that indicates no signal I believe. Re-check all of your PWM cables for proper orientation and a snug fit. Otherwise it sounds like your robot is up and running.

13

Except that it’s not working, all of our pwm’s are connected properly and our robot should be working but it isn’t, thanks for your time guys

14

Could be code and could be electrical.

Take a photo of the Digital Sidecar, so we can see what’s connected where.

I don’t remember if the basic default code actually does anything.

15

It may also be worth connecting a servo motor (any standard servo will do) to the sidecar and putting the 6V jumper in place to power it, and just seeing if it reacts at all to your joystick inputs.

Just to clarify, the servo should connect to one of the PWM outputs you’re trying to drive a Jaguar with, just to clarify a valid signal is being generated.

Matt

16

If you’re going to be working in the shop with your robot this evening, and you have available internet near the robot, PM me tonight, I can do a live troubleshooting session with you via Skype or some other system.

17

sry i couldn’t do that but i can give you our robotiocs schedule if you want to try again

we do saturdays 9am-3pm eastern time
and weekdays from 3:30 pm-6:30 except sometimes we leave by 5:30

Thanks a lot

18

We just ran into a similar problem…we were going to practice a bit with our “junkyard” bot - altho it has legit cRio, digital sidecar, power distribution, we use Victors instead of Jags, and of course some spikes.
Anyway, the code will deploy, and we can ping all the way to the cRio, moreover, the drivers station reports green lights for communications, robot code, etc, but we get nothing - I mean nothing, when we try to drive. Not one button or joystick axis will respond. Ironically, we get video from the camera, again indicating communications are good. We have reimaged, redeployed several times, but nothing. It is almost like the digital sidecar is not working or we have ALLL the wires wrong, since nothing will work. This has befuddled us for two nights, and is getting a bit frustrating. Help would be appreciated! Thanks, Chuck.

19

have you tried looking at your target consul? errors that don’t show up in compilation because they are not syntax errors will appear there (ex. code with the gyro not on analog 1 will compile because the syntax is correct, but will not operate because it is not on analog 1).
if you are 100% sure that you connected all of your pwm’s correctly on both ends and have declared all of your motor controllers correctly, then they are not receiving a signal from the side-car which could electrically be (based on previous info):

  1. Bad C-Rio Card
  2. Bad Side-Car Cable
  3. Bad Side-Car
  4. Bad Motor Controllers
    the best way to try to determine which it is, is to replace each individually to see which is the problem… a very expensive problem if you don’t have backups…
20

First the obvious potential error - is the DIO module in slot 4?
Are you getting any errors in the message window in the Diagnostic Tab?
Do the LEDs on the Victors change from blinking to solid when you enable?
If you are using LV, when you probe the joystick functions, are you getting correct readings?